MASSACHUSETTS
Fox 25
[From the BishopAccountability.org datbase: Walsh was ordained for the Grand Rapids MI diocese in 6/02; he was placed on leave in 7/02 after the Grand Rapids diocese learned of allegations of sexual abuse of two children while he was a lay person 40 years previously in another (unspecified) diocese. Walsh was 65 and a former Air Force Sergeant at time of his ordination. Walsh is a native of Boston MA.]Grand Rapids, MI Source:
DORCHESTER – A former altar boy coordinator is facing two counts of rape of a child and three counts of indecent assault from an incident that happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s, said the district attorney.
Michael Walsh, 79, was an altar boy coordinator at Dorchester’s St. Brendan’s on Rita Road. when the assaults occurred, said the Suffolk County. He later became a priest but was relieved of his priesthood duties in 2002.
According to 2002 Grand Rapids Press story, Walsh was removed from the priesthood when an attorney for two alleged victims called the Grand Rapids diocese’s attorney about assault incidents years before. Walsh was serving the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan at the time.
Court paperwork says that Walsh used his position as an altar boy coordinator as well as his job as a Cedar Grove Baseball coach to “gain access, groom, and ultimately sexually abuse the alleged victim, when he was in fourth, fifth and sixth grades.”
Walsh was never a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston. In a statement, the Archdiocese said they wouldn’t comment on the legal proceedings.
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