Former RVC Diocese Bishop Walsh, 77

Bishop Paul Walsh, who served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre from 2003 to his retirement in 2012, died Oct. 18 after an illness. He was 77.

Walsh brought “a gift to this diocese,” said Bishop William Murphy. “A parish priest who loved his people and whose people loved him.”

Walsh was born in Brooklyn on Aug. 17, 1937 to Paul J. and Dorothy Kehlenbeck Walsh. His family moved to Wantagh when he was a boy. He attended Saint Barnabas School in Bellmore and Seton Hall High School in Patchogue. He graduated from Providence College in Rhode Island and joined the Dominican order of Catholic priests. At one point he was the order’s director of formation.

In 1978, Walsh joined the Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan. He returned to Long Island in 1983 as an associate pastor at the Parish of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs. He was made a permanent priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre the following year.

In 1988, he was assigned as an associate pastor at St. Patrick’s in Smithtown. He eventually became pastor. Walsh also was the Suffolk County Police Department chaplain.

“I do know he did not want to leave Smithtown,” said Murphy. “Nor did his parishioners want him to leave them.”

In 2003, Pope John Paul II named Walsh as an auxiliary bishop for the diocese.

Murphy said that when he told Walsh that he was picked, Walsh first seemed not to hear him. Murphy explained how it was a wonderful to be chosen. “I probably prattled on long than I should of,” said Murphy.

Walsh continued not to answer.

Murphy nervously asked Walsh, “Well, you will accept, won’t you?’”

“Yes,” Walsh said. “But I really want to stay as a pastor.”

“Pastor,” said Murphy. “That was enough. It was enough for him. It was enough for us. Enough for God.”

Walsh then served as a pastor at Our Most Holy Rosary in Roosevelt from 2003 to 2009. He spent later years and retirement at the Church of Our Holy Redeemer in Freeport. “He also brought to him a very keen sense of humor,” said Murphy. “That could make us smile at the things that otherwise might discourage us. And he had the ability to speak in such a way that he actually helped us to look past the immediate crisis and to place our emphasis where it belonged — on trust in the Holy Spirit.”

Walsh is survived by his brother, Michael, and his sister-in-law, Susan. He is also survived by a niece, Jennifer, nephews, Timothy and Michael, grandnieces and a grandnephew.

A funeral mass was held at St. Agnes on Oct. 23. Walsh was buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Smithtown.