Leo Maher was born in Mount Union, Iowa, the fifth of nine children of Thomas Joseph Maher and Mary Agnes Teberg. His father was a native of Shankill, County Kilkenny, Ireland. As a child, he moved to California where he lived with his uncle, Rev. Edward J. Maher, pastor of St. Patrick Church in Oakland. His uncle spoke of his seminary life 1900-1906 at St. Patrick Seminary in Thurles, Ireland. Leo Maher attended from 1927-1929 St. Patrick Elementary School in Oakland. In 1929 Leo began his studies for the priesthood at St. Joseph High School and , both in Mountain View, California. Edward J. Maher was appointed a Domestic Prelate on July 2, 1939 by Pope Pius XII. His nephew attended his uncle's investiture as Right Reverend Monsignor at St. Patrick's Church in San Jose by Archbishop John Joseph Mitty. Leo started the major seminary in 1938 and completed his theological studies in 1943 at Saint Patrick Seminary, Menlo Park.
Priesthood
Leo Thomas Maher was ordained a priest by Archbishop Mitty on December 18, 1943, at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco. His first assignment was as a curate at in San Francisco, where he remained for one year before serving at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. He organized the prayer service for the 1945 meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco. From 1947–61, he served as secretary to Archbishop Mitty. He was named a domestic prelate by Pope Pius XII on November 4, 1954. He served as chancellor of the Archdiocese of San Francisco from 1956–62.
Episcopacy
Santa Rosa
On January 27, 1962, Leo Maher was appointed the first Bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Santa Rosa by Pope John XXIII. He received his episcopalconsecration on the following April 5 from Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, with Bishops Hugh Aloysius Donohoe and Merlin Joseph Guilfoyle serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. During his seven-year tenure, he led a program to build new parishes and schools to serve the increasing Catholic population in the diocese, culminating in the establishment of seven parishes, one mission, three high schools, four elementary schools, and several rectories and convents. He also elevated three missions to parish status and oversaw major renovations of four existing parish churches. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962–65.
San Diego
Following the promotion of Bishop Francis James Furey to the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Maher was named the third Bishop of San Diego on August 22, 1969. At the time of his arrival, the Diocese of San Diego was about $15 million in debt, which Maher fully retired by 1980. He presided over the second diocesan synod from 1973 to 1976, revising the statutes and guidelines of the diocese to implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. In 1976 he created the first Diocesan Pastoral Council. He ended the official relationship between the diocese and the University of San Diego, establishing the school as a separate corporation. Maher was a strong supporter of the ecumenical movement, co-founding the San Diego County Ecumenical Conference and issuing joint statements on morality with non-Catholic religious leaders. He also supported workers' rights to organize into unions, but pledged an official neutrality in a farm labor dispute in 1971. That same year, he suspended Father Victor Salandini, a San Diego priest and ally of César Chávez, for wearing a serape with the black eagle of the United Farm Workers instead of proper vestments and for using corn tortillas instead of sacramental bread during his Masses. In 1975, he prohibited Catholics who are members of pro-choice organizations from receiving communion or serving as lectors, specifically citing the National Organization for Women for its "shameless agitation." In 1980, Maher issued a public condemnation of the Ku Klux Klan, saying that knowingly voting for a racist or a Klan member may constitute a sin. He prohibited priests from celebrating Mass for Dignity, a pro-LGBT Catholic organization, but once celebrated a Mass himself for AIDS patients at . In November 1989, during a special election for the State Senate in a San Diego-based district, Maher received national attention after prohibiting State AssemblywomanLucy Killea, a Catholic Democrat, from receiving communion because of her support for abortion. According to Maher, her position placed her in "complete contradiction to the moral teachings of the Catholic Church." Killea, who refused to change her position, was the first political candidate to receive this censure. She eventually won the election, acknowledging that Maher's action helped her win by creating voter sympathy and publicizing her candidacy.
Maher resigned as Bishop of San Diego on July 10, 1990, after governing the diocese for 21 years and reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. That same year, he underwent two operations for a malignant brain tumor. He later died at his residence in Mission Hills, San Diego, at age 75.
