Emmet M. Walsh

Emmet Michael Walsh (March 6, 1892 – March 16, 1968) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Charleston, South Carolina (1927–1949) and Bishop of Youngstown, Ohio (1952–1968).

Walsh in the Oval Office, (7th from left) in 1951

The eighth of eleven children, Emmet Walsh was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, to Thomas and Wilhelmenia (née Jennerman) Walsh. In 1906 he and his family moved to Savannah, Georgia. After graduating from Savannah High School in 1910, he studied for the priesthood at St. Bernard's Seminary in Rochester, New York. He returned to Georgia, where he was ordained a priest by Bishop Benjamin Joseph Keiley on January 15, 1916.

Walsh then served as a curate at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Atlanta until 1917, when he became pastor of St. Teresa's Church in Albany. He was also charged with the missions in Southwest Georgia, giving him a jurisdiction of 1,000 Catholics over 16,000 square miles. He was named pastor of St. Patrick's Church at Savannah in 1921, and returned to Immaculate Conception Church at Atlanta as pastor in 1923.

On June 20, 1927, Walsh was appointed the sixth Bishop of Charleston by Pope Pius XI. He received his episcopal consecration on the following September 8 from Bishop Michael Joseph Keyes, S.M., with Bishops Patrick Joseph Barry and William Joseph Hafey serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. At age 35, Walsh was then the youngest member of the American hierarchy. During his 22-year-long tenure in Charleston, he erected 25 new churches, four new hospitals, and two vacation camps for youth. He also served as chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Conference's Legal Department and secretary of the Bishops' Meeting at the Catholic University of America.

Pope Pius XII named Walsh Coadjutor Bishop of Youngstown, Ohio, and Titular Bishop of Rhaedestus on September 8, 1949. In 1951 he was appointed by President Harry S. Truman to the Internal Security and Individual Rights Commission to combat Communism. Walsh succeeded the late James A. McFadden as the second Bishop of Youngstown on November 16, 1952. During his tenure, the diocese experienced a period of great growth. He became an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne in 1954, and attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965.

Walsh later died at Youngstown, aged 76.