Thomas Edward Shields

There are various sources for biographical information about Thomas Edward Shields, Professor at Catholic University of America from 1902 to 1921. In 1909 he published The Making and Unmaking of a Dullard describing his early childhood experiences as a backward child and his strenuous effort to educate himself. Justine Ward, a collaborator, used this book and her own acquaintance with Shields to write a rather personal and laudatory account of his life, Thomas Edward Shields: Biologist, Psychologist, Educator (1947). The most critical biography of Shields is John Francis Murphy's unpublished dissertation Thomas Edward Shields: Religious Educator (1971).

Thomas Edward Shields, "perhaps the leading Catholic educator in the U.S. during the first quarter of the 20th century" (Evans, 2003, p. 86), was born on May 9, 1862 to John and Bridget Broderick Shields, Irish immigrants, in Mendota, Minnesota, about six miles from St. Paul. The sixth of eight children he was educated in his parish school by Sisters of St. Joseph from St. Paul's. Removed from school as a dullard at the age of nine to work on his family farm, he busied himself with farm work and developed a machine for grubbing. From the years 1879 to 1882 Shields engaged in private study with his parish priest in preparation for entrance into a seminary to prepare for the priesthood. In 1882 he entered St. Francis College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a third year high school student, though he was already twenty years of age. He excelled in his studies and was accepted as a candidate for the priesthood by Archbishop John Ireland who sent him to St. Thomas Seminary in St. Paul Minnesota. While in the seminary Shields published his first book Index Omnium (1888), a reference book to correlate information from his wide reading, a book that was read avidly by his fellow students. Fr. Shields offered his first Mass at St. Peter's Church, Mendota on March 15, 1891 at the age of twenty-nine. The next year and a half he spent as an assistant pastor at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

Archbishop Ireland sent Fr. Shields to Johns Hopkins University to study natural science in preparation for a teaching post at the archdiocesan seminary. While residing in Baltimore at St. Mary's Seminary he gained a Master of Arts degree in 1892 in preparation for his studies at Johns Hopkins. At the same time he was enrolled in the newly established Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C., where he came into contact with Professor Edward Pace who was keenly interested in experimental psychology. Shields did studies in biology, physiology and zoology at Hopkins from 1892 to 1895. His PhD dissertation on The Effects of Odours, Irritant Vapours, and Mental Work upon the Blood Flow (1895) was based on experiments which he conducted. Although Catholic University was interested in his joining the faculty, he returned to St. Paul at the bidding of Archbishop Ireland to teach in the new diocesan seminary where he stayed from 1895 to 1898. From 1898 to 1902 he worked as an assistant pastor in churches in St. Paul until he moved to Catholic University in 1902, where he remained until his death in 1921.

At Catholic University Shields joined the Faculty of Philosophy lecturing on biology and physiology. However, in the words of his biographer Justine Ward (1947), "His own heart was elsewhere…his mind was turning more and more toward education as the great need of the day…. He bided his time, however" (pp. 127-128). In 1908 the trustees of the university gave approval to a Department of Education in which Shields functioned until his death. By 1904 he had also begun teaching at the newly established Trinity College, a higher education institution for women which was located close to Catholic University. In 1905 he also launched the Catholic Correspondence School which was conducted by professors of the university for the benefit of teaching sisters (V. Shields, 1962, p. 36). In 1906 Shields founded the Catholic Associated Press, later to be known as The Catholic Education Press, through which he published a number of his books. Shields also established a Sisters College at Catholic University in 1914.

Shields' first writings on education were in The Catholic University Bulletin. In 1911 with Professor Edward Pace of Catholic University he established the Catholic Educational Review, which he and Pace initially financed. The review published ten issues a year on such areas as curriculum, methodology, history, administration, philosophy, psychology, teacher training, and federal relations (Murphy, 1971, p. 134). Between 1911 and 1921 Shields authored one hundred signed articles plus book reviews. Notable were his surveys of the fields of both secular and Catholic education. The teaching of religion, however, became a main focus of many of his articles. The review continued after his death but ceased to exist in 1970. It has been noted that his pattern of control and his dedication to the review led to "a severe drain on his resources of time and energy which could have been directed to his textbook plans" (Murphy, 1971, p. 136).

