IHMS Celebrates Msgr James Shea at 2026 Bishops and Rector Dinner

The annual Bishops and Rector Dinner is only a few short weeks away, and this year, we are pleased to welcome University of Mary President Monsignor James Patrick Shea as our Immaculate Heart of Mary Award recipient.

Inaugurated in 2009 as the University of Mary’s sixth president, Monsignor Shea made national headlines at the age of 34 by becoming the youngest college or university president in the United States. He succeeded Sister Thomas Welder, who had guided the university for 31 years and left a lasting legacy of leadership and growth.

Monsignor Shea began his undergraduate studies at Jamestown College, majoring in English and history, before entering the seminary for the Diocese of Bismarck. His academic journey spans some of the world’s most respected institutions: He earned bachelor’s and pontifical master’s degrees in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., studied classical Greek at the University of Texas at Austin, and pursued theological studies at the Gregorian and Lateran universities in Rome while residing at the Vatican’s North American College. He later studied management at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business and is an alumnus of the Institutes for Higher Education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

Alongside his academic pursuits, Monsignor Shea has dedicated himself to pastoral and humanitarian service. In Washington, D.C., he served with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity at the Gift of Peace AIDS Hospice while teaching religion in two inner-city schools. In Rome, he worked as a chaplain at Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital and served the Rome campus of the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of Saint Thomas.

Monsignor Shea will be giving this year’s keynote address at the annual Bishops and Rector Dinner. If you are interested in hearing more about his life or meeting him and the Immaculate Heart of Mary seminarians, please consider attending this year’s dinner by registering at catholicfsmn.org/B&R. Questions? Contact me at nweninger@catholicfsmn.org or 507-858-1275.

Don’t miss your opportunity to attend such a spiritually enriching and faith-filled event – all to benefit our seminarians!