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O’Shea, Rev James R.

REV. JAMES R. O’SHEA

April 16, 2002

Personal Info1

  • Date of Birth: 25 October 1931
  • Place of Birth in Ireland: Cappa, Woodford
  • County: Galway
  • Education: St Joseph’s College, Garbally Park, Ballinasloe and St
  • Kieran Seminary, Kilkenny
  • Date of Ordination: 3 June 1956
  • Place of Ordination: St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilkenny

Diocesan Assignments2

  • Assistant – Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Wichita –11/3/1956 to 9/9/1960
  • Assistant – Our Lady of Lourdes, Pittsburg – 9/10/1960 to 9/3/1964
  • Religion Teacher – St Mary’s Colgan Catholic High School, Pittsburg – 9/1/1961 to 9/3/1964
  • Assistant – St Teresa, Hutchinson – 9/4/1964 to 6/2/1966
  • Pastor – Sacred Heart, Chetopa – 6/3/1966 to 7/1/1981
  • Chancery – Parish Priests’ Retirement & Relief Board member, Wichita – 12/1/1966
  • Chaplain – Via Christi St Joseph Hospital, Wichita – 7/2/1981 to 6/15/1987
  • Pastor – Sacred Heart, Frontenac – 6/16/19877 to 9/3/1991
  • Pastor – St Alice, Capaldo – 6/16/1987 to 1994
  • Pastor – Sacred Heart, Halstead and Chaplain at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility – 8/17/1994 to 7/31/2001

Father O’Shea joined the Oswego Rotary Club, his introductory talk shared what it was like to grow up in Galway. He was the third of six children and his father was on the police force

A busload of youth from Mother of God Church in Oswego and the Sacred Heart Church in Chetopa attended a Catholic vocational institute in Wichita with other youth from all over Kansas. Father O’Shea, pastor for both churches was the driver. Before returning home from the institute, Father had arranged for a Beech Aircraft factory tour.

After 11 years of service, Father O’Shea was heading to Ireland for a month’s vacation.5 Under Father O’Shea’s leadership as president of the Oswego Ministerial Association, trick or treating took on a different look in 1967. Junior high boys and girls went door to door asking for clothing, food and medical aids that could be donated for UNICEF. Parents were involved as drivers and at the end of the night, the youth were treated to refreshments in the Baptist Church basement.

Father O’Shea, a great proponent of prison ministry, said that he had seen a lot of change in the six years he had served at the El Dorado prison. He stated, “You have to derive your self-satisfaction from small incidents,” and added that it was very similar to his ministry as a hospital chaplain where “…People would spend three months in physical therapy and then make a hullabaloo when they were able to tie their shoe.”

  • Date of Death: 16 April 2002
  • Place of Death: Ireland
  • Age of Death: 70
  • Funeral Celebrant: Father Francis Cox at Mount Bellow, County
  • Galway, Ireland. Memorial Mass held in Wichita at St Elizabeth Chapel at the Catholic Care Center on 19 April 2002 celebrant was Most Rev. Thomas Olmstead, Bishop of Wichita Diocese.
  • Burial: St Mary’s Church, Mount Bellew, County Galway, Ireland

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