- Lawrence Shehan
infobox cardinalbiog| name = Lawrence Joseph Cardinal Shehan †
See = Baltimore (Emeritus )
Title = Archbishop Emeritus of Baltimore
Period =December 8 ,1961 —April 2 ,1974
cardinal =February 22 ,1965
Predecessor =Francis Patrick Keough †
Successor =William Donald Borders
post = Coadjutor Archbishop of Baltimore | date of birth = birth date|1898|3|18|mf=y
place of birth =Baltimore, Maryland
date of death = death date and age|1984|8|26|1898|3|18|mf=y
place of death =Baltimore, Maryland |infobox cardinalstyles
cardinal name=Lawrence Cardinal Shehan
dipstyle=His Eminence
offstyle=Your Eminence
See=Baltimore (Emeritus ) |Lawrence Joseph Cardinal Shehan (
March 18 ,1898 —August 26 ,1984 ) was an Americanprelate of theRoman Catholic Church . He served as Archbishop of Baltimore from 1961 to 1974, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.Early life and priesthood
Lawrence Joseph Shehan was born in
Baltimore, Maryland to Thomas Patrick Shehan and his wife Anastasia Dames Schofield. He studied at St. Charles College in Ellicott City and St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore before traveling toRome , where he attended thePontifical Urbaniana University . Ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Giuseppe Palica onDecember 23 ,1922 , Shehan then did pastoral work inMaryland andWashington, D.C. until 1947. In Washington, he was also the assistant director (1929-1936) and then director (1936-1945) ofCatholic Charities . Shehan was raised to the rank ofMonsignor onMay 17 ,1939 .Bishop
On
November 17 , 1945, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore-Washington andTitular bishop of Lydda . Shehan received his episcopal consecration on the followingDecember 12 from Archbishop Amleto Cicognani, with Bishops Peter Ireton and John McNamara serving as co-consecrators. He became Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore when, onMarch 15 ,1947 , it was separated from the Archdiocese of Washington. Shehan was named Vicar General of Baltimore onFebruary 25 ,1948 , and later the first Bishop of Bridgeport onAugust 25 ,1953 . OnJuly 10 ,1961 , he returned to Baltimore as its Coadjutor Archbishop andTitular Archbishop of Nicopolis ad Nestum .Shehan succeeded Francis Keough as Archbishop of Baltimore on
December 8 of that same year. In this position, he led the nation'sdiocese and held an honorary primacy over the Church in America. After the Supreme Court ruled to remove prayer from public schools in 1962, Shehan warned that "secularization threatens to become a sort of state religion established by court decree" [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,896525,00.html On Second Thought...]August 24 ,1962 ] . He was also a strong advocate ofcivil rights , banning segregation in all of Baltimore's Catholic institutions and walking in theMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952523,00.html Milestones]September 10 ,1984 ] . He also maintained relations withJudaism and Eastern Orthodoxy [Ibid.] .Vatican II and Cardinal
Shehan attended the
Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965, andPope Paul VI rather surprisingly [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839236-1,00.html 27 More Cardinals]February 5 ,1965 ] created him Cardinal Priest of "S. Clemente" in theconsistory ofFebruary 22 ,1965 . Along with Jaime Cardinal de Barros Câmara, he assisted Leo Cardinal Suenens in delivering one of the closing messages of the Council onDecember 8 ,1965 [Christus Rex. [http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/v19.html To Artists] ] .Considered a liberal in his positions, Shehan supported Fr. Charles Curran [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843678,00.html Time for Boy Scouts?]
April 28 ,1967 ] andopen housing , and condemned theVietnam War [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911186,00.html A Fighter Bows Out]April 15 ,1974 ] . He resigned as Baltimore's archbishop onApril 2 ,1974 , after twelve years of service. In a stroke of cruel luck, he was never able to participate in apapal conclave —he was the last cardinal to turn eighty prior to the August 1978 conclave, at which, by Pope Paul's decree, cardinals over eighty were excluded.Shehan died in Baltimore at age 86, and is buried in the
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen .Trivia
*The Cardinal came into deep conflict with Fr. Gommar DePauw, a Baltimore priest and founder of the
Traditionalist Catholic Movement [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842417,00.html De Pauw's Departure]January 28 ,1966 ] .
*He celebrated an aboriginal Mass at the 1973 Eucharistic Congress inMelbourne [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944617,00.html "Spiritual Olympics" in Melbourne]March 12 ,1973 ] .
*Within theRoman Curia , Shehan held membership in the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity [TIME Magazine. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952523,00.html Milestones]September 10 ,1984 ] .References
External links
* [http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios-s.htm#Shehan Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church]
* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bshehan.html Catholic-Hierarchy]
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