Through the annual Brother Shamus Charity Bike Ride, established in 2011, McGrenra, 77, has raised nearly $1 million for the Dorothy Day Outreach Center, a volunteer-based agency on the Saint Francis University campus that strives to live out Franciscan values.

In its inaugural year, the bike ride raised $12,000 for the center.

In 2013, after two successful years of charity rides, McGrenra was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.

That year, McGrenra couldn’t walk and was unable to participate in the bike ride, but the fundraiser went on and raised $30,000 in his honor.

One of Brother Shamus McGrenra’s favorite photographs on display at the Connors Family Fine Arts Center at Saint Francis University illustrates his combined love for photography and cycling. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

The amount raised has continued to grow every year since, McGrenra said.

Last year, McGrenra and a group of Saint Francis alumni biked a rail trail path from Philadelphia to New Jersey and did “exceptionally well,” raising $114,000 for the center.

“Isn’t that a blessing,” McGrenra asked.

Saint Francis alumnus Bob Goss has participated in many of McGrenra’s bike ride fundraisers.

McGrenra was Goss’ coach on the Saint Francis tennis team in the 1970s.

Some of Brother Shamus McGrenra's favorite photographs on display at the Connors Family Fine Arts Center at Saint Francis University. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

“Shamus and I bike a lot, we also hike a lot. We just get along well,” Goss said. “He’s a very giving, very generous person.”

To date, McGrenra has raised $930,000 for the center through sponsors and donations received for his bike ride and various hiking trips he’s held all around the world, including in China, India, Latin America, Europe and Scandinavian countries.

McGrenra said he often takes a moment to reflect on his surroundings during his travels and enjoys capturing the moments by taking photographs on his iPhone.

McGrenra, who works in Saint Francis University’s advancement office, has taken over 15,000 photos in his amateur photography career, 30 of which are now on display at the campus’ Connors Family Fine Arts Center, 181 St. Catherine Street, Loretto. (See related story)

“I enjoy being successful with fundraising,” McGrenra said, adding he calls Saint Francis University alumni to thank them for their donations.

The genesis of his love for fundraising came from growing up in a poor family in Philadelphia, he said.

“We didn’t have a dime to our name, but I was a millionaire when it came to my mom and dad and brothers and sisters. I loved them all,” McGrenra said.

McGrenra’s parents were Irish immigrants who married in 1935. Over the next 15 years, they had six children: John, Elizabeth, Margaret, Peter, George and James — McGrenra’s birth name.

When McGrenra was a junior in high school, he said his brother, George, got a job with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and was able to cosign for a loan, so the family could relocate to Havertown, a residential community in Haverford Township,

Delaware County, about nine miles west of Philadelphia.

In 1965, after graduating from St. Thomas More High School in Philadelphia, McGrenra worked in an office for a transportation company that hauled new cars on tractor trailers.

In 1966, McGrenra entered into the Franciscan Order and moved to Loretto. After finishing his formation program in December 1972, McGrenra took solemn vows and began working in Saint Francis University’s admissions office in 1973. He was there until 1982.

“It was absolutely wonderful. I loved Saint Francis. I loved selling the college,” McGrenra said of his job.

In 1982, McGrenra was asked to serve as the director of admissions and guidance for the college’s boarding school for boys, which is no longer in operation. In that role, McGrenra was in charge of about 140 high school age boys.

“I never worked so hard in my life,” he said. “You had them 24/7. Even though they were good kids, they were typical high school kids — very needy and all that good stuff.”

Knowing that his love was for higher education, McGrenra accepted a position at Manor College, a private Catholic junior college in Abington Township, Montgomery County, where he worked for three years.

By 1987, he “wanted to move up the academic food chain” and accepted a job opening at Saint John’s University in Queens, New York.

McGrenra remained in New York for 22 years before deciding in 2009 that he wanted to end his career in the place where it began, Saint Francis University in Loretto, a community McGrenra said he loves and is proud to call “home.”

Bob Crusciel, Saint Francis University’s vice president for advancement, said McGrenra’s “a burst of sunshine” who lightens up a room as soon as he walks into it.

“He always has a smile on his face,” Crusciel said.

“Sometimes he’ll walk into my office, he’ll be standing at the doorway, and he has this big smile on his face. I look up and he scares me sometimes. But that’s just his personality. He is a friend to many, many, many people,”

Crusciel said.

When McGrenra was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in 2013, he endured six weeks of chemotherapy over the summer and “never felt such pain in my life.”

A subsequent test in 2014 showed the cancer had spread to his lungs, requiring major surgery.

After receiving a second round of chemotherapy treatment, McGrenra returned to work and hasn’t had any symptoms since.

McGrenra now serves as a volunteer for the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program, which provides transportation for patients to cancer-related medical appointments.

“I love it because as soon as they get into the car, Brother Shamus knows exactly what they’re going through and it’s an absolute blessing,” McGrenra said.

When asked what he loves about living in Loretto, McGrenra said the town is safe, has friendly people and he loves the idea that “a traffic jam is two deers and one cow.”

Recently, McGrenra was in New York for his friend’s funeral Mass in Queens, New York. The cemetery was in Brooklyn and traffic was unbearable, he said.

“I was so happy that I live in Loretto now. I couldn’t take it anymore,” McGrenra said. “But I love Loretto. I love the people. I love the serenity. I love the quietness. I just revel in the friendliness of the people.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.