By Michael Motes

(Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of articles examining the careers of priests of the Church in Georgia who have become United States Bishops.)

A South Carolinian by birth, Savannah was the boyhood home of Bishop Emmett M. Walsh, the third of five United States Bishops elevated to the episcopacy while serving in Georgia.

Born to Thomas and Wilhelmenia (Jennerman) Walsh at Beaufort, South Carolina, on March 6 1892, Emmett was the eighth of eleven children. The family were members of St. Peter's parish in Beaufort, where the children attended catechism classes on Sunday, this being their only formal Catholic education as the parish lacked a parochial school.

In 1906, the Walsh family moved to Savannah where Emmett graduated from Savannah High School in 1910. Upon announcing his plan to enter the priesthood, he was sent by the bishop of Savannah to St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, New York. He returned to his adopted city for ordination by Bishop Benjamin Keiley at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on January 15, 1916.

Young Father Walsh's first assignment was an assistant pastor at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta, where he stayed for one year. In 1917, he became pastor of St. Teresa parish in Albany, an assignment which also placed him in charge of the southwest Georgia missions. With only one assistant, Father Walsh administered to the spiritual needs of 1,000 Catholics scattered over 16,000 square miles.

He returned to Savannah in 1921 as pastor of St. Patrick's. December 31, 1922 found Father Walsh back at Immaculate Conception in Atlanta, where he was named pastor in 1923 and remained until his appointment in 1927 by Pope Pius XI as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of Charleston, which embraced all of South Carolina.

March 16 marked the tenth anniversary of the death of Bishop Walsh, who, after serving Charleston, became Bishop of Youngstown, Ohio, the office he held at the time of his death.

The Most Reverend Ernest L. Unterkoefler, present Bishop of Charleston, remembered the late Bishop Walsh in a fine column in The Catholic Banner, South Carolina's weekly Catholic newspaper, on March 9, 1978. We excerpt from Bishop Unterkoefler's column to highlight the career of another noted Church figure with Georgia connections:

"Bishop Walsh was a remarkable churchman. Perhaps the people of Charleston knew of his national prominence as Chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Conference Legal Department, as Secretary of the Bishops' Meeting at Catholic University, and as a member of the Internal Security and Individual Rights Commission. In 1951, he was appointed by President Truman to that eight-member commission as a move to combat Communism.

"Bishop Michael J. Keyes consecrated Bishop Walsh to the Episcopacy on September 8, 1927, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah. The co-consecrators were the late Bishops Patrick J. Barry of St. Augustine and William J. Hafey of Raleigh. He was installed as Bishop of Charleston on September 22, 1927. The ceremonies took place at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Charleston, South Carolina.

"During his episcopate in Charleston, Bishop Walsh built twenty-five churches and four hospitals. In 1929, he established vacation schools in areas which had no Catholic school. In the summer, youngsters would gather daily at specified centers for five hours of religious instructions for three weeks. The next year, he expanded the program by establishing two vacation camps for youngsters who lived in rural areas. Youngsters 7 to 18 spent three weeks at the camps and followed a program which emphasized religion classes and recreation. In the first seven years of this program, 1,500 youngsters from 63 towns attended these classes. Many came from as far away as 250 miles.

"Bishop Walsh's administration in South Carolina was marked by vigorous efforts in school, church and hospital construction. In 1930, he dedicated both St. Patrick's and Immaculate Conception Schools in Charleston. In 1932, he blessed St. Francis Hospital in Greenville. In the area of hospital construction, Bishop Walsh dedicated St. Philip Neri Hospital, Rock Hill, in 1935; Providence Hospital, Columbia, in 1938, and St. Eugene's Hospital in Dillon in 1943.

"In his twenty-two years as leader of the Roman Catholics of South Carolina, Roman Catholic Churches were constructed at Kingstree, Pritchardville, Catholic Hill, and Clemson. Also, in Charleston, Sacred Heart Church was built following the destruction by the tornado in 1938. In addition, churches were built in Bishopville, Dillon, John's Island, Myrtle Beach, Fairplay, Florence, Hartsville, Langley, North August, Columbia, Joanna, and Charleston.

"The black people of the diocese received special care when Bishop Walsh invited the Redemptorist Fathers to come to Orangeburg in 1930. In 1935, he invited the Dominicans to take up Blessed Martin de Porres Mission in Columbia, SC. In 1939, he asked the Franciscan Fathers to begin St. Anthony's Parish in Greenville, South Carolina. Also in 1939, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate began St. Jude's Church in Sumter and the Oblate Priests began St. Anne's Church in Florence in 1941. In addition, the Immaculate Conception School in Charleston was dedicated by Bishop Walsh in 1930.

"Throughout his administration, Bishop Walsh sought funds for his growing diocese in large Catholic centers in the North; principally in the State of New York where he spent many Sundays making appeals for the needs of the Charleston Diocese.

"Since the Bishops of Georgia and Florida were involved at that time in the Holy See's Diplomatic Corps and had to be away from their dioceses for the majority of the time, Bishop Walsh was the one who visited Georgia and Florida for the confirmation of children and adults.

"Bishop Walsh's early years in the priesthood were lived on the missions of Georgia. As Bishop of Charleston, the missions of South Carolina showed outstanding growth as he built churches, schools, and convents that covered the countryside of South Carolina.

"Known for strengthening the diocesan Council of Catholic Women, he succeeded in bringing the national convention of the Council of Catholic Women to Charleston, the smallest city ever to entertain such a meeting.

"In September of 1949, Bishop Walsh was named Coadjutor Bishop to Bishop James McFadden of Youngstown, Ohio. He remained in that position until 1952 with the death of Bishop McFadden.

"On January 29, 1954, he was named an Assistant to the Papal Throne. The first bishop of the Diocese of Charleston, John England, was named an Assistant Prelate to the Throne in 1833. The U.S. Catholic Miscellany, October 26, 1833, stated, 'By command of His Holiness he was nominated 'an Assistant Prelate to the Throne,' an office of high quality, and as such attended on the Holy Father on Easter Sunday (of 1833) during the splendid ceremonial of that Festival.'

"As the memorial to Bishop Walsh on the Cathedral grounds states: 'God was his life; the Diocese of Charleston, his love. He was a great man with simple wants: humble, kind understanding. Loved by his priests, religious and people. Admired by his community for his friendliness, warmth and devotion. A pioneer, always expanding his impoverished church. Under all circumstances, a bishop, always a real representative of Christ.'

"Bishop Walsh Died on March 16, 1968, as Bishop of Youngstown, Ohio.

"May he rest in peace!"