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‘Let the children come’

Students at Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro try out a new playground opening this month, thanks to a grant from Shea Family Charities and contributions from generous donors. The project was part of $921,000 in upgrades to improve the learning environment for all students, but especially those with learning differences. “Things like this can make a huge difference in a child’s day,” says Principal Catherine Rusch. (Photo provided by Julia Fergus)

CHARLOTTE — A grim reality greeted Father Christian Cook when he arrived in Hendersonville to pastor Immaculate Conception Church – the parish school was in danger of closing.

Enrollment was at 90 students and falling. It was late summer, 2019, and five teaching positions remained open as did another critical position.

“They didn’t have a principal; they didn’t even have a candidate for principal,” Father Cook says of the circumstances he walked into in his first pastor role.

The situation seemed dire, but looking back, he says the steps they began to take created momentum with parents, teachers, staff and donors. Among those donors was Shea Family Charities, one of the most significant philanthropic supporters of Catholic education in the country.

CookBased in California, the organization represents a family with humble Irish Catholic roots and an American success story grounded in hard work, education and faith – values the Shea family seeks to pass on by supporting Catholic schools in communities where they do business. Shea Homes has operated in the Carolinas since 1994.

The Sheas already had a budding relationship with the Diocese of Charlotte in 2019. Former homebuilder John Shea Jr. lives in Charlotte and helps guide the family’s charitable investments. Over the previous three years, John Shea and Shea Homes had supported projects large and small at Holy Trinity Middle School and Our Lady of the Assumption in Charlotte, St. Michael in Gastonia, and Our Lady of Mercy in Winston-Salem.

Immaculata Catholic School in Hendersonville presented exactly the kind of challenge the Sheas gravitate toward: a diverse population, aging facilities, financial needs – and aspiration.

But a global pandemic was coming. And it remained to be seen whether the parish and the diocese could put together a plan that would persuade the Sheas and the Hendersonville community to resurrect the school.

“The Shea family has high expectations and is very thorough in evaluating their investment opportunities,” says Jim Kelley, the diocese’s development director. “They ask a lot of questions. They also have a way of igniting momentum with their contributions by requiring a certain amount of matching funds to prove the local commitment. They want to create a true partnership that is going to elevate the lives of children.”

Students enjoy hands-on learning in the STEM lab at Immaculata School in Hendersonville and a new playground at Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro.

‘SKIN IN THE GAME’

The Immaculata comeback began providentially, says Father Cook.

One day, soon after he’d arrived in 2019, he was talking with Father Patrick Cahill, who also runs a school.

“You know,” he recalls Father Cahill saying, “I have an eighth-grade teacher who really has potential to be a principal. It’s kind of an out-of-the-box idea, but you may want to at least interview her.”

The hiring committee agreed to interview Margaret Beale from Asheville Catholic School, who at 33 was quite young to become a principal. In the meantime, they received another applicant with excellent administrative experience.

Beale“Margaret Beale had this fire to her, this love of Catholic education that you can’t replicate in other candidates,” Father Cook says. “The hiring committee had a choice between two very different personalities – a great manager/administrator or an enthusiastic forward-minded candidate with no administrative experience.”

“We all agreed,” he says, “that Immaculata needed a shot in the arm from a motivation standpoint more than we needed a professional administrator.” It was the kind of risk the Sheas appreciate.

With Beale and Cook aboard, the school went to work shoring up finances and enrollment, then began looking toward the future. That’s when they learned of the Shea family and their reputation as good stewards of

Catholic education and schools. They applied and were on track in 2019 for approval of a grant of up to $1 million from Shea Homes, to add to nearly $900,000 the parish had raised for school improvements.

But the COVID-19 pandemic delayed things and by the time the parish re-engaged with the Sheas in 2021, construction costs had gone up by more than $1 million.

“We went back to the drawing board and then the Sheas came through with a larger grant ($2.2 million) than they had originally planned for us,” Father Cook says. “They also asked the parish to put more skin in the game, so we went out and raised another $440,000.”

Ultimately, the school debuted a $3.6 million makeover in 2023. The work was accomplished over nearly four years, split into two phases. It included a new brick entrance to match the architecture of the church, new technology, administrative offices, and a state-of-the-art STEM lab that facilitates student problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity.

“Immaculata will be forever grateful for the support of the Shea family and all of our donors,” says Beale. “Not only did these gifts provide a dedicated space for students to dive into hands-on learning, they also helped intensify the sense of pride in what it means to be an ‘Immaculata Star.’ It has been a joy and a blessing to see the excitement on students’ faces when they realize how much fun learning is.”

