Laurence Bonaventure Sheil OFM (24 December 1815 – 1 March 1872) was an Irish Franciscan friar, who served as the third Roman Catholic Bishop of Adelaide.

After serving as guardian of the convents of St Francis at Cork and Carrickbeg, Sheil travelled to Melbourne, Australia, arriving on 12 February 1853.

The founding of the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1866 by Mary Mackillop and Julian Tenison Woods contributed to a large improvement in Catholic education within the diocese.

[3] His travels to Europe to recruit priests and attend the First Vatican Council meant that he spent less than two years of his six-year reign in the diocese.

[4] In 1871, when Sheil returned from a visit to Europe, Horan's faction alleged that the Josephites were incompetent and ignorant, petitioning him to take direct control of the order.

[4] Sheil, who was increasingly acting under Horan's influence, demoted Tenison Woods from his administrative position within the diocese, disbanded the Josephite novitiate and sought to bring the charitable activities and schools operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph under the direct control of local bishops.

Fox, editor and proprietor of the Catholic Irish Harp newspaper ran an article highly critical of the bishop's treatment of MacKillop and her order.

[7] These events were reported by the mainstream Register, the outcome of which was a number of "Letters to the Editor" sympathetic to MacKillop, who was well respected by Catholics and Protestants alike.