Shields established a Program of Affiliation whereby schools became connected to Catholic University through a type of accreditation. Pope Leo XII had urged Catholic University to enter into such arrangements to oversee Catholic education. High schools were affiliated with the university in 1912. Together with Professor Pace, Shields through the department of education worked for the improvement of the Catholic school system throughout the country. The affiliated program included reports, inspections and examinations, most of which were conducted by religious orders of sisters.

Shields devoted a great deal of his energy to the establishment of a Sisters College, a teachers training institution. Before establishing the college he invited women religious to study at Catholic University in the summers when the male population was on vacation. He worked for the establishment of this college for four years. He purchased the land, designed the building and raised the money. Finally, in April 1913 the Board of Trustees approved the government of the college, calling it "The Catholic Sisters College." In 1914 it was constituted as a separate corporation and affiliated to the University so that it could grant degrees. A separate building was put up in 1915. Later in 1929-30 the Sisters College became a residence when the university was open to women students.

Shields' later years were marked by serious health problems. Though he suffered a heart attack in 1918, he still continued his strenuous schedule of teaching and writing. His teaching load in the fall of 1919 was three hundred and fifty students in three institutions: his teachers college, Trinity College and Catholic University (Murphy, 1971, p. 183). By December he suffered another heart attack but continued his administrative and teaching work until February 2, 1921. He died on the 15th of February, three months before his sixtieth birthday. (Murphy, 1971, pp. 183-4). Dr. Pace spoke these words at his funeral:

The final tribute remains to be paid not by one but by all, not in words but in deeds. The work which he began must be continued. The noble aims which he pursued must be completely fulfilled…. Thus shall we build the only monument that is worthy of him. None other would be have desired. (Ward, 1947, p. 281)

In 1921 an entire issue of The Catholic Educational Review was dedicated to an assessment of achievement.

Contributions to the field of religious education

Thomas Shields can rightly be considered the first professional Catholic religious educator in the United States. He was in touch with progressive ideas in education and made a strenuous effort to infuse these ideas into Catholic education, especially with regard to the teaching of religion. He has been called "the great Catholic educational psychologist…the first who, while giving religion a central place, successfully utilized in his readers the best to be taken from the new psychologies prevalent in his time" (Buetow, 1970, p. 196).

Shields' influence came from his many initiatives, which have been described in the previous section. A second source of his influence was in the many books and articles which he published over the years. Though none of these are still in print, they represent a rich reservoir of learning and practical advice that can be mined by present day historians and religious educators.

Psychology of Education (1906) was Shields' first full length educational treatise and shows the influence of his studies at Johns Hopkins where he was introduced to the latest theories in psychology and their application to education. While Edward Pace contributed two chapters to the book the vision is essentially that of Shields. The stated purpose of the book was "to show in an effectual way the harmony that exists between the ascertained results of pedagogical science and the principles on which our Catholic system results. The central thought is this: possessing the truth we should gladly avail ourselves of every correct method by which the truth can be shared" (p. 2). Drawing on the work of G. Stanley Hall, William James and others he formulated principles which maintained that "educational endeavor has shifted from the logical basis of truths to be imparted to the needs and capacities of the growing mind" (p. 41). Shields condemned cramming truths into the child's mind as a violation and a desecration of the temple of life and thought, especially in the case of religious truths. For Shields religious truths were to be found in direct revelation from God, the beauty of nature, human culture, and human language, which truths were destined to bring children's conduct into conformity with Christian ideas and the standards of civilization (p. 38).

In 1907 Shields published The Education of Our Girls. The table of contents gives the broad view of this treatise: The Grading of School Children, Co-education and Marriage, The Vocations of Women, Domestic Science, The Social Claim, and the Woman's College of the Future. The book was praised by a reviewer "for its occasional flashes of wit, a genial humor at times, a logical sequence always, and a far-reaching philosophy. The reader is drawn into the circle at once and inevitably finds himself taking sides in the argument as his own views come up for discussion" (Antonine, 1908, p. 60).

Shields received a great deal of notoriety in Catholic circles when he engaged in a debate with Fr. Peter Yorke, a prominent social activist and educator. At the 1908 meeting of the Catholic Educational Association Shields appealed to scientific research in criticizing the catechism method of teaching religion. In this talk he presented almost all aspects of his approach to teaching religion. Fr. Yorke, who authored religion texts which included traditional questions and answers, called Shields' approach "nothing less than revolutionary" (Ward, 1947, p. 144).

