Father Walter J. McGovern, a ‘people person’ known for his home visits, dies at 92

Father Walter J. McGovern, fondly remembered for his loving, pastoral presence during his six decades serving the Archdiocese of Baltimore, died May 9 at Stella Maris in Timonium. He was 92.

During the early part of his ministry, Father McGovern served as associate pastor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Highlandtown and Shrine of the Little Flower in Baltimore. In 1984, he moved to Holy Family in Randallstown, where he served for more than 31 years as associate pastor, temporary administrator and priest-in-residence.

“Father McGovern was known as the kitchen priest,” said Joanne Davis, a parishioner of Holy Family since 1975. “He made it a point to visit every parishioner at their house a few times a year and would almost always end up at the kitchen table.”

Davis and Father McGovern shared a birthday – June 21, and they both volunteered at Northwest Hospital giving Communion to patients. Father McGovern served at the hospital for more than 30 years.

Every Christmas season, Davis said, the priest celebrated a Mass and read a Christmas story for the Holy Family School students. He liked to have a new story every year, so Davis started collecting the books herself.

“The kids loved him, the old folks loved him, everyone loved him,” she said. “He was colorful, and he was fun.”

After one of Father McGovern’s famous home visits shortly before Thanksgiving 1997, his car was broadsided and flipped over, pinning him beneath it. He spent nine weeks at the University of Maryland R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. After more than two months in the hospital and a month in a rehabilitation facility, Father McGovern returned to his rectory in a wheelchair.

In a 2006 interview with the Catholic Review, Father McGovern said his experience with the accident and his recovery helped him in his visits to hospital patients.

“When I go to the hospital,” he said, “I’m not just talking. I’ve been there, and I know what they’ve been through.”

Before the accident, Father McGovern said, “I took so many things for granted, and I don’t any more. You don’t know how well God made you until things don’t work.”

Born and raised in the Baltimore area, Father McGovern attended St. Clement I, Lansdowne, and Loyola Blakefield in Towson. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. In 1958, he graduated from St. Charles College and then attended St. Mary’s Seminary on Paca Street and St. Mary’s Seminary in Roland Park.

Father McGovern was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in 1964. May 16 would have been the 60th anniversary of his ordination.

Father George Limmer had known Father McGovern since they attended St. Mary’s in Roland Park together, but they got to be close friends after they were ordained in 1964.

The pair did a lot of traveling together over the years. They were regular visitors to Ocean City, Md., and also took cruises and flew to Europe. Their last trip together was October 2022 when they toured Civil War sites in Fredericksburg, Va.

“He was a people person, not big on learning philosophy and theology,” said Father Limmer, retired pastor of St. Mary in Hagerstown. “He made it through, but he would much rather be with people and talking to them than reading a book. He loved to visit his parishioners at their home.”

Deacon Steve Roscher, deacon at St. Charles Borromeo in Pikesville, had known Father McGovern for 40 years, since he first came to Holy Family, where he was a parishioner. Deacon Roscher said he would often see his friend walking the sidewalk on Liberty Road near the church praying the rosary.

“Everyone loved him,” said Deacon Roscher. “He had a way of relating with people. He was very approachable – a Baltimore guy.”

Father McGovern retired as associate pastor of Holy Family in 1997, but he remained priest-in-residence and continued many of his duties, including Sunday Mass and funerals. He moved to Mercy Ridge Retirement Community in Timonium in 2015.

“After his accident, we thought we were going to lose him for sure,” Deacon Roscher said. “But he came back and gave us many more years. He worked so hard, you barely knew he was retired.”

Archbishop William E. Lori offered a funeral Mass at Holy Family May 15 at 10 a.m. 

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