Jesuit Priest, Educator Dies Shea Taught On West Side, Worked For Justice And Equality

The Rev. Terry Shea, a Jesuit priest dedicated to social justice and equality for women, died Monday in a Spokane infirmary from AIDS.

Friends and family members said they will remember Shea as progressive, compassionate and funny.

He was 58.

Shea had ministered to the poor in the slums of Washington, D.C., monitored elections in Nicaragua and admitted girls to Tacoma’s Bellarmine Preparatory School, making it one of the first coeducational Jesuit high schools in the world. He had to go to Rome and secure special permission.

“His effect on people, in terms of how they choose to live their lives, their commitments and their beliefs, that’s what is going to live on,” said Garry Shea, the priest’s younger brother. “None of that is going to change because he died from AIDS.”

Terry Shea was the third of Roy and Josephine Shea’s seven children. Raised in Spokane, he attended Catholic schools and began training for the priesthood immediately after graduating from Gonzaga Prep in 1955.

He took his vows at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in 1968.

He went on to receive a master’s degree in business administration, serve the Northwest Jesuit Province as a strategic planner and work at the National Jesuit Conference as an administrator.

He was president of the prep school in Tacoma and taught political science at Seattle University before becoming president of Seattle Prep in 1992.

No one is saying how Shea contracted the disease, which is transmitted through sexual intercourse, tainted blood transfusions or the sharing of intravenous needles.

Shea was diagnosed with the AIDS virus, HIV, in the 1980s. He did not develop the disease itself until last year.

Colleagues and friends said Shea’s illness gave them the chance to practice the Catholic Church’s teaching about having empathy for people with AIDS.

“As ministers, we are taught and we have an innate sense that moves us toward compassion,” said the Rev. Brad Reynolds, spokesman for the Northwest Society of Jesus. “And compassion was the overwhelming response to someone who is obviously facing his own death and all the stigma that is attached to that.”

Shea kept his condition very private, revealing it to a few fellow Jesuits in strict confidence, Reynolds said.

In May, he announced his resignation publicly, telling his students and staff that he had AIDS.

He used the remainder of the school year to educate students about living and dying with the disease. His resignation was effective June 30.

He took a family vacation to Hawaii the first part of July, then checked into the infirmary at the Jesuit House at Gonzaga University in Spokane last Thursday.

Shea died early Monday morning. He had asked a nurse for pain medication and when she returned he was dead.

His death came sooner than expected, Garry Shea said.

“But we knew that Terry had been very ill for some time,” he said.

Friends and family vowed to remind people of Shea’s tender heart and elaborate pranks.

“He had a tremendous sense of humor,” Garry Shea said. “It was an important part of his life. There were always lots of pranks, tricks. He was just plain fun.”

In addition to being a devoted educator, Shea was very attuned to people who were suffering.

“Things like Rwanda refugee situation would move him to tears,” said the Rev. Reynolds.

In death, Shea is as progressive as he was in life. He has requested to be cremated, a practice frowned upon by the Catholic Church. His reasoning: Burial takes up too much space and is environmentally unsound.

The Catholic Church will permit cremation as long as it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.

The Shea family is well-known in Spokane’s business community. Shea’s brother Dave runs Shea Construction. Garry Shea, another brother, is a broker with D.A. Davidson & Co. Their father, Roy, was a vice president of Murphey Favre.

“We’re a big family that’s quite driven,” said Garry Shea. “We have a very strong belief in each other.”

Shea is survived by his mother, Josephine Shea, of Spokane; three brothers, David, Garry and Mike Shea, all of Spokane; and three sisters, Micky Shea of Mission Viejo, Calif., Gerry Bauer of Los Gatos, Calif., and Susan Shea-Smith of Spokane.

The family suggests that memorials may be given to the Spokane AIDS Network or the Catholic AIDS Ministry in Seattle.

A Mass of Christian Burial is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Aloysius Catholic Church.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FUNERAL MASS A Mass of Christian burial is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Aloysius Catholic Church.