Sister Teresa Shea

A faith-filled woman with a sense of humor and a strong commitment to religious life

Julia Teresa Shea was born on September 6, 1917, in St. Louis, Missouri, to parents Timothy and Julia (Sullivan) Shea who had come to the United States from County Kerry, Ireland. Th ere were seven children in Julia’s family—four older siblings and two younger. “We just had a normal childhood, running and playing. We didn’t have parks nearby so we played in the alleys. Many a baseball game went on with the balls going into some neighbor’s yard ... But we had a lot of fun. We would go on hikes. We would just take bread and jelly or something along and have a great, great time. And all the children in that area were in the same financial status as we were. We didn’t have a whole lot but we had enough.”

Julia attended Notre Dame de Lourdes School through eighth grade and then Rosati-Kain High. After graduation she went on to Fontbonne College for about a year. In time, she had classes at a few other places, finishing her degree in American/European history at Fontbonne College
(St. Louis, 1951). Her master’s (in the same subject) was conferred by St. Louis University (1957). Julia entered the Sisters of St. Joseph on February 15, 1937, and received the habit as Sister Marie Venard, on August 15, 1937.

Beginning in 1939, she taught primary students, first at St. Louis Cathedral, St. Louis (1939); then in Marquette, Michigan at Bishop Baraga Central (1940); followed by two Missouri assignments: Assumption, St. Louis (1949) and St. Patrick, Rolla (1950).

In 1953, her teaching ministry moved to high school. S. Marie Venard taught at St. Joseph Academy, Green Bay, Wisconsin; St. Joseph’s Academy, St. Louis, Missouri (1954); Reicher Catholic, Waco, Texas (1958); St. Thomas Aquinas, Florissant, Missouri (1960); St. Joseph, Atlanta, Georgia (1968) and St. Teresa’s Academy, Kansas City, Missouri (1969).

Sister Pat Murphy lived with S. Teresa at Aquinas High School: “I never saw her without a pleasant look on her face. She always looked alert, welcoming, and interested in what was going on or what you might have to say. She was a joy to live with.”

In 1975, S. Teresa began two years as a special education teacher at St. Joseph Vocational Center, St. Louis.She then started working in a different ministry, working as pastoral minister at Our Lady of the Presentation Parish, St. Louis, (1977 –1983) and then at St. Bartholomew Parish, also in St. Louis, until 1988. After taking some time to reflect on her future, she began to minister as an assistant at Cardinal Ritter Institute Senior Day Care Center, in St. Louis (1989). In 1997, S. Teresa volunteered as a driver for the Senior Ministry Office until 2005 when she moved to Nazareth Living Center to minister in prayer and presence.

In her 2006 oral history, she was asked about life after Vatican II. We were “wearing whatever street clothes that other women wore. We were driving cars. We had quite a bit of say-so over our own lives, where we would go and what we would do, taking more trips and visiting friends outside the city, and visiting relatives and so on. I think it was a lot better. You became more your own person, I believe, in how you dressed, how you acted. You felt freer about stating your own personal ideas and opinions. I found it very, very benefi cial. I would not have wanted to go back to the old ways at all.”