James Walsh (priest)
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Bishop James E. Walsh (April 30, 1891 - July 29, 1981)[1] was an American Roman Catholic priest and a bishop in China. He was a member of the Maryknoll order, and a missionary in China.[2]
Father Walsh was born in Cumberland, Maryland on April 30, 1891 to Mary Concannon and William E. Walsh.[1] He was the second child of nine. He worked as a timekeeper in a steel mill until he became aware of Maryknoll, a new American order. In 1915, he became the second priest ordained in this order and by 1918 he and three other men were sent on the orders first foreign mission to China. at the age of thirty-six in 1927 he was ordained a bishop for China.[2]
In 1936, Bishop Walsh left China to returned to the United States to head up Maryknoll. However, the Vatican specially requested his service again in China, so in 1948 he returned to take charge of the Catholic Central Bureau to coordinate mission activities in China.[2]
When the Chinese communists got into power in 1949 they targeted Catholic clergy for harassment. The Bureau was shut down by the government in 1951. When his superiors in Maryknoll inquired about his safety he responded by saying, "To put up with a little inconvenience at my age is nothing. Besides, I am sick and tired of being pushed around on account of my religion."[2]
He was eventually arrested by the communists in 1959 and sentenced to twenty years in prison. He spent twelve years of his prison sentence in isolation and was suddenly released. He was forced to walk over a bridge into Hong Kong and to freedom.[2]
Bishop James E. Walsh died at the age of ninety on July 29, 1981 in Maryknoll, New York.[1]
