In Memory

Rev. Lionel John Walsh, S.F.M.

1929-2011

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Fr. Lionel Walsh died peacefully on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, at Scarborough General Hospital in Toronto. He was 81 years of age.

Born on December 27, 1929, in Allan’s Island, Newfoundland, his family later moved to Dingwall, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. However, over the years he returned as often as possible to his beloved rock.

Fr. Lionel taught school for a few years before joining Scarboro Missions. After completing studies in philosophy and theology at St. Francis Xavier Seminary in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and at St. Augustine’s Seminary in Toronto, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop J.R. MacDonald in Antigonish on December 21, 1957. The following year he was missioned to the Dominican Republic where he served most of his 54 years of priesthood in the parishes in Azua, Bani, Monte Plata, Yamasa, El Seibo and Matanzas. Like Micah, he loved the poor tenderly and walked humbly among them.

He was deeply religious and wanted only one thing in life and that was to be a good priest.

“Lionel was a teacher before and after he became a priest,” said Fr. John Walsh, homilist at Fr. Lionel’s funeral Mass. “I can envision him in the open air or in an open-sided hut in Santo Domingo, just as we see Jesus of the Gospel sitting down on a hillside with the disciples around him, teaching them. For the poor, landless peasants Lionel ministered to, the Beatitudes must have been words of true compassion.”

Fr. Lionel organized a successful catechetical program in the parish of Yamasa early in his priesthood. Fr. John Walsh followed him there as curate and said, “I regret that I wasn’t given the chance to spend more time under his tutelage before I tried to fill his shoes.”

From 1967 to 1971 Fr. Lionel returned to Canada to serve as director of the Scarboro Formation House in Antigonish. He went back to the Dominican Republic in 1971 and remained there until 2003 when he returned to Canada permanently due to ill health.

Fr. Lionel loved poetry and could proudly quote great poems he had memorized in his youth. He was a good listener, genuinely interested in the welfare of others and never drawing attention to himself. In his quiet manner he thought before he spoke. He was also a man of courage, never letting his Parkinson’s or any other condition he suffered from get him down. He bore whatever pain he experienced in silence.

Fr. Lionel is predeceased by his parents Margaret and Frederick Walsh and his brother Andre. He is survived by his sisters, Sr. Mary (Mercy Convent, St. John’s, Newfoundland), Sr. Margaret (Our Lady’s Missionaries, Toronto), Denise (Fox) of Montreal and Charlotte (Fraser) of Baddeck, Nova Scotia. He will be sadly missed by his sisters, by his nieces, nephews and extended family, and by his colleagues at Scarboro.

A wake service was held in the St. Francis Xavier Chapel at Scarboro Missions during which many of Fr. Lionel’s nieces and nephews spoke about their love for him. The Mass of the Resurrection was celebrated on Saturday, April 30, with Fr. Jack Lynch, Superior General, presiding and Fr. John Walsh as homilist. Fr. Lionel was buried in Our Lady Queen of the Clergy cemetery on the grounds of St. Augustine’s Seminary.

May he rest in peace.

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