Celebrating the Life of our brother

Fr. Owen Shelley 1919-2009 Owen Shelley, Dunstan Smith and Ludger Janowski Saint Felix Friary- Huntington, Indiana 13 September 1938

Edward G. Shelley was born to John and Elizabeth Lawless-Shelley on 13 December 1919. He was baptized on 28 December 1919 in St. Rita Church in Brooklyn. The Shelley’s were active parishioners of Saint Michael Parish and lived at 166 Elton Street in Brooklyn. Edward received his primary education at St. Michael’s from 1926-1933. He would later attend the Glenclyffe Seraphicate in Garrison, New York, graduating in 1937. Following graduation, Edward entered the Capuchin novitiate in Huntington ID and was invested on 26 August 1937 receiving the name Owen. One year later, Owen was simply professed on 27 August 1938 along with his classmates Roderick Brennan and Gall Higgins. Owen began his philosophical studies at Mary Immaculate Friary in Garrison [1938-1942] and continued with his theological studies at St. Anthony Friary, Marathon WI [1942-1946]. Father Owen was ordained to the priesthood on 16 May 1945 at Saint Mary’s Church, Marathon WI. His first assignment was as assistant pastor at Saint Elizabeth’s Church in Milwaukee WI [1946-1950]. Above: Godfrey Luechinger, Raymond Bartoldus, Owen Shelley [pastor], LaSalle Parsons, and Louis Chiusano- Raymond Bartoldus’ 25th Priesthood Jubilee-St. Michael Church-23 June 1965; Left: Student at Glenclyffe-circa 1937.

Father Owen Shelley, O.F.M. Cap. 13 December 1919-05 June 2009

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Our brother Owen also served as a parochial minister at Saint John the Baptist Church in Manhattan [1950; 1951-52] and Sacred Heart Church in Yonkers [1950-51]. In 1952, he was appointed the first guardian of the new Eastern Novitiate [St. Lawrence Friary] in Milton, MA and remained until 1955. Among many of his accomplishments while guardian of St. Lawrence he established the first Secular Franciscan fraternity, renovated the Holy Ghost Chapel, the initial planning of the construction of the Regenbaum, and the completion of the [temporary] wing. Fr. Owen returned to St. John’s Church in New York City [1955-59] and ministered as guardian and pastor. From 1959-61, Fr. Owen served as guardian and rector of St. Francis Chapel in Springfield, MA serving the inner-city workers and shoppers. [Clockwise] Fathers Owen Shelley, Benignus [Lawrence] Eich and Gall [Edward] Higgins- Diaconate Ordination-1944; Cornelius Murphy, Donatus Goetz, Gall Higgins, Florian Ruskamp, Roderick Brennan, Warren Smithbower, Adrian Holzmeister [Director of Clerics], Camillus Doerfler, Ludger Janowski, Benignus Eich, Owen Shelley, and Ambrose DeGroot-Circa 1942; Dedication of the new [temporary] wing at Milton-25 September 1955 with novices: Thomas Mellitt, Barry McMahon, Kieran Ahearn, Gregory Reisert, Celestine Smith, Gordon Combs, Rian Carson; Holy Ghost Chapel; the famous temporary wing.

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Returning to his home parish of St. Michael in 1961, Fr. Owen ministered to the people of the Diocese of Brooklyn as parochial assistant, guardian and then pastor until 1970. For the next 29 years, Fr. Owen ministered as a hospital chaplain in two locations in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY. From 1970-72 and again from 1973-74, Fr. Owen served at North Shore Hospital in Manhasset, NY and from 1972-73 and again from 1974 to 1999 at Huntington Hospital, Huntington, NY with residence at St. Patrick Rectory, 400 Main Street, Huntington, NY. Fr. Owen joined the senior friar community of St. Clare Friary in Yonkers, NY in 1999 where he remained until his death. He was survived by his sister, Mary Reilly; sister-in-law, Anna Shelley; five nieces, Patricia Connors, Kathleen Hill, Eileen Elliot, Maureen Quinn and Janet Sheldrick; and six nephews Owen Reilly, Brian Reilly, Thomas Walsh, James Shelley, Jeffrey Shelley and Jack Shelley. A wake was celebrated for Fr. Owen with his community of Saint Clare’s in Yonkers, New York on Tuesday, 09 June 2009 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. and 7:00-9:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at Sacred Heart Church in Yonkers, NY on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Provincial minister John Gallagher served as the main celebrant and our brother Jerome McHugh, ministered as homilist. Fr. Owen Shelley was laid to rest in the friar’s cemetery in Yonkers. Counter-clockwise: The Church of Saint Michael, Brooklyn, NY; Celebration of the Fiftieth Religious Jubilee of Fr. Michael Reder at St. Michael [1967]: Frs. Owen Shelley [pastor], Pancratius Krieg [M. Reder’s novitiate classmate] and Michael Reder; [below] Owen Shelley with Gavin Reilly at Saint Clare in Yonkers-2005.

