Rev. Msgr. Dennis F. Sheehan, STD
Deceased: 2020-11-20
Diocese: BOSTON
Seminary Graduation Year: 1964
CSM Graduation Year: 1980
ICTE Fall: ICTE DIRECTOR 1969-1980
Msgr. Dennis F. Sheehan, age 82, retired senior priest of Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Newton, died suddenly on Friday, November 20, 2020.
Born September 30, 1938 in Beverly, he was the son of the late Dennis F. and Mary (Quinn) Sheehan.
Following his high school graduation in 1956, Dennis entered archdiocesan seminaries, first at Cardinal O’Connell in Jamaica Plain for the first two years of his college education and later at St. Clement Hall, St. John Seminary in Brighton, to complete his college education in philosophy.
Dennis was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University and was a member of the class of 1964 in residence at the Pontifical North American College. An outstanding student, he completed his seminary formation in Rome in 1964. As December ordinations were customary at the time, Dennis was ordained to the priesthood on December 18, 1963 at the church of Sacro Cuore Cristo Re by Filippo Pocci, one of Rome’s auxiliary bishops.
After his return to the Archdiocese of Boston in July 1964, Dennis held assignments as an assistant pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in East Boston and St. Patrick Parish in Watertown until he was appointed an associate pastor at St. Michael Parish in Avon. During these assignments, he was also teaching at both Emmanuel College in Boston and Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts.
In 1969 Dennis returned to Rome and to his alma mater where, for the next 11 years, he was involved in both initial and ongoing formation of priests. He was named the first director of The Institute for Continuing Theological Education (ICTE), a program for ongoing formation of priests, through which he was responsible for the education of hundreds of clergy members.
Dennis returned to the archdiocese and to Pope John XXIII National Seminary, first as a faculty member and then as rector. In July 1986 he was named rector of the Pontifical College Jospehinum in Worthington, Ohio. After three years at the Jospehinum, he returned to Boston and was appointed Director of the Office for Worship of the archdiocese.
In 1996, after a six-month sabbatical in Berkeley, California, Dennis served as an administrator of St. Lawrence Parish, Brookline and was then named Magisterial Chaplain of the area Knights of Malta. He was appointed pastor of St. Paul Parish in Cambridge and senior chaplain at the Harvard-Radcliffe Catholic Center in 1996. He served as pastor of the parish and its attached St. Paul Archdiocesan Choir School, as well as senior chaplain at the Campus Ministry for Harvard, and director of the Catholic Center. Additionally, between 2002 and 2004 he also served as a vicar forane of Vicariate IV of the Central Region.
Dennis returned to Newton in 2007, this time as parochial vicar at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish. In 2009 he was named Co-Director of the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life, with emphasis on the Office for Worship. When Sacred Heart Parish in Newton joined Our Lady Help of Christians in a collaborative in 2013, he was appointed parochial vicar of both parishes. In addition to his parish duties, he was the moderator of the Presbyteral Council for the archdiocese, and a member of the Clergy Personnel Board.
Cardinal O’Malley granted Dennis senior priest/retirement status on September 1, 2015, just a few weeks shy of his 77th birthday.
Monsignor Sheehan is survived by his sister, Mary E. Sheehan, his brother William A. and his wife Susan Sheehan, all of Marblehead, as well as his sister-in-law Helen M. Sheehan of Beverly, and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. He was also the brother of the late Arthur J. Sheehan, the late Gregory Sheehan and the late Nancy Peirce.
A private family Funeral Mass will be celebrated in Our Lady Help of Christians Church on Friday, November 27, 2020, followed by interment in Mt. Benedict Cemetery, West Roxbury. The Mass will be posted on sholnewton.org. A public Memorial Mass and Celebration of Life will be announced at a later date.
Donations in honor of Monsignor Sheehan can be made to St. Vincent de Paul Society, Our Lady’s Parish Offices, 573 Washington St., Newton, MA 02458.
