On July 10, 1970, a frail and elderly man left the company of the Red Guards and walked across the bridge linking mainland China and the island of Hong Kong. After twelve years in prison, Bishop James E. Walsh, the last foreign missionary in Communist China, was on his way home.  

Walsh had initially gone to China in 1918 as part of the first overseas team of Maryknoll missioners, and in 1927 he was named bishop of Kongmoon. In 1936 he was recalled to the United States to serve for ten years as Maryknoll’s second superior general. But in 1948 he was back in Shanghai. With the Communist victory, his activities were steadily restricted. Yet he swore he would never leave voluntarily. He believed the vocation of a priest remained the same, even if everything else was stripped away: to be a representative of God’s love. This calling could be fulfilled under any circumstance. “If we start to pick and choose for ourselves, it is very hard to tell if we are carrying out our vocation or running away from it.”  

In 1958 he was arrested, charged with espionage, and sentenced to twenty years in prison. He accepted his situation with remarkable serenity, believing that in prison he served the Gospel as faithfully as he could. Finally, in 1970, at the age of seventy-nine, he was released.  

Walsh lived on for many years, revered by Maryknollers and others as a heroic and holy confessor. He disclaimed special recognition: “I was a Catholic priest and my people were in trouble. So I simply stayed with them as all priests should at all times.” He died on July 29, 1981.  

“Prayer is so powerful. I am a living example of what prayer can do.” —Bishop James E. Walsh