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About Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh Papers

Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh was born in 1930 in Portarlington, Ireland, in a middle class urban family. He attended Jesuits preparatory schools and colleges -Crescent College, SJ. He began his studies for the priesthood at Mungret College, SJ, Ireland, then entered St. Mary’s Seminary, Baltimore, Md., where he received his licentiate in theology and was ordained for the Diocese of St. Augustine, Fla. in 1954. In 1955 he was appointed as Assistant Director of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Miami, FL, by Bishop Joseph P. Hurley, in 1958 he became Director.

Monsignor Walsh is best known for his role in Operation Pedro Pan/Cuban Children’s Program, an initiative that brought over 14,000 unaccompanied children from Cuba to escape political indoctrination during the 1960s. However, serving as Director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau of the Archdiocese of Miami, in the following 30 years he participated in numerous social initiatives to improve the living conditions of underrepresented groups including children, seniors, HIV/AIDS patients and political refugees from Cuba, Haiti and other areas in the Caribbean and Central America. In addition to working to achieve racial integration in Miami Dade County, he was crucial to fostering community dialogue during the aftermath of the 1980 riots in Miami.

 

Scope and content

This collection documents the private and public life of Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh between 1948 through 2001. Materials include personal & family papers, subject files, works, photographs, scrapbooks and audiovisual materials.

For the purpose of this project we will include materials within Series Works and Photographs. Works contains published & unpublished articles and papers by BOW-including speeches, homilies, and testimonies- and also includes works by other authors.

For more details go to Finding aid

For related items in the digital collections, click here.