 Joseph McShea was born in Lattimer, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, one of seven children of Roger A. and Jeanette (née Beach) McShea.He received his early education at the parochial school of Transfiguration of Our Lord Church in Philadelphia.He graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys in 1923, and then began his studies for the priesthood at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook.