Robert Joseph Shaheen

Who is Robert Joseph Shaheen?

Robert Joseph Shaheen is an American clergyman of the Maronite Catholic Church. He is the former second Eparch of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon.

Shaheen was born to Albert and Aileen Shaheen in Danbury, Connecticut; his grandfather came to the United States from Lebanon in 1898. He attended St. Peter Grammar School and Danbury High School before entering the Latin Church St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield in 1955. In 1958, he transferred to the Eastern rite St. Basil Seminary in Methuen, Massachusetts, while attending classes at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire.

After being ordained a subdeacon and deacon, Shaheen was ordained a priest by Bishop Francis Mansour Zayek on May 2, 1964, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Shortly after his ordination, he became pastor of St. Raymond's Church in St. Louis, Missouri, which had then been without a resident priest for over 20 years. Under his leadership, St. Raymond's went from just a few faithful parishioners using a four-family apartment to a cathedral with hundreds of active families.

From 1965 to 1970, he organized and celebrated Maronite liturgies on regular basis.