When he was a child, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori wrote to then-Bishop Fulton J. Sheen asking for prayers for his father, who was about to undergo back surgery.
The famed televangelist, who was beatified Sept. 24 and The Dome of America’s Center in St. Louis, received sometimes thousands of letters each week during the height of his time broadcasting “Life Is Worth Living” on television in the 1950s.
“I wanted him to pray for my dad, but I didn’t know if I would ever hear back from him,” Archbishop Lori told the Catholic Review before the beatification ceremonies. “But sure enough, a few weeks later, a letter arrived and at the bottom of that letter, then-Bishop Sheen suggested I might consider becoming a priest.”
Archbishop Lori still has that letter, now a relic of Blessed Sheen, “somewhere in my files,” he said as the Church prepared to mark Archbishop Sheen’s beatification.
He said, “I couldn’t be happier. It’s a great day for the Church in the United States, but really for the whole world, because Fulton Sheen’s ministry, especially on the Pontifical Missions, extended throughout the world. The Church in America celebrates, but the Universal Church celebrates absolutely.”
The archbishop was one of almost 90 bishops, some 1,000 priests, an estimated 1,600 men and women religious, and almost 250 deacons present for the beatification Mass. Many of the ministers wore vestments embroidered with “JMJ” in Archbishop Sheen’s signature script, the shorthand for “Jesus, Mary and Joseph” that he wrote at the top of his blackboard for every show.
The stage for the pre-Mass program at the venue in St. Louis was made to look like the set of Archbishop Sheen’s TV show. The separate stage for the altar brought in images of the interior of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Peoria, Ill. Archbishop Sheen was born in El Paso, Ill., in the diocese and was ordained in the cathedral in Peoria, where he is now buried in a side chapel.
The Diocese of Peoria requested the move to the St. Louis stadium because there was no place in the diocese to hold the approximately 50,000 who attended the celebration.
Timothy Murphy, creative services director for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park, attended the beatification festivities. He credits watching episodes of Archbishop Sheen’s TV shows on TV as helping strengthen his faith.
He said that for the pre-Mass program, attendees were given World Mission Rosaries – designed by Archbishop Sheen for the Pontifical Mission Societies to include five colors, each representing a region of the world.
“We were led in a multilingual rosary, encouraging us to reflect not only on the mysteries of the day, but the needs of the world,” Murphy said.
The “Celebrate Sheen” program before Mass also featured what Murphy described as “a very touching video” from Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, who opened the cause for canonization when he was bishop of Peoria. Bishop Jenky, a member of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, could not attend in person.
For the beatification rite during the Mass, Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria formally requested the beatification of Fulton Sheen. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, a pro-prefect for the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization and papal delegate, nodded as Bishop Tylka made the request.
Cardinal Tylka read the apostolic letter formalizing the beatification in Latin and Bishop Tylka read the same letter in English.
“To much applause and song, they then revealed the official beatification image of Blessed Fulton Sheen, that is to say, the first legitimate image of Fulton Sheen with a halo,” Murphy said. “On the video screens, a copy of the same image was unveiled at his tomb in Peoria and they pulled off the sheet on the tomb itself revealing a new plaque installed: ‘BLESSED FULTON J. SHEEN.’”
Simultaneously, relics of Blessed Fulton Sheen were brought up to the altar by James Fulton Engstrom, the teenage boy whose miraculous birth was credited as Sheen’s beatification miracle. The relics were blessed with incense by Cardinal Tagle.
Murphy noted that at the end of the Mass, Bishop Tylka led the congregation in the prayer for canonization. A second miracle is required for sainthood.
The morning of the beatification, Murphy visited the Sheen Expo.
“Like a typical convention floor, you could buy anything: Fulton Sheen stickers, t-shirts, magnets, jewelry, etc.,” he said. “Unlike a typical convention floor, practically half the space was dedicated to ministries of the Catholic Church around the world – a strong reminder that Sheen’s global work continues.”
Tyler Tate, a parishioner of St. Joseph, Cockeysville, said he came away from the celebrations with a profound sense of peace and gratitude. He said he was grateful to be present for the beatification and to be part of the greater Catholic family, as well as “for a nation where we can celebrate moments like this in complete freedom and liberty.”
Tate, president of Lewis Contractors, acknowledged how Archbishop Sheen was a pioneer – essentially the original “influencer” in terms of social communications. “I think about how the social media sphere, and the media sphere for that matter, is all too often divisive, and full of conflict. And yet, Blessed Fulton Sheen used his platform in the media as a source of spreading the Gospel, as a source of spreading truth and beauty and grace.”
He said that as the world is divided today, it was also divided during Archbishop Sheen’s time, but in a different way. “I think there is something we can look back on and can learn from what he did and use that as an inspiration for the way we interact,” Tate said.
“Watching the example of Blessed Fulton Sheen is a challenge for the rest of us that every time we have an opportunity to speak, whether it’s in a private way or in a public way, are we making the most of that opportunity to spread truth and beauty, to spread the word of Christ? Are we taking the most advantage of that moment?”
More information on Blessed Sheen’s cause for canonization, including a prayer for a favor that could lead to a miracle, is available at the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation’s website, celebratesheen.com.
Timothy Murphy in St. Louis contributed to this story.
Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org.
Also see:
5 things to know about Archbishop Fulton Sheen as his beatification approaches
Radio Interview: Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s enduring legacy
Miracle baby’s mom reflects on Archbishop Sheen ahead of beatification Mass
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