Memories of Howard Walsh

We were grieved last month to hear of the passing of Howard Walsh, a great friend of the FSSP and a longtime parishioner of Our Lady of Fatima apostolate in Pequannock, New Jersey.

Beginning in 1994, Howard Walsh served for many years on the Fraternity’s Board of advisors. He was known to us not only as a benefactor but also as a vigorous promoter of our beloved traditions of the Church. Through publishing Latin Mass Magazine and running the website keepthefaith.org, he was a great champion of the faith and made many recordings and other information available to the Catholic world, at a time when such things were hard to come by.

Now that we have had more time to reflect on his extraordinary life and his support for our charism, we wanted to share with our readers some additional thoughts from our confreres in the FSSP.

Every once in a while, one meets someone with a sincere ardor for the Faith, an uncompromising love of family and selfless generosity to neighbor–not for show, but on tap, ripe, active, poised and “ready to use”. I had the pleasure to work closely with such a person.
For 7 ½ years, I had the privilege to work with Mr. Howard Walsh while in the Development Office. His passion for promoting solid formation of good holy priests contributed greatly to the impetus to relocate Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary to Denton, Nebraska.
Determined, magnanimous, but always inconspicuous, Howard Walsh was instrumental in the construction of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary brick by brick in all three phases of construction. Without his invaluable assistance and counsel, the project would have been delayed, probably for years. He was so proud of all the priests and seminarians of FSSP and OLGS. We have lost a great benefactor, mentor, supporter and friend!
May his reward be great for he had been faithful over a little, maybe he has now been set over much! (ref. Mt 25:21).

– Fr. Neal Nichols, FSSP

 

“When one speaks of the great men of the Church who fought to spread the doctrine of the Church and to help preserve the sacred Liturgy, Howard Walsh should be amongst the top names on the list. He was the silent man in the background who helped the world hear the voices of Michael Davies, Dr. Marra, and so many others. Still, to this day, Keep the Faith and Latin Mass magazine show forth the truth to thousands of men and women. He will be greatly missed by all of us in the Fraternity who knew and therefore loved him.

– Fr. Gregory Pendergraft, FSSP

We conclude by passing along an interview that Mr. Walsh gave to the Bellarmine Forum back in 2013, just days before the resignation of Pope Benedict, where he described his involvement with Latin Mass Magazine. He also spoke about the effects of Summorum Pontificum on the Latin Mass movement in general, as it stood at that time, referencing his relationship to the FSSP.

Footnote 22: The Story Of Latin Mass Magazine, an Interview with Howard Walsh

 

His voice within the Church will be sorely missed, and we ask for prayers for his soul and for his loved ones during this time.