Joseph Mark McShea

Joseph Mark McShea
Bishop emeritus of Allentown
Church	Roman Catholic Church
See	Allentown
In office	1961–1983
Predecessor	none
Successor	Thomas Jerome Welsh
Orders
Ordination	December 6, 1931
Personal details
Born	February 22, 1907 Lattimer, Pennsylvania
Previous post	Bishop of Philadelphia (auxiliary), Bishop of Mina (titular) Bishop

Joseph Mark McShea (February 22, 1907 – November 28, 1991) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Allentown from 1961 to 1983.

Joseph McShea was born in Lattimer, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, one of seven children of Roger A. and Jeanette (née Beach) McShea. He received his early education at the parochial school of Transfiguration of Our Lord Church in Philadelphia. He graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys in 1923, and then began his studies for the priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook. In 1926, he was sent to continue his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Roman Seminary and the Pontifical Lateran University. He earned a doctorate in theology in 1932.

McShea was ordained a priest by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani on December 6, 1931. His first assignment, following his return to Pennsylvania, was as a professor at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where taught Latin, Italian, and history (1932–35). From 1935 to 1938, he served as a minutante of the Congregation for Oriental Churches in the Roman Curia. He then returned to the United States, where he served as secretary of the Apostolic Delegation in Washington, D.C. (1938–52). He was named a papal chamberlain in August 1938, and raised to the rank of domestic prelate in April 1948.