In 1908 Shields published The Teaching of Religion in which he developed further his criticism of prevalent methods of teaching religion in Catholic schools, contending that "in the teaching of catechism the discrepancy between the accepted principles of education and the methods usually employed in our schools is perhaps more striking than in the case of any other subject" (p. 4). Catholic education for Shields should include exposure to "a scientific, literary and aesthetic, institutional and religious inheritance, the germs of which should be developed from the very beginning of [the child's] school life and … should be developed symmetrically" (pp. 111-112). Furthermore, they should be "woven into the single fabric of the child's education in such wise that each element… gives support and meaning to the others" (pp. 113-114). While with other progressives Shields stressed the freedom of the child in the learning process, he maintained that this freedom should be directed toward an unchangeable body of doctrine. (Murphy, 1971, pp. 108-109).

An important principle found in all of Shields' writings is the principle of correlation, by which he meant that religion was to be correlated or integrated into all other subjects of the curriculum: "to teach religion effectively it must be taught in connection with history and philosophy, with the growth of languages, the development of human institutions, and the works of God which meet us at every turn along the pathways of natural science" (1908, p. 18). Shields' opposition to public education lay in its failure to include religion within the curriculum.

Shields turned again and again to the teacher of religion who he felt should follow the example of Jesus in whose manner of teaching one could find the correct educational principles. Jesus for him appealed "to the most vital portion of the conscious content of his hearers' minds and hearts. His lessons were never couched in abstract terms; they always begin by something which is intensely real in the lives of those whom he would reach" (p. 32). Teachers were to realize that they were to be mainly concerned with the formation of character since religion was not "merely to increase the pupil's store of information about God, about man, or about subjects deemed important in the world of adults…; it must concentrate human instincts and lift them into habits that will safeguard the pathways of peace…." (p. 34)

Shields authored religion textbooks and readers for the first four grades of school. His Religion First Book (1908) contains the basic structure of his texts. The units of the book comprise elements of nature, home, religion and song. Nature study used the parables of Jesus. Experiences include those of the home, feeding, visits to the country, sickness, and birth. A connection is made between the child's experiences and certain aspects of Jesus' life. The books contain no questions and answers, separate lists of prayers or rules of the church. Murphy (1971) notes that the book "may have been overwhelming to a first grader, but it represented a major break in the pattern of religion textbooks for the teachers" (p. 115). The books clearly were progressive in that they were child and activity centered.

Though Shields' books were controversial he received praise in many quarters. He traveled the country giving courses on how to teach the new religion books, which were adopted in a number of dioceses including New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Peoria. Though accused of modernism by some, he had the support of the Pope's Apostolic Delegate to the United States and received an autographed communication from Pope Pius X wishing him well in his apostolate and imparting a blessing on all those who were receiving instruction from him (Ward, 1947, p. 178).

In 1917 Shields published Philosophy of Education, a work based on lectures that he gave at various colleges and teachers institutes between the years 1895 and 1910. This book is considered "the first Catholic book of its kind in English" (Evans, 2003, p. 83). Several chapters in the book were published in the Catholic Educational Review in 1916. Though the book contains many ideas of Dewey and other progressive educators, there is little direct engagement with John Dewey, whose classic Democracy of Education was published in 1916. Only one direct quote from Democracy and Education is found, a favorable comment on of Dewey's assessment that school curriculum and practices have not sufficiently been influenced by the advance of pedagogical science (1917, p. 408).

There are many similarities with Dewey's thought since both were drawing in part on the new biology and psychology and since both did their doctorate at Johns Hopkins, Shields in biology and Dewey in philosophy. Shields' main criticism of Dewey was in the latter's perceived atheism and in his argument that religion should be removed from the public school curriculum.

Shields divided his philosophy of education into three sections: the nature of educational processes, educational aims, and educative agencies such as the home, school, and church. For him philosophy of education is a branch of applied science whose "business is to apply the truths and principles established by pure philosophy to the practical conduct of the educative process" (1917, p. 23). True philosophy for Shields draws from the principles of Catholic philosophy recognizing "the existence of God and the continuance of personal consciousness beyond the grave" (1917, p. 24). His treatise is directly opposed to those naturalistic and materialistic philosophies of education which reject religious principles and have no place for religion in education. He sets himself especially in opposition to educators who reduce religious truths to psychological processes.

