SCHOOL AND PARISH REMEMBER MSGR. DAVID WELSH

Dec 2000 - This fall, we bid a sad farewell to a beloved member of our parish community, with the passing of Msgr. David Welsh.

He served as associate pastor of St. Elizabeth’s from 1950 to 1968.

“Msgr. Welsh reminded you of a tougher and better-looking Spencer Tracy,” says fifth-grade teacher Eileen Ferry. “He was honest, frank and devoted to the precepts of the Catholic Church of the 50’s and 60’s.”

Born in 1913, Msgr. Welsh was ordained by Cardinal Hayes in 1937, as part of the largest class of priests ever ordained in the history of the Archdiocese. He served as pastor and associate pastor at a number of parishes throughout Manhattan and the Bronx, and in Rosendale.

When Msgr. Welsh retired as pastor of St. Denis in Yonkers in 1988, he remained to celebrate daily Mass. He entered St. Joseph’s Nursing Home in Yonkers in 1998, where he continued to minister as a priest.

Ms. Ferry says many who knew Msgr. Welsh as kids remember him as larger than life. “But the adults enjoyed his company, sense of humor, his no nonsense approach and intense spirituality. I met him years later and could not believe how the legend and the reality were two different things. I enjoyed listening to him tell very funny stories and sing his heart out. His passing was the end of an era.”