[1] After gaining an accountancy qualification,[1] 1912[3] he joined the Pallottines,[2] a Roman Catholic order founded in 1835 by Saint Vincent Pallotti,[4] when he was 20 years old.
[3] Nekes was professor at the Oriental Seminary in Berlin for six years and taught comparative religion and linguistics at the Pallottine college in Limburg an der Lahn.
[3] In 1935 Worms' mentor, Hermann Nekes, joined him in Australia, and they travelled into the desert together to learn more about Aboriginal people and their culture,[6] and he started focusing on their languages as well.
[3] Around 1938, Worms assisted Bishop Otto Raible [de] in the establishment of the Balgo Mission, near the border of WA and Northern Territory.
[9] Returning to WA in 1949, his work as anthropologist gained him a good reputation, and he was invited to give lectures in capital cities around Australia as well as overseas, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..[6] In 1953‒54 and 1960, Worms, probably influenced by meeting German anthropologist Helmut Petri, went on field trips to investigate rock art in the Pilbara, funded by grants from the Wenner-Gren Foundation in New York.
[3] and a year later, he was appointed by the Menzies government to be a member of the linguistic panel of the interim committee of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (now AIATSIS) in Canberra.
[10][3] In 1958, he wrote an article in a Sydney magazine which showed his understanding of problems facing Aboriginal peoples, and flaws in government policies towards them.
[3] During his life and for some time after his death, Nekes was held in greater esteem because he had been academically trained; however, since then, there has been a lot more appreciation for the work of Worms.
[3] Respected anthropologist W. E. H. Stanner later wrote that few Christian missionaries appreciated Aboriginal spirituality, but "I can think of no one whose insight and empathy could compare with, let alone exceed, that of the late Fr.
[3] In 1935 Worms came across the large body of an Aboriginal person wrapped for burial in bark and, as was a widespread custom, placed in the fork of a tree.