Francis X. Shea
Encyclopedia
Francis Xavier "Frank" Shea (1926–July 9, 1977) was an American Jesuit priest and educator who served as president of the College of St. Scholastica
and, after leaving the Jesuit order, as chancellor of Antioch College
.
in Boston's South End, graduating in 1943. Shortly after graduation, in July 1943, he entered the Jesuits and began several years of training and study at the Shadowbrook novitiate
in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
, and at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology
in the Boston area. He acquired his first experience as an educator at St. George's College
in Jamaica
, where he taught high school
from 1950 to 1953.
Following additional study of theology
at Weston, Shea was ordained as a priest in 1956. In 1958 he began graduate studies in English literature
at the University of Minnesota
, which awarded him a Ph.D in 1961. After receiving his Ph.D, he was again assigned to St. George's College, where he taught until 1963.
In 1963, Shea was assigned to teach 19th and 20th-century English literature at Boston College
. As a faculty member at Boston College, Shea was popular with students and was active in civil rights
initiatives. He participated in a march
from Selma
to Montgomery, Alabama
, with Martin Luther King, Jr.
, in 1965, and was involved in the Upward Bound
program. In December 1968, he became Boston College's first executive vice president. In that position, he is remembered as an enthusiastic innovator whose effectiveness was sometimes diminished by his lack of administrative experience.
Shea left Boston College in 1971 to go to Duluth, Minnesota
, where he became president of the College of St. Scholastica, a Roman Catholic women's college that had recently become coeducational. He was the first male and the first non-Benedictine
to serve as the school's president. In four years there, he oversaw the building of dormitories
; the establishment of intercollegiate athletics
, including men's hockey
; and several additions to the curriculum, including academic programs in American Indian studies, physical therapy
, and media studies
. In the spring
when smelt were running, he invited the college community to his home on the shore of Lake Superior
for a fish fry
, beginning a school tradition of a spring celebration known as Mayfest.
In 1974 Shea resigned both his position at St. Scholastica and his priesthood to marry Susan Gussenhoven, a physicist
, then at Boston College, whom he had met when both were graduate students. Although he resigned his priesthood, he did not leave Roman Catholicism. He moved to Ohio
to become chancellor of Antioch College. He presided over Antioch during a period of financial difficulties and other disarray at the school. Describing the school as he found it, he said: "The entire administration has levitated out of sight, departed, or become otherwise incapacitated or unavailable."
Shea served three years at Antioch, resigning June 30, 1977. He died a few days thereafter, on July 9, 1977, from a massive heart attack.
in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
, that housed the Shadowbrook novitiate, culminating in its destruction by fire in 1956. His story was structured on the model of A Night to Remember, an account of the sinking of the Titanic written by Walter Lord
. Shea's book was published posthumously in 2009 by the Society of Jesus
as The Shadowbrook Fire (Elephant Tree Press, Watertown, Massachusetts
). Years earlier, Shea had told friends that Jesuit administrators had deemed his work to be "too frank" and to reflect badly on their community.
, to the town for establishment of a town forest to be named the "F.X. Shea Forest" in his honor.
The College of St. Scholastica
The College of Saint Scholastica is a private college with its main campus located in Duluth, Minnesota. The College was founded in 1912 by a group of pioneering Benedictine Sisters who offered college courses to six young women. Today St. Scholastica educates more than 4,000 students annually and...
and, after leaving the Jesuit order, as chancellor of Antioch College
Antioch College
Antioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was the founder and the flagship institution of the six-campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with politician and...
.
Biography
Francis X. Shea was born in the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1926. He attended the old Boston College High SchoolBoston College High School
Founded in 1863, Boston College High School is an all-male Jesuit Roman Catholic college preparatory secondary school with historical ties to Boston College. It has an enrollment in grades 7-12 of approximately 1,500 students and is located on a campus on Morrissey Boulevard in the Dorchester...
in Boston's South End, graduating in 1943. Shortly after graduation, in July 1943, he entered the Jesuits and began several years of training and study at the Shadowbrook novitiate
Novitiate
Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monastic or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to the religious life....
in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...