Impact on Shields Religious Education

Shields has generally received little recognition by those who have chronicled the history of Catholic religious education in the United States. Some early Catholic educators writing in Religious Education praised Shields' textbooks for their methodology but also noted they were controversial and not widely used (Elias, 2004). McGucken (1942) pointed out that his method "was revolutionary for that time. Shields banished the catechism and Bible History from the first three grades and discouraged the use of them in any grade. His texts were also to serve as the ordinary school readers as well as the textbook on religion…. Its merits lie in this that it was the first scientific effort made in America to vitalize religion teaching in the grades" (p. 227). McGucken also notes that Shields' books did not exert much influence on the practice of religion.

Gerard Sloyan, then chair of religious education at Catholic University, mentioned him in his article in the New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967) and in his survey article on the history of catechetics in the Living Light (1966-67). In Jungmann's The Good News Yesterday and Today (1962, pp. 214-215) Sloyan wrote:

In the first place there comes to mind the Right Reverend Thomas Edward Shields of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and the Catholic University of America. Shields knew what the Europeans had done in fostering learning-by-doing, discovering the laws of apperception, encouraging the use of "steps in learning, from orientation to culmination. Shields made Americans aware of the European stress on a new catechetical methodology…."

Harold Buetow, the historian of Catholic education, called Shields "the great Catholic educational psychologist…the first who, while giving religion a central place, successfully utilized in his readers the best to be taken from the new psychologies prevalent in his time" (1970, p. 196). Buetow details the many contributions that Shields made to Catholic education and places him in the company of such outstanding bishop educators as John Ireland, John Lancaster Spalding, and John England.

Archbishop Robert Dwyer (1969) compared Shields' efforts to those of John Dewey in introducing progressive ideas into Catholic education. He speculated on why he was forgotten and his achievements unrecognized. He wrote candidly that "…his manner and style were calculated to embroil him with those who were not wholly sympathetic with what they viewed as his uncritical acceptance of too much of the progressivist educational program. He lacked humor, an essential item in the teacher's equipment, and he lacked a broad historical vision, due, of course, to the limitations of his own youth and his constant sense of immediate urgency. He killed himself by shouldering a burden of work, administrative and pedagogical, far beyond human strength…. He was a man whom few could fail to admire, both for himself, his dedication, and his achievement, but whom few could love" (Dwyer, 1969, p. 7).

Murphy (1971) has provided the most detailed analysis of Shields' contribution to religious education and speculation on why his influence has not been greater. Religious educators have not traced modern developments back to Shields but rather to the influences of developments in Europe. None of his successors at Catholic University continued his work in the fields of pedagogy and psychology. His death left his textbook series incomplete. Shields was also victimized by the lack of scholarly work within the Catholic Church of his times because of the negative attitude towards modern thought. Shields' brand of progressivism was not widely accepted by Catholic educators who were turned off by the negative attitude towards religion manifested by John Dewey and other progressive educators. Murphy also points to Shields limitations in gaining support for his ideas and in his failure to collaborate with others even at Catholic University. He concludes his thorough study with these doleful words:

In terms of today's concerns about religious education, his contributions would have been a gift to this generation but he offered it to his day and on his terms and was unwilling or incapable of having it handled by anyone else. When he died, no one knew where to start…. His tomb is on Sister's College campus; it is unattended and marred with age. The sisters remaining on the unused campus are wondering what to do with the houses slowly emptying. Shields may be alone again." (p. 203)

Bryce (1978) has made a respectful effort to credit Shields as one of four Catholic pioneers and innovators in religious education. She credits him with developing a new religious pedagogy that relied on an understanding of human development. She praised his efforts to make sure that Catholic teaching sisters were academically prepared, a dominant objective from 1909 till his death. Bryce echoes Murphy's judgment when she notes that "in all projects he charted his own course on his own terms. He kept a control of each enterprise he inaugurated, shared no portion of authority and sought little or no assistance or advice" (p. S-45).

The latest treatment of Shields' influence on Catholic education is found in Thomas Wood's The Church Confronts Modernity (2004). In this treatment of Catholic intellectuals during the progressive era Woods argues that these intellectuals took the good elements in progressivism but maintained their commitment to sound Catholic teachings. Woods ascribes the label of progressive to Shields only in a qualified sense of "selective appropriation of morally neutral elements of the Progressive program, for a purpose that tended to undermine that program's goals" (p. 86). Calling Shields "one of the most important Catholic educational theorists of the Progressive Era" (p. 97) he emphasizes Shields' often repeated contention that the valuable elements in progressive education have long been incorporated into Catholic practice, especially the liturgy and sacraments of the Church. Shields along with other reformist Catholic educators charged that Catholic education had in recent years departed from sound principles, which were then being rediscovered by modern science and pedagogy. He and others decried dependence on memorization of catechisms which they contended were the tools for teachers and theologians. Woods praises Shields' insistence on the importance of art and music in religious education, especially his dedication to Gregorian chant. (Woods is an active member of a group that advocates a return to Latin in the liturgy).

