Thomas Jerome Welsh

Thomas Jerome Welsh, Thomas J. Welsh, ( born December 20 1921 in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, USA, † February 19, 2009 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA) was Bishop of Arlington and Allentown.

Life

Thomas Jerome Welsh, who came from an Irish Catholic family with five children, came with 15 years in the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Montgomery County, a. He received on 30 May 1946, the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. At the Catholic University of America (CUA ) in Washington, he received his doctorate in canon law. He was first pastor in Philadelphia and Doylestown. From 1949 he became a professor at Southeast Catholic High School, now the Saint John Neumann High School.

On February 18, 1970 Pope Paul VI appointed him. Titular Bishop of Inis Cathaig and auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He received his episcopal consecration of the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal John Joseph Krol, on 2 April of the same year; Co-consecrators were the auxiliary bishops in Philadelphia Gerald Vincent McDevitt and John Joseph Graham.

1974 he was appointed first bishop of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. During his tenure as a founding bishop in Arlington he had to deal with important issues of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA ), the anti - nuclear movement and abortion. He founded several schools, among others. He is named after Bishop Thomas J. Welsh Hall at DeSales University in Allentown.

1983 Pope John Paul II appointed him the second bishop of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Again, he campaigned for the abolition of abortion and founded the movement Stand Up For Life; he also campaigned for the youth and the education of children. He founded the Catholic Home Study Institute.

1997 his age-related resignation was accepted by Pope John Paul II.