, and at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology
Weston Jesuit School of Theology
The Boston College School of Theology and Ministry in Brighton, Massachusetts, United States is the graduate divinity school of Boston College and an ecclesiastical faculty of theology that trains men and women, both lay and religious, for service, especially within the Roman Catholic Church...
in the Boston area. He acquired his first experience as an educator at St. George's College
St. George's College, Jamaica
St. George's College is a Roman Catholic high school in Kingston, Jamaica.-History:The school was founded on September 2, 1850 by a group of 21 Spanish Jesuits who had been expelled from Colombia because of their religious faith. The Colombian Government gave them approximately 9 hours to leave the...
in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, where he taught high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
from 1950 to 1953.
Following additional study of theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at Weston, Shea was ordained as a priest in 1956. In 1958 he began graduate studies in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, which awarded him a Ph.D in 1961. After receiving his Ph.D, he was again assigned to St. George's College, where he taught until 1963.
In 1963, Shea was assigned to teach 19th and 20th-century English literature at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
. As a faculty member at Boston College, Shea was popular with students and was active in civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
initiatives. He participated in a march
Selma to Montgomery marches
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. They grew out of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by local African-Americans who formed the Dallas County Voters League...
from Selma
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
to Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, with Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, in 1965, and was involved in the Upward Bound
Upward Bound
Upward Bound is a federally funded educational program within the United States. The program is one of a cluster of programs referred to as TRIO, all of which owe their existence to the federal Higher Education Act of 1965. Upward Bound programs are implemented and monitored by the United States...
program. In December 1968, he became Boston College's first executive vice president. In that position, he is remembered as an enthusiastic innovator whose effectiveness was sometimes diminished by his lack of administrative experience.
Shea left Boston College in 1971 to go to Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, where he became president of the College of St. Scholastica, a Roman Catholic women's college that had recently become coeducational. He was the first male and the first non-Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
to serve as the school's president. In four years there, he oversaw the building of dormitories
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
; the establishment of intercollegiate athletics
College athletics
College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...
, including men's hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
; and several additions to the curriculum, including academic programs in American Indian studies, physical therapy
Physical therapy
Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...
, and media studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
. In the spring
Spring (season)
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...
when smelt were running, he invited the college community to his home on the shore of Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
for a fish fry
Fish fry
A fish fry is a meal containing battered or breaded fried fish. It typically also includes french fries, coleslaw, hushpuppies, lemon slices, tartar sauce, malt vinegar and dessert. Some Indian versions are cooked by coating fish with semolina and egg yolk...
, beginning a school tradition of a spring celebration known as Mayfest.
In 1974 Shea resigned both his position at St. Scholastica and his priesthood to marry Susan Gussenhoven, a physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, then at Boston College, whom he had met when both were graduate students. Although he resigned his priesthood, he did not leave Roman Catholicism. He moved to Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
to become chancellor of Antioch College. He presided over Antioch during a period of financial difficulties and other disarray at the school. Describing the school as he found it, he said: "The entire administration has levitated out of sight, departed, or become otherwise incapacitated or unavailable."
Shea served three years at Antioch, resigning June 30, 1977. He died a few days thereafter, on July 9, 1977, from a massive heart attack.
Works
After his ordination in 1956, Shea wrote a book-length manuscript account of the history of the Shadowbrook mansionShadow Brook Farm Historic District
Shadow Brook Farm Historic District on state Route 183 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, is a historic district that includes six re-purposed farm buildings related to the former Shadowbrook mansion destroyed by fire in 1956. Designed by architect H. Neill Wilson with landscaping by Frederick Law...
in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...
, that housed the Shadowbrook novitiate, culminating in its destruction by fire in 1956. His story was structured on the model of A Night to Remember, an account of the sinking of the Titanic written by Walter Lord
Walter Lord
John Walter Lord, Jr. , was an American author, best known for his documentary-style non-fiction account A Night to Remember, about the sinking of the RMS Titanic.-Early life:...
. Shea's book was published posthumously in 2009 by the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
as The Shadowbrook Fire (Elephant Tree Press, Watertown, Massachusetts
Watertown, Massachusetts
The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...
). Years earlier, Shea had told friends that Jesuit administrators had deemed his work to be "too frank" and to reflect badly on their community.
Legacy
An annual lectureship, the Francis X. Shea Memorial Lecture, was established at St. Scholastica in his memory. Shea's widow, Susan Gussenhoven Shea, has donated forest land in Corinth, VermontCorinth, Vermont
Corinth is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,461 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 48.5 square miles , of which 48.5 square miles is land and 0.04 square mile is water...
, to the town for establishment of a town forest to be named the "F.X. Shea Forest" in his honor.