Patrick Walsh (bishop of Down and Connor)

The Most Reverend Patrick Walsh
Bishop Emeritus of Down and Connor
Metropolis	Armagh
Diocese	Down and Connor
Appointed	18 March 1991
Term ended	22 February 2008
Predecessor	Cahal Daly
Successor	Noël Treanor
Previous post(s)	Auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor and Titular Bishop of Ros Cré (1983–1991)
Orders
Ordination	25 February 1956
Consecration	15 May 1983 by Cahal Daly
Personal details
Born	(1931-04-09)9 April 1931 Cobh, Irish Free State
Died	28 December 2023(2023-12-28) (aged 92) Belfast, Northern Ireland

Patrick Joseph Walsh (9 April 1931 – 28 December 2023) was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church from Cobh, County Cork. From 1991 until 2008 he was the 31st Bishop of Down and Connor.

Early life and education

Patrick Joseph Walsh was born on 9 April 1931 at Cobh, Irish Free State. When he was 11 years old, his RIC father moved the family to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he attended St Marys CBGS Belfast and won university scholarships in both science and literature.

Walsh entered St. Malachy's College as a seminarian, attending Queen's University Belfast. During Philosophy studies at Queen's he was taught by the future archbishop of Armagh, Dr Cahal Daly. He then studied theology at the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, completed a Licentiate in Sacred Theology and was ordained priest on 25 February 1956.

Priestly ministry

After ordination Bishop Daniel Mageean sent Walsh for further studies to St Edmund's College, Cambridge (then known as St Edmund's House). He completed a M.Sc. in Mathematics at Christ's College, Cambridge, since St Edmund's was at the time unable to matriculate students of its own. He obtained another M.Sc. in 1962, from Queen's University, for a thesis on group characters.

Walsh was assigned as a mathematics teacher at St MacNissi's College, Garron Tower from 1958 to 1964. He was then chaplain, along with Fr Ambrose Macaulay, at Queen's from 1964 to 1970.

In 1970 he was appointed president of St. Malachy's College and served in this role until he became a bishop in 1983. Thereafter he served as chairman of the board of governors for the college for many years.

Bishop

In 1983, with Dr Anthony Farquhar he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Down and Connor and was consecrated on 15 May by Bishop Cahal Daly, Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi and Bishop William Philbin. During the ordination ceremony, the assistant priests to Bishop Walsh were Fr Charles Agnew and Fr Hugh Crossin. He was given the titular see of Ros Cré. His Episcopal Motto was 'Ex Animo Operari', to work with one's heart (Col 3:24).

In 1991, on the elevation of the then Bishop Daly as Archbishop of Armagh, Dr Walsh became the 31st Bishop of Down & Connor.

Walsh was the Principal Consecrator of Bishop Michael Dallat and Bishop Donal McKeown.

Resignation

Walsh was succeeded as bishop by Monsignor Noel Treanor on 22 February 2008.

Death

Walsh died on 28 December 2023, at Nazareth House Care Village in Belfast, where he had been a resident for some time. He was 92. He is buried in St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast. His death came six weeks after that of Bishop Anthony Farquhar who was consecrated with him and who also had been resident at Nazareth House.

Styles of Patrick Walsh
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	My Lord
Religious style	Monsignor
Posthumous style	none

References

• Diocese of Down & Connor
• Patrick J Walsh on Catholic Hierarchy
• Comments by Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship on disobedience by bishops

Specific