By Katie Vasquez and Bill Miller
BRONXVILLE, N.Y. — A thought came to Father Mortimer “Morty” O’Shea on March 5 while putting Ash Wednesday blessings on parishioner foreheads at St. Sebastian Parish in Woodside.
This priest, who has dual citizenship in the United States and Ireland, has battled multiple myeloma cancer since 2013. He began treatments in 2021 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.
But, he explained, the medical insurance industry in Ireland does not cover the higher levels of cancer treatments that are available in the U.S.
“So,” he recently told The Tablet, “I was out at St Sebastian’s on Ash Wednesday, and I was putting [the ashes] on people’s foreheads, and it just hit me.
Father Morty O’Shea delivers the homily during a recent Mass at St. Sebastian Parish in Woodside. He helps out there when he is not undergoing cancer treatments in Manhattan. (Photo: Katie Vasquez)
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“If I was anybody else in Ireland, without this wonderful care at Sloan Kettering, I would be [these ashes]. I mean, because that’s what we are after four years inside the coffin.”
Chemo Blasts
Father O’Shea praises God that his days on earth were extended. Still, he knows his days are numbered.
Multiple myeloma cancer, which forms in bone marrow, is a “very clever cancer” that develops resiliencies to even the most modern treatments, Father O’Shea said.
His options, he added, seem limited, so he has been undergoing chemotherapy “blasts” to buy more time.
“Maybe another trial will come up,” Father O’Shea said. “It’s a big exercise in kicking the can down the road.”
Still, he pushes on, like he has no time to waste. When he’s able, he helps out with pastoral duties at St. Sebastian Parish in Woodside, Queens.
But even while recovering from harsh treatments like chemo, he maintains a missionary zeal, sharing the Gospel and proclaiming pro-life positions via his blog — simply titled, “Fr Morty O’Shea” — at frmorty.wordpress.com.
A Mighty Adventure
With a name like O’Shea and his obvious Irish brogue, it’s easy to surmise that this priest hails from the Emerald Isle, where he spent most of his childhood. However, he was born in Detroit to parents from Ireland who returned to raise the family in County Kerry, on that country’s southwest coast.
Father O’Shea graduated from college with a degree in electrical engineering. He returned to the U.S. to begin his career and settled in Boston.
“And that was a mighty adventure, I must say,” Father O’Shea said. “That was for nearly three years. But, on Mother’s Day 1990, I felt called to a kind of religious life.”
He then joined the Society of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity, headquartered in Corpus Christi, Texas, which has worldwide missions.
A Complete Inspiration
During his 28 years as a priest, Father O’Shea’s ministry has taken him to Texas, New Mexico, England, Wales, and back to Ireland before his 2013 cancer diagnosis.
The fight continued for several years until, in 2021, his treatment options in Ireland started dwindling due to Irish insurance restrictions. That’s when his younger brother, Jack O’Shea, who had settled in Bronxville, got involved.
Cancer treatment options for Father O’Shea were limited in Ireland, but his younger brother, Jack, (shown here at right) helped arrange treatments at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. (Photo: Courtesy of Father Mortimer O’Shea)
“My wife and I started looking for options here in New York,” Jack said. “We were fortunate enough that Sloan Kettering opened the doors to my brother.”
Jack recalled how, when he made his own return to the United States in 1984, his brother, the electrical engineer in Boston, helped him get settled.
“I’ve always looked up to my brother,” he said. “He was just a complete inspiration of truthfulness, honor, hard work, and loyalty to his family.”
‘Half the Man He Is’
Jack said his brother has never complained about cancer and has remained faithful to his calling. Case in point: Father O’Shea did not want to be idle during his latest round of cancer treatments, which began last November.
Father O’Shea approached Bishop Robert Brennan at the Dec. 9, 2024, funeral for Msgr. Philip Reilly, a nationally known pro-life champion who inspired the Irish priest’s own work in that field. He offered to help out at a parish, and Bishop Brennan accommodated him. Father O’Shea subsequently began helping out at St. Sebastian Parish in Woodside until his most recent “chemo blast” in April.
“He never said ‘Why me, or poor me,’ ” Jack said. “When I got the news in 2021 that his life was coming to a short end, I was not going to give up on my brother.
“I wish on my best day that I would be half the man that he is.”
Ultimate Life Insurance
Father O’Shea said he has made peace with death.
“I guess I am kind of running out of clear light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Still, he said, there is more reason for hope over grief, considering an eternity spent with Christ.
“This is such a dangerous world that none of us gets out alive,” he said. “But, as I told one of the nurses yesterday, if we believe in Jesus, then that’s the ultimate life insurance policy.
“You can’t beat that.”