Rev. Walter Dayton Salisbury, S.S.J.

Assignment Record– Rev. Walter Dayton Salisbury, S.S.J.

Summary of Case: A Josephite priest ordained in 1959, Salisbury was a college chaplain, teacher, and Alderian psychologist in Houston for many years. He served on the Galveston-Houston diocese's Priests Senate and chaired continuing education for priests. He was transferred in 1979 to Washington D.C., where he was a counselor at St. Joseph's Seminary, and in 1983 he was moved to a parish in the Mobile AL diocese. After two years he was back in D.C., where he was in residence at two parishes, consecutively. At some point he also worked in Louisiana.

Along the way, Rev. Salisbury was twice convicted of child sexual abuse and accused at least one other time. In 1978 he was charged with indecency with a child; convicted in June 1979 after pleading 'no contest,' he was given three-years' probation. Per news reports, Salisbury was also accused of child molestation in Alabama. It wasn't until he molested a boy in his Washington D.C. rectory in 1993 that Salisbury was removed from ministry. In that case, he pleaded guilty and was given a one year prison sentence, suspended, and a year of probation. The Josephites sent him to treatment and prohibited him from presenting himself as a priest.

In approximately the mid-1990s, Salisbury relocated to his native Bar Harbor ME. He served for many years on the town's housing authority board, but resigned under duress in 2010 after his criminal convictions came to light. He had been listed as "Father" W. Dayton Salisbury on the housing authority's web page.

Ordained: June 6, 1959

Start	Stop	Assignments	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1959 Diocese of Galveston-Houston Bishop was Wendelin Joseph Nold (1950-1975).	1963	St. Nicholas	Houston	TX	2/2	St. Nicholas had a school with 358-334 students, and a High School with 69-79 students.
1963	1973	St. Martin de Porres	Prairie View	TX	1/1	Salisbury is indexed in the 1969-1973 Directories as in Prairie View, but neither the town nor parish could be found in the Galveston-Houston pages as they were in previous Directory years.
		Continuing Ed for Priests	Houston	TX	chairman
		Diocesan Senate of Priests	Houston	TX	member
1963	1968	A & M College Catholic Newman Center	Prairie View	TX	chaplain
1968 Diocese of Galveston-Houston Nold was succeeded as bishop by John Louis Morkovsky (1975-1984).	1979	Texas Southern Catholic Newman Center	Houston • In 1978 Salisbury was charged with indecency with a child. He pleaded no contest, was convicted in June 1979, and was given three-years' probation.	TX	resident chaplain	A 1978 bio states that Salisbury had been chaplain at Texas Southern University Newman Center for more than 20 years.
		University of St. Thomas	Houston	TX	teacher
1979 Archdiocese of Washington Archbishop was William Wakefield Baum (1973-1980), followed by James Aloysius Hickey (1980-2000).	1983	St. Joseph's Seminary	Washington	D.C.	counselor
				LA		At some point prior to 1993 Salisbury worked in Louisiana.
1983 Diocese of Mobile Bishop was Oscar Hugh Lipscomb (1980-2008).	1985	St. Joseph's	Tuskegee Institute • Salisbury was accused of child molestation in Alabama.	AL	1/1	St. Joseph's had a school with 220-190 students.
1985 Archdiocese of Washington Archbishop was James Aloysius Hickey (1980-2000).	1987	Holy Redeemer	Washington	DC	2/2 In residence.	Holy Redeemer had a school with 278 students.
1987	1993	St. Luke's	Washington • In April 1993 Salisbury was charged with with having sexual relations with a young boy related to an incident in January of that year in St. Luke's rectory. Salisbury had been tutoring the boy. Salisbury pleaded guilty and was given a one year prison sentence, suspended, and a year of probation.	DC	3/3, 2/3 In residence.	After the 1993 incident Salisbury was removed from ministry and sent to treatment. He was prohibited from presenting himself as a priest.
1993 Archdiocese of Baltimore Archbishop was William Henry Keeler (1989-2007).	2007	St. Joseph Society of the Sacred Heart House of Central Administration	Baltimore	MD	retired	Salisbury is not indexed beyond the 2007 Directory. Although the Directories show Salisbury as in Baltimore, in 2010 he indicated in a news story that he had been in Bar Harbor, ME for at least "13 or 14 years." He was originally from Bar Harbor. Salisbury became the focus of public controversy in 2010 when his criminal convictions came to light. He had been a long-time Bar Harbor Housing Authority board member and was listed on the Town's Website as "Father" W. Dayton Salisbury. He resigned under duress in December 2010.
mid-1990s			Bar Harbor	ME

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.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (Kenedy & Sons, 1960-2007).

• Salisbury to Conduct Psychology Lectures, Galveston Daily News Spetember 9, 1978
• VOTF Southeast Wi Affiliate, Voice of the Faithful, In the Vineyard April, 2003
• Priest Goes to Police after Sex Charge, Washington Times, April 16, 1993
• After Child Abuse Accusations, Catholic Priests Often Simply Vanish, By William Wan and Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post December 2, 2010
• Former Priest Who Is Convicted Sex Offender Resigns Bar Harbor Housing Board, By Bill Trotter, Bangor Daily News, December 3, 2010
• Ex-Priest Resigns after Past Comes to Light, By Robert Levin, The Fenceviewer, December 8, 2010
• Priest Abuse Group Demands Apology from Bar Harbor, By Bill Trotter, Bangor Daily News, December 22, 2010
• Clergy Sex Abuse Victims Blast Bar Harbor Officials, SNAP Statement, December 23, 2010
• Convicted DC Predator Priest Causes Controversy in Maine, SNAP Statement, December 25, 2010
• Victims Appeal to Maine's Congressional Delegation, SNAP Statement, December 27, 2010
• Convicted Houston Predator Priest Causes Controversy in Maine, By David Clohessy, The Informer and Texas Freeman 12.27.10
• Despite Some Claims, Donald Wuerl No Better Than Other Church Officials, SNAP Statement, February 19, 2013

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 Salisbury's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with the allegations against him, as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegations 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 December 20, 2016.