 He was educated at the Sisters of Charity, Elizabeth Bay, and the St Mary's Cathedral College, Sydney where he was regarded as a good student who enjoyed literature, music and sport.He attended seminary at St Columba's Springwood and St Patrick's Seminary Manly; and furthered his studies at the Pontifical Urban College of Propaganda Fide, Rome.He was ordained on 13 July 1930 by Archbishop Bartolomeo Cattaneo and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Sydney.