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Obituary-Sean Michael O'Shea

died 20 July 2011

Sean Michael was a kind and generous spirit and a man of many passions.
He had a deep spiritual life that was present in all that he did. He was always willing to share a reading or a poem, and in a quiet way helped many find newness, vitality and sacredness in life.
He loved his work, especially teaching, from the early years as a Marist Brother in Miami, Bayonne, and Esopus, to the Metropolitan Studies Program at NYU, to teaching women at the Bedford Women's Penitentiary. He was a good listener and enjoyed getting to know people - all kinds of people -learning about their lives and thoughts and was generous in his encouragement of their hopes and dreams.
He loved to find things, to create beautiful and useful objects from pieces left behind and then find just the right people to give them to.
He loved the gardens and the birds, bears and other wildlife around the house and often said that we have many blessings.
He loved his family and was a great blessing to us. He was a loving friend and companion to his wife, Laraine, for over 40 years and a gentle, playful and devoted father to his daughter, Moira. We do have many blessings.
This year had been a hard one with many physical challenges. The week before he left us, he said that he was ready to go on to a different level. Sean Michael died peacefully on July 20th. May he be in much deserved peace.
Sean Michael was a retired educator and executive. He was Director of the statewide Consortium for Medical Education for New York; Director of Education for the Department of Juvenile Justice for the City of New York; Executive Director of the Caring Community, a program for elders in Greenwich Village; and Director of Operations for The Door - A Center of Alternatives, a multi-service organization for adolescents. He was also a professor and college administrator, and had been involved in teaching and in the formation of several secondary schools in New York, New Jersey and Florida. He received a doctorate in political science and psychology from New York University.

Eternity, immortality, beatific vision, perfect happiness­ it is all new, nothing is known. Is death a leap into a void? No, of course not. It is to throw yourself into the arms of the Lord; it is to hear the invitation, unmerited, but given in all sincerity, "Well done, good and faithful servant... Come and enter into the joy of your master" (Matt. 25:21); it is to come to the end of faith and hope in order to live in eternal and infinite love (1 Cor. 2.9) I hope that it will be a consummatum est - all is finished - the final Amen of my life and the first Alleluia of my eternity."
Pedre Arrupe, S.J.

The photo and text were distributed at the Memorial Mass for Sean Michael O'Shea at St. Joseph's Church, New Paltz, Ny on August 2, 2011.

Source: Original Marists All Site

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