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The following reflection was offered by Fr. Owen Shelley on the occasion of his Fiftieth Priesthood Jubilee- 1995

“My story goes way back to the 1930’s, when I was a school boy. We were encouraged (though not obliged) to attend Mass each morning before school began at 9:00 a.m. I recall watching a procedure as I served mass or sat in a pew that made a deep impression on me, even though I was very young at the time. “When the Mass began at 8:00 a.m. and the priest came to the altar with the servers, he would make the required reverence and ascend the altar steps to begin Mass. It was the custom in those days, in our parish, that one or two of the other priests who were available would come out behind the celebrant and to their confessionals where they would hear the penitents for ten or fifteen minutes, usually ending their stint at the Offertory or the Sanctus. “The priest who caught my eye and my attention so very often was a small man with a neat gray goatee that made him look like a college professor. He would come out and make a genuflection to the tabernacle—straight as a soldier, no slouch, no crouch, no bobbing. It was a perfect genuflection. “Then he would go down a few steps to the Church floor and pass the Blessed Virgin’s altar. There he would make a brief pause and bow like a courteous gentleman to the statue of Our Lady. If it was winter time, and he was wearing his skullcap, he would lift it from his head just a trifle and then go to his confessional. “As a boy, I was profoundly touched by this little friar as he demonstrated so gallantly, his own faith. He made me feel that all of ‘this stuff at the altar’ must be very real, very meaningful. As I look back, this example helped so much in fostering my own vocation. “The little friar was known as Father Fidelis at my family parish of Saint Michael’s in Brooklyn.”

Endnote- Fidelis Reiser died at the age of 70 in Brooklyn NY on 02 October 1940 and was buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Yonkers, NY.

My Story A vocation reflection by

Fr. Owen Shelley, O.F.M. Cap.

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The following article [edited] written by A. Anthony Miller was originally published in “The Long Islander”- 11 September 1997

Hospital Chaplain Brings Spiritual Relief

On a wall in the three-year old chapel at Huntington Hospital hangs an expression attributed to Oscar Romero, murdered while saying Mass on 24 March 1981: “We can accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificence that is God’s work. We cannot do everything, but this enables us to do something, and do it very well.”

“We are all a tiny fraction of the magnificence of God’s work,” explained Fr. Owen Shelley, O.F.M. Cap., the Roman Catholic chaplain of Huntington Hospital for the past 24 years. He has during that time come to not only appreciate, but embody, Romero’s philosophy.

For Catholics, death is not the end of life, but merely a change. “I try to help the change to be less painful and more meaningful,” he said. A large part of a chaplain’s job at a hospital is to administer the Sacrament of the Sick [the last rites]—and comfort both the dying and family members. “I am someone to assist in the most dramatic of all the changes of life.”

The sacrament includes the Sacrament of Reconciliation—sometimes called confession—the anointing of the body—and reception of the Eucharist. This is not 9-to-5 work. People do not become sick or die at convenient hours. Fr. Owen resides near the hospital at St. Patrick rectory in Huntington Village, a short drive away on nights when he must return to the hospital.

Fr. Owen has been doing God’s work for a long time. He’s marking his 60th anniversary as a member of the Capuchin Franciscan Order. To mark the milestone, Fr. Owen is returning to Milwaukee, where he was first stationed as a priest in 1946 to celebrate with his former CYO group.

Fr. Owen got his start in Brooklyn, where his native parish of St. Michael was staffed by Capuchin Friars. So strong was the impression they made on the young Edward Shelley that he joined the Order in upstate New York. After completing his studies for the priesthood, he was ordained in Wisconsin in 1945 by Bishop John O’Connor [no relation to the present archbishop of New York].

After years of pastoral work, Fr. Owen wanted to try something else. He asked permission to become a chaplain, first at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, and since 1974, at Huntington Hospital.

The 275-bed Huntington Hospital, he said, “is nicely run and has a good atmosphere.” Fr. Owen’s day starts at the hospital, making rounds of those admitted during the night. He estimates that at any given time, 60% of the hospital’s patients may be Catholic. He will return most evenings for visits—and any time the emergency room summons him. “It’s in some ways routine,” he said, “but it’s very gratifying for me to be helpful.”

Fr. Owen’s work in some ways is much like that of Mother Teresa, who died last week and who, the priest said, “had an amazing ability to show care for all people.”

And so, for at least the last twenty four years at Huntington Hospital, so has our Father Owen Shelley.

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