MINNESOTA
Monticello Times
Former St. Henry’s pastor, music director Harry Walsh answers questions about allegations, tries to clear reputation
By Tim Hennagir
June 26, 2014
When Harry Walsh heard a knock at his door last Dec. 17, two Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reporters standing in bone-chilling temperatures greeted him.
The former St. Henry’s Catholic Church pastor and music director said he wasn’t about to let two unknown souls freeze to death, so he invited them inside his home.
“They were out on the doorstep, and they identified themselves as being from MPR, and they asked me if I was Harry Walsh,” he said.
“They were standing out in the sub-zero cold, and I said, ‘Come in out of the cold.’ I didn’t have the heart to leave them standing there,” Walsh said. “They came uninvited and unannounced.”
Two days later, MPR broke a lengthy investigative story online entitled, “Abuse claims kept secret allowed priest to minister and teach sex ed.”
Walsh said one of the reporters asked him about sexual abuse allegations involving a person in Detroit. The reporter asked Walsh if the allegations were true, and questions about his position on celibacy involving priests in the Catholic Church and his employment with Wright County Human Services, which ended a week later during a scheduled board meeting.
“I’m trying to adjust to the fact that I’m not needed in the community, county, church and school,” Walsh said in an interview with the Monticello Times.
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