Rev. Amel Shibley

Funeral Mass for the Rev. Amel A. Shibley of Cape Girardeau will be held at 11 a.m. today at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in New Madrid, Mo. Bishop John Leibrecht will officiate. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery at New Madrid, with military graveside rites by American Legion Post 595 of New Madrid.

Shibley, 73, died Saturday, Sept. 14, 2002, in Cape Girardeau.

He was born March 5, 1929, in New Madrid, son of Gabriel and Merym Samaha Shibley.

Shibley served in the U.S. Navy. He attended St. Louis Preparatory Seminary and Kendrick Seminary in St. Louis. He was ordained March 25, 1962, at Immaculate Conception Church in New Madrid.

He served as an assistant pastor at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in New Hamburg, Mo., St. Francis Xavier Church in Sikeston, Mo., St. Agnes Cathedral in Springfield, Mo., and St. Mary's Cathedral in Cape Girardeau.

Shibley was assigned his first pastorate at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Piedmont, Mo., in 1967. He also served as pastor at St. Ann Parish in Malden, Mo., St. Eustachius in Portageville, Mo., St. Francis in Sikeston and St. Lawrence in New Hamburg, before retiring in 1995.

He was elected to the Diocese Senate in 1966 and served as moderator of Region VIII in 1978 and 1981, He was named diocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1979, a position he held several years.

Survivors include four nieces, Mary Ballinger of Memphis, Tenn., Sally Lipsey of Bonita Springs, Fla., Dr. Amelia Whigham of Alpharetta, Ga. and Dr. Carolyn Staton of Oxford, Miss.; five nephews, David Ellis of Vicksburg, Miss., Robert Ellis of Germantown, Tenn., Michael Ellis of Alpharetta, James Clodfelter of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and David Clodfelter of Denver, Colo.

He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers and two sisters.

Richards Funeral Home in New Madrid is in charge of arrangements.