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Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan reviews Msgr. Thomas Shelley's 'John Tracy Ellis: An American Catholic Reformer,' calling it "a well-documented yet very readable biography of the 'dean' of American Catholic history."
℘℘℘ Considering the Irish-American influence on U.S. Catholicism, it makes sense that someone of Irish descent – John Gilmary Shea – undertook to preserve much of the existing knowledge of the beginnings of American Catholicism. A prolific writer and dogged rescuer of rare manuscripts, Shea became known as the “father of American Catholic history.” At this point, however, his name receives rather little attention. Shea was born in New York City on July 22, 1824. His mother came from an established New England family of part-Irish lineage, and his father was a native of County Li...