It cannot be denied that Shields shared many of the ideas of the progressive educators of his time like Hall, James, and Dewey. He placed importance on student activity, the connection between impression and expression, the body-mind connection, the need for assimilation, the association of ideas, the needs and capacities of children as central, stages of development, a concrete approach to ideas, developing the powers of observation and reasoning. For him truths had to be adapted to the child's minds, abstract formulas rejected, perception, imagination, memory, judgment and reason stimulated. While he agreed with the progressives on the importance of socialization according to the laws of nature, he wanted teachers to exercise more control and direction over children's activity. Shields differed from the progressives in his basic philosophy of persons and the supernatural goal of education, eternal destiny with God. For him the natural tendencies of the child were to be directed to religious purposes. Religion was not only child centered it was also God centered. Eternal vocation was the goal of education not just good citizenship.

Unfortunately Shields showed no awareness that a group of religious educators were at the same time attempting to apply the ideas of progressive educators to the teaching of religion. These were the men and women of the newly founded Religious Education Association. If he had come into contact with George Coe, William Harper, Clayton Brower, Sophia Fahs and others he would have found like minded religious educators. But few Catholics were involved in that association in the early days and none of those were willing to challenge traditional theological concepts (Elias, 2004). However, Shields' dogmatism when it came to religious truths, would have limited his dialogue with these liberal Protestant educators.

Many of Shields' ideas have been accepted within Catholic religious education today, though he is given little credit for their acceptance by historians and religious educators. Despite all of his limitations, which others have pointed out, he deserves a more prominent role in the history of Catholic religious education in the United States.

The most prominent student of Thomas Shields was Dr. George Johnson, a professor at Catholic University and a major spokesperson for Catholic education for many years. Fr. Shields educated scores of priests and sisters who became leaders in Catholic education.

Works Cited

• Antonine, Sister. (1908). The Catholic University Bulletin 14 (1), 57-62.
• Bryce, M. C. (1978). Four decades of Roman Catholic innovators. Religious Education. Special Edition, 73 (5S), S-36-S56.
• Buetow, H. A. (1970). Of singular benefit: The story of Catholic education in the United States. New York: Macmillan.
• Dwyer, R. J. (June 29, 1969). A memory of an educator. Twin Circle, 7ss.
• Elias, J. L. (2004). Catholics in the REA, 1903-1953. Religious Education 99 (3), 225-246.
• Evans, J. W. (2003). Shields, Thomas Edward. New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13, 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, Vol. 13, 83, 1
• McGucken, W. J. (1942). Renaissance of religion teaching. In R. J. Deferrari, ed. Essays on Catholic education in the United States. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press.
• Murphy, J. F. (1971). Thomas Edward Shields: Religious educator. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia University.
• Shields, T. E. (1888). Index Omnium.
• Shields, T.E. (1898). Effects of odours, irritant vapours, and mental work upon the blood flow. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University.
• Shields, T. E. (1906). The psychology of education. Washington, DC: The Catholic Correspondence School.
• Shields, T. E. (1907). The education of our girls. New York: Benzinger Brothers.
• Shields, T. E. (1908). The teaching of religion. Washington, DC: The Catholic Correspondence School.
• Shields, T. E. (1908). Religion first book. Washington, DC: The Catholic Correspondence School.
• Shields, T. E. (1909). The making and unmaking of a dullard. Washington, DC: The Catholic Education Press.
• Shields, T. E. (1917). Philosophy of education. Washington, DC: The Catholic Education Press.
• Shields, V. (1961). The Catholic university press. The Catholic University of America Bulletin. 29, 2-4.
• Sloyan, G. S. (1964). Introduction. J. Jungmann. The good news yesterday and today. New York: Sadlier.
• Ward, J. 1947. Thomas Edward Shields: Biologist, psychologist, educator. New York: Scribner.
• Woods, T. A. (2004). The church confronts modernity: Catholic intellectuals and the progressive era. New York: Columbia University Press.