About Dr. Lena Allen-Shore

Lena Allen-Shore Ph.D., philosopher, writer, music composer and educator, has studied at the University of Paris, University of Montreal, and McGill University, where she received her M.A., and Dropsie University, where she received her doctorate.

Lena Allen-Shore was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Work, from 1980 to 1983.

She is the founder and director of the Lena Allen-Shore Center in Philadelphia.

Lena Allen-Shore combines knowledge of life with the art of communication. Her philosophy is the harvest of experience and study in various universities and cities of several counties.

She is the author of many books and publications in English and French. Her lectures, given in Canada and the United States, have earned her the praise of both students and professionals.

Dr. Lena Allen-Shore is the founder of the Lena Allen-Shore Center for the Advancement of Human Potential in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philosopher, poet, writer and educator, she is the author of 17 books and publications and has composed over 100 songs, including a cantata performed in Poland for the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Dr. Lena Allen-Shore combines knowledge of life with the art of communication. Her philosophy is the harvest of experience and study in various universities and cities of several countries. Her lectures and television appearances have earned her the praise of students and educational professionals. She calls herself “just a little woman who dreams about a better world.” What sets this woman apart is that she shares her dreams with the Pope. In 1978, just after Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope, Ms. Allen-Shore wrote a letter urging him to use his position to make a difference.

Dr. Allen-Shore also travelled to Jerusalem in 2000 when John Paul broke new ground in Catholic-Jewish relations, and to Assisi when the Pope and other leaders of world religions prayed for peace in 2002.

In a new book, Building Bridges, Dr. Allen-Shore tells her story of growing up in Poland, and of her relationship with the man she describes as “a man in white robes who is making a difference in the whole world.” Like the Pope, Dr. Allen-Shore is a philosopher, and a Pole. But while he was studying for the priesthood in an underground seminary during the Second World War, her Jewish family was trying to evade being shipped off to Auschwitz. Despite the differences in their life stories, Dr. Allen-Shore says she and the Pope had a similar upbringing, and similar teachings on ethics, mythology and classical philosophy. “It didn’t matter that he was going to a church and I was going to a synagogue.”

In 1946 Dr. Allen-Shore married. Her husband, Sigmond, was a Polish diplomat. They lived in Paris until 1951. There her first son, Michel, was born. In 1951 the family immigrated to Montreal where her husband launched an import-export business. Their second son, Jacques, was born.

Sigmond died in 1967. Dr. Lena Allen-Shore who studied at the University of Paris, decided to continue her studies – first in the University of Montreal and later in the University of McGill where she received her M.A. She then studied at the Dropsie University in Philadelphia where she received her doctorate. She married her second husband, Edward Greenberg, and they both moved to Philadelphia in 1979. Her second husband, Edward, died in 1989. After receiving her doctorate, Dr. Allen-Shore got a Fellowship in the University of Pennsylvania and started to teach teachers under the auspices of Gratz College.