Shell Shelved

Chicago's popular, liberal Auxiliary Bishop Bernard J. Sheil. 66, last week announced his resignation as head of the Catholic Youth Organization, a group which he founded 24 years ago, and which now has some 5,000,000 members. No reason was given by Sheil or by Samuel Cardinal Stritch, who announced that Shell's successor would be Monsignor Edward J. Kelly, long active in the C.Y.O. But speculation inevitably reverted to Bishop Sheil's famed blast at Senator Joseph McCarthy last April, which antagonized many Roman Catholic laymen and clergy. Most widely heard explanation: Sheil may have been urged by his superiors to be more restrained, instead chose to resign from the C.Y.O., which was the biggest of his many jobs. Editorialized the liberal Catholic magazine Commonweal: "The announcement is bound to cause a great deal of sour speculation and suspicion. [We hope] that the proper authorities will soon quiet the suspicions of those who think Bishop Sheil may have paid the price McCarthyism demands of all who venture to speak out against it."

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