Since the summer of 2019, enrollment at Immaculata has nearly doubled. The school further demonstrated its tenacity in October when it became a critical relief site after Tropical Storm Helene devastated the area.

It’s this kind of teamwork the Shea family seeks to engage at schools across the Diocese of Charlotte – and the nation.

Dorothy Shea and her husband, the late John Shea, embraced Catholic education as a charitable priority in the late 1980s. The Shea family is one of the nation’s largest benefactors of Catholic schools.
SHEA FAMILY LEGACY

Shea Jr.Shea Homes has invested nearly $11 million in the Diocese of Charlotte’s schools – making them the schools’ most significant benefactor – and Shea Family Charities has contributed tens of millions more in the (arch)dioceses of Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Louisville, Los Angeles, Monterey, New York, Oakland, Orange, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle.

Dorothy Shea and her husband, the late John Shea, former chairman of J.F. Shea Co. Inc., dove into supporting Catholic education in the 1980s because of the integral role they felt the faith has played in their lives.

They focused their investments on inner-city and rural schools, or those with unique challenges and significant needs.

Dorothy Shea attended Catholic schools through college and continues to guide the family’s philanthropy, desiring to give to others a Catholic education like she was blessed to receive.

“My faith is the most important thing in my life,” she told the Catholic News Herald. “It’s very important for people because they can have a much nicer life if they can depend on God. The bond of religion strengthens families and helps them stay together. We want everyone to have these opportunities by making a Catholic education even more accessible.”

The Shea family first came to the United States when Austin Shea – John Shea’s great-grandfather – arrived from Ireland to escape the potato famine of the mid-1800s. He settled in Ohio, and eventually the family moved to the West Coast.

In 1881, Austin’s son John Francis Shea started a plumbing business in Portland, Oregon, which expanded into pipeline and infrastructure projects as the city grew. This was the beginning of the family’s long history of large-scale projects in the U.S.

John’s son Charlie took over the business and participated in the construction of major American landmarks, overseeing the construction of the Hoover Dam and helping build the Golden Gate and San Francisco-

Oakland Bay bridges. Later, the family entered the home construction business.

As Catholics, charitable giving has always been a focus for the family. They typically invest in school renovations, scholarships, tuition assistance and professional development – with an eye toward making Catholic education available to more people.

“We believe the more kids educated in the Catholic system, the better our future world will be,” says John Shea Jr., whose family relies on his cousin Dan O’Melveny – executive director of Shea Family Charities – to help evaluate potential school investments. He studies proposed physical improvements and the people managing the schools, and helps find ways to enhance value for the schools.

“Supporting our Catholic schools not only has an impact on the lives of students and their families, it is also rewarding for donors,” Shea says. “I encourage any company or family or individual who has capacity to lend their support, financially or otherwise, to get involved. I believe they’ll find the results meaningful and fulfilling.”

Indeed, the diocese’s school system is thriving, thanks to such support – having won the prestigious national “Catholic Organization of the Year” title from the Catholic Education Foundation in 2023. Enrollment has swelled 22% in the diocese’s schools since the pandemic began in 2020, outpacing the growth of the Southeast, the nation’s fastest growing region for Catholic education.

Father Timothy Reid, the diocese’s vicar of education, says he’s awestruck by the generous families committed to improving Catholic education.

“Our schools not only provide a high-quality education, they focus on forming intentional disciples for Christ who can witness to the Gospel in the world,” he says. “That’s our mission. But it’s hard to do this solely with operational funds that come from tuition.”

That’s where the Shea family and other donors have offered relief.

Since their first donation to the diocese’s schools in 2016, the Sheas’ commitment has continued to deepen well into 2024 – with their most recent grant of $3.5 million for improvements at Charlotte’s St. Ann School their largest to date.

Yet the reason behind the Sheas’ philanthropy transcends growth rates and dollars.

“Learning Catholic values in school and, for me, at home – like loving your neighbor – is key,” Shea says. “We believe it tends to create a more benevolent citizenry as these kids mature into adults.”

In business, he says, it’s easier to trust people who have strong values.

“Trust helps business relationships, which then helps the business to thrive. If you don’t have that trust, it’s hard to get repeat business.”

Immaculata School’s new STEM lab facilitates student problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity. It was part of a $3.6 million renovation made possible by a partnership of parish donors and a $2.24 million grant from Shea Homes. (Troy C. Hull | Catholic News Herald)

‘ADVANTAGE FOR LIFE’

Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro is the latest school in the diocese to debut improvements made possible by the partnership of parishioners and the Shea family.

