 Between 1962 and 1965, McShea attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council in Rome.During the Council, he was one of 18 American bishops elected to the 10 commissions that facilitated the Council's work, and served as relator for the Commission for Religious.McShea founded "Operation Rice Bowl" which began in the form of a small cardboard box in the parishes of the diocese to receive alms directed to relieving a famine in Africa.