Martin J. Walsh

Rev. Martin J. Walsh, OMI, 86, died on December 9, 2014, at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, after a period of declining health. He was born on January 11, 1928, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a son of the late Lawrence and Cecelia (Sullivan) Walsh and one of three children. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by a brother, Edmund Walsh, and a brother-in-law, Anthony Feeney.
Fr. Walsh was educated in Norwood, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, and Buffalo, New York, through high school. He attended college at the Oblate House of Philosophy, Newburgh, New York; Oblate College, Washington, DC; Catholic University, Washington, DC; and Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana.
He entered the Oblate Novitiate in Ipswich, Massachusetts, on September 7, 1947. He professed his first vows on September 8, 1948, and his perpetual vows on September 8, 1952. The late Bishop Arsene Turquetil, OMI, ordained him to the priesthood in Washington, DC, on May 30, 1954. He celebrated 60 years of priesthood this past May.
Fr. Walsh began his ministry from 1954 to 1963, as Assistant Vocation Director, then Vocation Director. From 1963 to 1966 he served at the Oblate Novitiate in Tewksbury as Assistant Novice Master, then Superior and Novice Master. He was Superior of Oblate College, Washington, DC, from 1966 to 1970. His next assignment, from 1970 to 1972, was Chaplain at Bishop Fallon High School in Buffalo, New York. He was editor of the Oblate World newspaper and Director of the Missionary Association of Mary Immaculate (M.A.M.I.) and the Oblate Mission Club from 1972 to 1979, while assigned to the Oblate Provincial House of the former Eastern U. S. Province in Boston. He also served on the provincial council. From 1980 to 2006 he did parish ministry at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Monroe, Florida; St. Christopher Parish, Dickinson, Texas; Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Marysville, Pennsylvania; St. William's Parish, Tewksbury; and St. Rose of Lima Parish in Buffalo. His final assignment was to the staff at St. Joseph the Worker Shrine in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 2006 to 2011. He retired in November of 2011 and moved to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Residence where he remained until his death.
In addition to his Oblate family, Fr. Walsh is survived by a sister, Mary Feeney, of Norwood, Massachusetts; a nephew, Peter Feeney, of Florida; and a sister-in-law, Ann Walsh, of Chatham, Massachusetts.