Gerald James Walsh

Reverend Monsignor Gerald James Walsh, 87, Bismarck, passed away on September 22, 2015, at CHI St. Alexius Health, Bismarck. Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11:30 a.m., Monday, September 28, at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, with the Most Reverend David D. Kagan, Bishop of Bismarck, officiating. The priests of the Diocese of Bismarck will concelebrate. Burial will follow at St. Mary's Cemetery, Bismarck. Visitation will be held at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on Sunday, September 27, from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. with a vigil and rosary at 7:00 p.m. Visitation will also be held one hour prior to Mass.Monsignor Walsh was born on May 4, 1928, at St. Joseph's Hospital in Minot, ND, and grew up in a rural community near Minot. He was the fourth child and first born son of James Leo and Magdalena Mary (Frost) Walsh. His elementary education took place in rural schools until the 9th grade when he entered St. Leo's High School in Minot. Graduating in 1946, he continued his education at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, for one year. Sensing a call to the priesthood, he entered Crosier Seminary, Onamia, MN, where he studied for two years. He then entered St. Thomas Seminary, Denver, CO, where he completed his courses in philosophy and theology and was ordained by Bishop Lambert A. Hoch, Bishop of Bismarck, on Ascension Thursday, May 19, 1955, at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Bismarck, ND. Monsignor Walsh's first priestly assignments were temporary and took place at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, the Church of St. Boniface, Grenora, and the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Hanks. On August 24, 1955, he was assigned to the Church of St. Patrick, Dickinson, as parochial vicar where he spent four years.In June 1959, Bishop Hilary B. Hacker assigned Monsignor Walsh to the Chancery Office as Vice Chancellor and three months later as Chancellor of the diocese where he remained until January 9, 1970. At that time he was again assigned to the Church of St. Patrick, Dickinson, as pastor. He remained there until 1983 when Bishop John F. Kinney assigned him to the Church of St. Pius V, New Salem, and the Church of St. Mary, Queen of Peace, Almont.Bishop Kinney chose Monsignor Walsh as his Vicar General in 1982, an office which he held until 1993. In 1991 he was asked to serve as director of priestly vocations and vicar for presbyters for the diocese. That same year, His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, named him a Prelate of Honor to His Holiness with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In July 1995, when Bishop Kinney was asked to become the bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud, MN, Monsignor Walsh was elected by the Diocesan College of Consultors to become the Apostolic Administrator for the Diocese of Bismarck. He remained in this office until December 31, 1996 when a new bishop was announced for the Diocese of Bismarck and Bishop Paul A. Zipfel was installed in February, 1997. Monsignor Walsh retired from active duty on July 1, 1998, at age 70, when he moved to Tucson, AZ for the winters where he continued to help in parishes on weekends until recently.Monsignor Walsh became a member of the Equestrian Order of the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1995 with the title of Knight Commander. From 2006 to 2008 he served as National Chaplain for the Catholic Daughters of the Americas.Monsignor Walsh is survived by his sister, Kathleen M. Kondos, his brother, Jerome L. Walsh and his sister-in-law, Mary L. Walsh, all of Minot, and brother-in-law Donald J. Westom, along with his fifteen nieces and nephews and their families.He was preceded in death by his parents James and Magdalena, two older sisters, Lucille Peterson-Hofer and Lois Marie Westom, a sister-in-law, Darlene Bach Walsh, and brothers-in- law, Robert B. Peterson, Arthur T. Hofer, Robert V. Kondos, a nephew, James J. Westom and a grandnephew, Joseph D. Westom.Memorials may be made to the James and Magdalena Walsh Seminary Scholarship Fund or to the St. John Vianney Foundation Fund for Priest Care, endowment funds for the Diocese of Bismarck.