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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Bishop Thomas Welsh, First Bishop of Arlington, Dies in Allentown



Diocese announces funeral services for Bishop Welsh

Clergy recall Allentown Diocese Bishop Thomas J. Welsh for commitment to faith

Former Arlington Bishop Welsh dies

When I heard that Bishop Welsh was seriously ill ten days ago, I sent the following to my email list. I post it now as a memorial to a man I considered a true spiritual father. Please pray for the repose of his soul and ask for his intercession on our poor country.

Dear Friends,

I received word last night that Bishop Thomas Welsh, first shepherd of Arlington, is in critical condition in an Allentown hospital with a serious heart ailment. Please keep him in your prayers.

Bishop Welsh is one of the most gracious men I've ever known. I was at a function once where he greeted almost everyone who approached him by name. I was amazed. He was one of the first bishops to lead a major prayer demonstration at an abortion mill, the Northern Virginia Women's Medical Center.

After he left for Allentown and after his retirement I used to see him occasionally when he was in town because he generally would visit the Poor Clares and say Mass for them. It was always a pleasure to go back to the sacristy and say hello. He always asked about the children.

He once visited our home in Alexandria after Easter and brought a giant bag of black jelly beans for the little ones which endeared him to their hearts because they liked the black ones best (like their mom). I remember that he picked out all the black olives (or was it mushrooms?) in his salad and left them on his plate. It's just a little memory that makes me smile. Somehow it made him less "bishop" and more "father." In fact, when I think about him it makes me smile. He is so kind, a quality that we could all practice better; I think it covers a multitude of sins and who among us doesn't need that? I still treasure the rosary he gave me that he said Pope John Paul II blessed during one of his ad limina visits.

And so I will be offering my Mass, rosary, and all my joys and sufferings today for this dear and gracious spiritual father. Thank you, Bishop Welsh, for being a father and a friend.

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