Biography
Early life
Thomas Welsh was born on December 20, 1921, in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, one of five children of Edward C. and Mary A. (née Doheny) Welsh. Raised in a strict Irish Catholic family, he received his early education at the parochial school St. Nicholas Church in Weatherly. [1] He then attended Schwab High School, also in Weatherly, and later began his studies for the priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania, in 1937. [2]
Priesthood
On May 30, 1946, Welsh was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia by Cardinal Dennis Dougherty at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia [3] He was then sent to continue his studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a doctorate in canon law in 1949. [4] During his summers at the Catholic University, he served as a curate at St. Paul Parish in Philadelphia, Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish [5] in Philadelphia, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish [6] in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. [7]
In 1949, Welsh became a professor at Southeast Catholic High School (now St. John Neumann High School) in Philadelphia. [2] He was assigned as a curate at Holy Child Parish in Philadelphia in 1951, and named a member of the archdiocesan Metropolitan Marriage Tribunal in 1958. [1] He was appointed vice-chancellor of the archdiocese in 1963. He was raised to the rank of monsignor by Pope Paul VI in September 1965, and became rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in 1966. [8] During his tenure as rector, he oversaw an extensive revision of the curriculum, which earned the seminary accreditation with the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; the construction of a new theology wing named Vianney Hall; and the establishment the School of Religious Studies and the School of Pastoral Studies. [7]
Bishop of Arlington
Welsh was appointed by Paul VI as the first bishop of the newly erected Diocese of Arlington on June 4, 1974. He was installed on August 13 1974. During his tenure, he established six new parishes and dedicated eleven new churches. He established the Office of Migration and Refugee Services in 1975 and the Family Life Bureau in 1977. [4] Welsh also began the diocesan newspaper, The Arlington Catholic Herald.
Walsh was the founding president of the board of the Catholic Home Study Institute which became the Catholic Distance University. [9] The number of Catholics in Arlington increased from 154,000 to 179,000 under his tenure. [2]
Bishop of Allentown
Following the resignation of Bishop Joseph M. McShea, Welsh was appointed the second bishop of the Diocese of Allentown by Pope John Paul II on February 3, 1983. His installation took place at the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena in Allentown on March 21, 1983. [10] During his tenure, Welsh established a "Stand Up For Life" campaign to encourage anti-abortion efforts, and frequently joined local abortion protesters for their monthly vigil at the Allentown Women's Clinic in Hanover Township. [2] He held workshops on natural family planning and Humanae Vitae for the diocesan clergy. [1]
Welsh established the first Youth Ministry Office in the diocese and raised $13 million in an endowment campaign for diocesan schools and other educational efforts. He was a board member and member of the Executive Committee of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. [1] Despite his reputation as a conservative, Welsh allowed girls to serve as altar servers at Mass, and gained recognition for his work to improve relations between Catholics and Jews. [2] He turned his home, a mansion purchased by Bishop McShea and bequeathed to the diocese upon his death, into a center for carrying on his pastoral work.
In 2018, Welsh was included in a report about cover-ups in six dioceses of Pennsylvania of child sexual abuse by priests. In the report, there are copies of correspondence with Bishop Leroy T. Matthiesen, referred to retired priest in Matthiesen's diocese as a recovering alcoholic. Welsh expressed concerns that the priest continue to be closely supervised. In 2002, the priest was arrested for abusing a 15-year old boy. [11]
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in southeastern Pennsylvania in the United States.
James Frederick Bryan Wood was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the fifth Bishop and first Archbishop of Philadelphia, serving between 1860 and his death in 1883.
Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1988 to 2003. Bevilacqua previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh from 1983 to 1987 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn from 1980 to 1983. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1991.
The Diocese of Arlington is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Virginia in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The Cathedral of St. Thomas More is the mother church of the diocese.
Thomas Joseph Mardaga was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware from 1968 until his death in 1984. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland from 1966 to 1968.
Joseph Edward Kurtz is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Louisville in Kentucky from 2007 to 2022. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville in Tennessee from 1999 to 2007. Kurtz was president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) from 2013 to 2016.
The Diocese of Allentown is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Joseph Mark McShea was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Allentown in Pennsylvania from 1961 to 1983.
Edward Peter Cullen was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Allentown in Pennsylvania from 1998 to 2009 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1994 to 1998.
Aloysius R. Callaghan, STL, JCD is a Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Allentown and rector emeritus of the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He has also served in various roles in the Vatican and the Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Joseph Anthony Pepe is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Las Vegas in Nevada from 2001 to 2018.
David Bernard Thompson was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Charleston in South Carolina from 1990 to 1999.
Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary at 1400 Evans Road in Ambler, Pennsylvania, that is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in the Philadelphia region, the school is named after Charles Borromeo, an Italian saint from the Counter-Reformation.
Timothy Christian Senior is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania from 2009 to 2023, as well as rector and later chancellor of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. In 2023 Pope Francis named him bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg in Pennsylvania.
James Clifford Timlin was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania from 1984 to 2003. Timlin was accused in a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report of covering up sexual abuse crimes by priests in his diocese during his tenure as bishop.
William O'Hara was an Irish-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the first bishop of the Diocese of Scranton in Pennsylvania, serving from 1868 until his death in 1899. He founded St. Thomas College in 1888.
John Walter Shanahan was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg in Pennsylvania from 1899 until his death in 1916.
Francis James Furey was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.
John Richard Keating was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Arlington in Virginia from 1983 until his death.
Michael Joseph Fitzgerald is an American prelate of the Catholic Church, having served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Philadelphia from 2010 until his retirement in 2023.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
