Francis Raymond Shea was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Evansville in Indiana from 1969 to 1989.
Francis Shea was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on December 4, 1913. He was ordained a priest in Rome for the Diocese of Nashville on March 19, 1939, in Rome by Bishop Ralph Hayes. Shea served several assignments around Tennessee over the next three decades. The Vatican elevated Shea to the rank of monsignor in 1967.
On December 1, 1969, Shea was appointed bishop of Evansville by Pope Paul VI. Shea was consecrated at St. Benedict Church in Evansville, Indiana, by Cardinal Luigi Raimondi on February 3, 1970.Pope John Paul II accepted Shea's resignation as bishop of Evansville on March 11, 1989. Francis Shea died on August 18, 1994.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Evansville Home Page
Key dates in Bishop Shea's life