Rev. Harry Dean Walker—Assignment Record

Summary of Case: A claim was reportedly filed with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware, alleging that a boy was molested at age 15 by Fr. Harry Dean Walker, when the boy was a parishioner at St. Francis de Sales church in Salisbury MD in the 1960s. Walker was not assigned to the church. Victims' advocates state that they have received other allegations.

Born: 1934
Ordained: May 27, 1961
Incardinated: Wilmington
Retired: Withdrew from active ministry in 1972

 

Start Stop Parish Town
State
 Position Notes
1961 1963 Church of the Good Shepherd Perryville
MD
 2/2, associate pastor. Pastor was Rev. William R. Couming. Wilmington diocese. Parish school had 204 pupils in 1961-1962.
1961   St. Theresa's Point Deposit
MD
   Mission of Good Shepherd.
1961   St. Agnes Rising Sun
MD
   Mission of Good Shepherd.
1963 1964 St. Michael the Archangel Georgetown
DE
   Not listed here in the 1964 Directory, but listed here in the biography.
1963 1964 St. Ann's Bethany Beach
DE
   Mission of St. Michael's.
1964 1966 Boston College Newton
MA
 Student. Boston archdiocese.
1966 1968 Catholic Social Services Wilmington
DE
 Administrative Assistant of the Wilmington office in the 1967 Directory; Assistant Director in the 1968 Directory. Not listed here in the 1969 Directory, which lists Msgr. Thomas J. Reese as Director.

Wilmington diocese.

In 1966-1967, the Wilmington office had a staff of 24, and served 2,217 families and children, and provided counseling to 799.
1966 1967 Residence unknown  
The 1967 Directory indexes Walker as on duty outside the diocese, but the Wilmington pages no longer list him as on duty at Boston College; instead, he is listed as Administrative Assistant at Catholic Social Services. Perhaps Walker was already in residence at St. Ann's in Wilmington (see next entry), or maybe he was in residence at a different parish.
1967 1968 St. Ann's Wilmington
DE
 3/3. Priests were Msgr. John A. Corrigan, and Revs. David J. Schilly and (in res.) Harry D.F. Walker. Corrigan was a pro-synodal judge and Schilly was a tribunal notary. Corrigan was also on the Diocesan Administrative Council. Wilmington diocese. Parish school had 368 pupils in 1967-1968. Listed here in the 1968 Directory, but not in biography.
1968 1968 Holy Name of Jesus Pocamoke City
MD
 Administrator here for 3 months. Wilmington diocese. Listed here in biography, but not in Directory.
1968 1968 St. Elizabeth's Westover
MD
 Administrator here for 3 months. Mission of Holy Name, which also maintained stations in Crisfield MD and Chincoteague VA.
1968 1969 St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Wilmington
DE
 1/3, administrator. Priests were Walker, Msgr. Paul J. Taggart, and Rev. Clement P. Lemon. Taggart was the Vicar General. Wilmington diocese. Parish school had 80 pupils.
1969 1970 St. Paul's Wilmington
DE
 1/2, administrator. The second priest was Rev. Thomas E. Hanley. Wilmington diocese. Parish school had 312 pupils.
1970 1972 St. Patrick's Wilmington
DE
 2/2, administrator, but with Rev. Herbert T. Rimlinger, who was also the former officialis and a tribunal judge, listed first. Wilmington diocese. The parish attended a mission, Little Flower.
1972   "Withdrew from active ministry"  
  See biography.

 

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1962-1973); Catholic Priests of the Diocese of Wilmington: A Jubilee Year 2000 Commemoration, by Thomas J. Peterman, 2000, p. 244.

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Walker's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with an allegation reported in the Wilmington diocesan bankruptcy case. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on 2/18/11.