This month, they will cut the ribbon on nearly $1 million in upgrades including two new playgrounds, a newly paved parking lot, covered walkway and new acoustic ceiling tiles, flooring and furniture in the cafeteria.

Parishioner contributions of $300,000 unlocked a Shea gift of $621,000.

RuschPrincipal Catherine Rusch said she was impressed by the depth of understanding the Shea family wanted about how each project would benefit her students’ educational experience.

“When they asked, I was able to tell them that our students with sensory issues have a hard time acclimating after coming indoors from the rain, and that the covered walkway would improve their ability to adjust and focus on their school day – since they wouldn’t be distracted by the wet fabric on their skin,” she says. “Things like this can make a huge difference in a child’s day.”

Replacing the ceiling tiles in the cafeteria, Rusch says, lowered the volume of the room at lunchtime, helping students who may be overwhelmed by the noise remain calm and interact socially.

Rusch appreciates the Sheas’ “Catholic worldview,” she says. “Their generosity impacts children on a very individual level and is a beautiful reflection of the way Jesus loves each one of us.”

It’s a sentiment that was echoed by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles after John Shea Sr. died in 2022.

“It would be shortsighted to try measuring his impact on Catholic education in dollar figures,” school executive Paul Escala told Angelus News. “Each dollar is translated into a high-quality school environment where principals and teachers care and know each child like Christ knows everyone by name. That level of impact can’t be measured or quantified monetarily.”

John Shea Jr. says his family simply hopes that increasing exposure to Catholic schools for children in North Carolina and elsewhere will help them build fulfilling lives.

“Ultimately, we hope to have a positive influence on students as they grow into the next generation of adults.”

At Shea Family Charities, Dorothy Shea adds, “We have a little thing we say here: ‘Catholic education is an advantage for life.’ ”

How you can help?

If you have interest in partnering financially with the Diocese of Charlotte’s Catholic schools, please contact Development Director Jim Kelley at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 704-608-0359.

—  Annie Ferguson and Liz Chandler

Students enjoy hands-on learning in the STEM lab at Immaculata School in Hendersonville and a new playground at Our Lady of Grace School in Greensboro.

Building a brighter future

Shea Homes has partnered with donors at seven schools in the Diocese of Charlotte to improve the lives of teachers, staff, students and their families – making it the single largest supporter of local Catholic schools. The organization’s investments include:

• St. Ann School, Charlotte: Funding $3.5 million of a $4.9 million project for more than a dozen upgrades at the 400-student school expected to be completed by late summer 2025. Upgrades include renovations to the library, enhanced playgrounds for all ages, new lighting, a new HVAC system, new cabinetry and flooring, acoustic ceiling tiles, and other upgrades such as fire code enhancements and prevention of water intrusion in some classrooms. 
• Holy Trinity Middle School, Charlotte: Funded $2.6 million of a $3.2 million stadium improvement project completed in 2017 that included stadium seating, press box, a major retaining wall, and parking lot improvements. 
• Immaculata School, Hendersonville: Funded $2.24 million of a $3.6 million, two-phased project to renovate the school and add a STEM lab with a lecture-style teaching space and a hands-on collaborative work and experimentation space. The renovation also included ceiling and lighting replacement, improvements to the school’s façade, relocated administrative offices, and a revamped teacher’s workroom. Phase 1 of the project was completed in 2020 and Phase 2 in 2023.
• St. Michael School, Gastonia: Funded $990,000 of a $1.6 million school renovation in 2019. The renovation included new floors, ceilings, cabinetry and furniture, relocation of administrative offices, and creation of a hands-on collaborative work and experimentation space.
• Our Lady of Grace School, Greensboro: Funded $621,000 of a $921,000 project in 2024 to improve the learning environment for all students, but especially those with learning differences. Upgrades included new acoustic ceiling tiles, flooring and furniture in the cafeteria, a new playground for the school’s youngest students, a new inclusive playground, a covered walkway, refurbished bathrooms, and parking lot resurfacing.

Our Lady of the Assumption School, Charlotte: Funded $417,000 of a $555,000 project in 2018 to construct a new combined cafeteria/auditorium space with a warming kitchen. The “cafetorium” now enables more use of the gym. Also included was a hands-on collaborative work and experimentation space.

Our Lady of Mercy School, Winston-Salem: Funded a $43,000 technology improvement project in 2018, and $105,000 of a $126,000 project in 2023 to further upgrade technology, improve restrooms, and provide a new staff restroom and conference room.

— Catholic News Herald