Fr. William J. Walsh: Accused of Child Sexual Abuse

Fr. William J. Walsh

Ordained: 1954
Assignments:
  • 1954-1955: Woodstock College, Woodstock, MD (BAL)
  • 1955-1956: Jesuit Tertianship, Auriesville, NY (ALB)
  • 1956-1961: St. Ignatius, Baltimore, MD (BAL)
  • 1961-1965: Bishop’s Latin School, Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
  • 1965-1966: Unknown
  • 1966-1967: Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (WDC)
  • 1998-2010: Ferdinand Wheeler House, Baltimore, MD (BAL)
  • 1967-1973: Novitiate of St. Isaac Jogues, Wernersville, PA (ALN)
  • 2010-2012: Colombiere Jesuit Community, Baltimore, MD (BAL)
  • 1973-1975: Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (WDC)
  • 1980-1985: Jesuit Fathers and Brothers Maryland Provincial Curia, Baltimore, MD (BAL)
  • 1985-1986: Jesuit Community, Berkley, CA (OAK)
  • 1991: St. Alphonsus House at St. Joseph University, Philadelphia, PA (PH)
  • 1989-1991: Loyola Center at St. Joseph University, PA (PH)
  • 1991-1996: China
  • 1996-1998: Woodstock Jesuit Community at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (WDC)
  • 2013-2019: Unknown

In 1996, five of Fr. Walsh’s nieces, all sisters, privately accused him of sexually abusing them hundreds of times as children from the 1940s to the 1960s. Fr. Walsh, at the time on a foreign mission in China, was recalled and reassigned to Woodstock Jesuit Community at Georgetown University and sent to treatment. Two years later, in 1998, the five nieces made their accusations public because the Jesuits had not removed Fr. Walsh from ministry. The Jesuits subsequently removed Fr. Walsh from active ministry. It was reported that the five nieces had all been sexually abused individually and believed herself to be the only one abused by Fr Walsh. It was not until 40 years later that they reconciled their stories. One sister claimed Fr. Walsh had abused her up to 200 times. Fr. Walsh is listed on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s list of “Priests and Brothers Accused of Child Sex Abuse” and on the Maryland Jesuit’s list of “Jesuits with an allegation of an offense against a minor.”