Sheehan, Shawn G., 1912-1990

Shawn G. Sheehan was born in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1912, the oldest of three children born to Dermond and Annie Sheehan, both immigrants from Ireland. Alongside his two siblings, John and Eileen, Sheehan attended Brockton High School. Sheehan attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1933. He then attended St John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts. Archbishop Richard J. Cushing ordained Sheehan in 1940. In 1944, Sheehan received his PhD from the Catholic University of America, having completed his thesis entitled “The Christian Reconquest of Spain in the Thirteenth Century: A Study of Principles and Motives.”

In 1945, Sheehan was assigned to St John’s Home Missions Seminary in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sheehan served there until 1948, when he returned to Massachusetts, serving as assistant pastor at St Thomas’ Parish in Salem and at St Mary’s Parish in Cambridge. Sheehan returned to St John’s Seminary in 1954 as a member of faculty, teaching liturgical and church history. In 1966, Sheehan received another parish assignment to St Leo’s Parish in Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1972, he was assigned to St Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in West Acton, where he served until his retirement in 1983.

Sheehan was also involved in the liturgical movement that occurred within the Catholic Church in the 1940s and 1950s. The movement sought to bring laity into greater participation in the liturgy. Sheehan maintained an active presence in the National Liturgical Conference for forty years, serving as secretary from 1947-1948, and as president from 1956-1959. He also served as editor of the Catholic publication Mediator from 1949-1969. Sheehan died of cancer aged 78 on October 19, 1990.