Father John Walsh is a Montreal-area priest known for his outstanding involvement in the community. In some circles, he’s known as Montreal’s favourite priest.
In 2006, Walsh co-founded the Father’s Day Procure Walk of Courage to raise money for the fight against prostate cancer.
This year, Walsh marked an important milestone, celebrating 50 years in the priesthood with the release of his autobiography entitled God is Calling, Don’t leave him on Hold.
Walsh took time out of his busy schedule Friday to guest host Global News Morning in Montreal.
WATCH BELOW: Father John Walsh guest hosts Global News Morning.
We asked him a few questions to get to know him a little better.
What’s the best part about being a priest?
“The best part about it is meeting people and learning from them.”
And the hardest part of your job?
“Getting up at 4 a.m. to guest host the news,” he quipped before adding: “There’s no hard part. It’s ministering, it’s not work.”
But then upon further reflection Walsh admitted that maybe the hardest thing was to recognize your own limits.
“The hardest part is knowing that I’m slowing down finally,” he said. “I figure it’s time.”
While some refer to that stage in life as retirement, Walsh said he just needs to refocus his efforts.
“I need to see what I can do best and do it less spread out,” Walsh said.
He hopes to focus more on his writing and preaching and would like to devote more time to the poor.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
“There have been so many occasions where I’ve been surprised,” he said. “Out of a hundred things I’ve done, maybe 25 were successful.”
“I think the only successful people are those who don’t really try to do anything new.”
What is the best advice you were ever given?
“When someone knocks at your door, receive that person with a warm welcome and be merciful–it might just be God in disguise,” he said.
“I was 15-years-old and a priest told me this story about a disheveled man who came knocking at his door at three o’clock in the morning. The man was in rough shape. The priest who opened the door took him in and helped the man reconnect with his family whom he hadn’t seen in a very long time.”
As it turns out, the disheveled fellow was also a priest.
What is something that people might not know about you?
“I like to write poetry…It’s very spontaneous,” Walsh said of his writing process. “I also do paintings — oils, pastels and now acrylics.”
Walsh doesn’t have a particular theme or subject matter he likes to paint. He’s a self-described eclectic.
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