Robert Joseph Shaheen

Robert Joseph Shaheen (3 June 1937 – 9 August 2017) was an American prelate of the Maronite Catholic Church. He was the former Eparch of the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon. He resided at St. Raymond's Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri.

Life 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 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. 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.

On March 31, 1986, Shaheen was ordained a Chorbishop by Archbishop Zayek. He purchased additional property and buildings for future development as a Maronite retirement center and cultural center in 1991, and again hosted the National Apostolate of Maronites Convention in 1995. He was consecrated a bishop on February 15, 2001, by Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. Pope Francis accepted his age-related resignation on July 10, 2013.

Shaheen died on August 9, 2017, in St. Louis at the age of 80. He was buried in his birthplace of Danbury, Connecticut on August 21.