Donald William Shea (April 15, 1936 – May 18, 2016) was an American Army officer and Catholic priest who served as the 19th

Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army The chief of chaplains of the United States Army (CCH) is the chief supervising officer of the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. (Chaplains do not hold commanding authority.) From 1775 to 1920, chaplains were attached to separate units. The Office of t ...

from 1994 to 1999. Shea went to seminary at the

Saint Paul Seminary The Saint Paul Seminary (SPS) is a Catholic Church, Catholic major seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. A part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, SPS prepares men to enter th ...

St. Paul, MN Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city an ...

. Ordained a priest for the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena The Diocese of Helena () is the Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in western Montana in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the ecclesiastical province of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portla ...

in 1962, Brigadier General Shea was granted the honorary title of

monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 1991. He was designated a protonotary apostolic supernumerary in 2002 after his military retirement and return to

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

in 1999. He is one of four alumni of the

in St. Paul, MN to become the

, the other three being Patrick J. Ryan,

Francis L. Sampson Francis Leon Sampson (29 February 1912 – 28 January 1996) was an American Priesthood in the Catholic Church, Catholic priest and military officer who served as the 12th Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army from 1967 to 1971. A World W ...

, and Patrick J. Hessian.

Awards and decorations

Gallery

File:DonaldSheadeputy.jpg, Brig. Gen. Shea in 1991 File:Donaldshea.jpg, Maj. Gen. Shea in 1994

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shea, Donald W. 1936 births 2016 deaths United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Vietnam War chaplains United States Army generals Deputy chiefs of Chaplains of the United States Army Chiefs of Chaplains of the United States Army Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States) 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests Catholic military chaplains