Tributes salute Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s anticipated beatification

The cause of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the famed media evangelist, mission promoter and author, to proceed to beatification has been permitted by the Vatican. He is pictured in an undated photo speaking during a television broadcast. (CNS file photo)PEORIA, Ill. (OSV News) — Catholics in the U.S. are sharing their gratitude for Venerable Fulton J. Sheen following the announcement Feb. 9 that the Vatican has permitted the cause of the late American archbishop and televangelist to proceed to beatification, the final step before canonization.

Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, was the first to share the news with the world that the beatification of “one of the greatest voices of evangelization in the Church and the world in the 20th century” was no longer on hold after six years.

“I have long admired his lifelong commitment to serve the Church as a priest, rooted in his deep devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist,” Bishop Tylka said of Archbishop Sheen in his Feb. 9 statement. “As he journeyed through the different stages of his life, his ability to share the Gospel and truly relate to people drew countless souls into an encounter with Jesus — one that transformed not only his life, but more importantly, the lives of those he touched.”

According to Archdiocesan records, St. Nicholas Parish, located at 2502 Clay St. in Houston, welcomed ​the Archbishop for a speaking ​engagement in 1947. 

Bishop Tylka said diocesan officials are working with the Vatican’s Dicastery of the Causes of to determine details for the upcoming ceremony, including date and place, which “will be released soon” at the website celebratesheen.com.

Once dubbed “God’s microphone,” Archbishop Sheen is remembered as one of the most influential and innovative evangelists in American history. Archbishop Sheen was ordained for the Diocese of Peoria in 1919, and his remains are now enshrined in its Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception after previously being entombed in New York City.

His beatification was given a green light originally in 2019, but just two weeks before the scheduled ceremony, the Holy See paused the process, apparently to ensure that Archbishop Sheen was free of allegations of mishandling clergy sex abuse cases between 1966-69 when he was bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, New York. After the diocese’s nearly six-year bankruptcy case concluded in September with a $256.35 million settlement for survivors of clergy abuse, Monsignor Jason Gray, executive director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, told OSV News that no allegations against the archbishop were raised in the process.

In New York, where Archbishop Sheen served as an auxiliary bishop and lived until his death at 84 in 1979, Archbishop Ronald A. Hicks said the Archdiocese of New York was rejoicing with the whole Church at the announcement.

“Although justly famous as a groundbreaking pioneer in using radio and television as a means of evangelizing and teaching, Archbishop Sheen’s entire life was devoted to making disciples and spreading the good news of the Gospel,” he said. “Whether as a priest in his home diocese of Peoria, professor at The Catholic University of America, National Director of the Propagation of the Faith, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, Bishop of Rochester, or prolific author of classic works of spiritual reading, Archbishop Sheen always strove to bring people closer to Jesus and His Church.”

He added, “We look forward to calling him Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, and, please God, someday soon seeing him raised to the altars as a saint.”

The Pontifical Mission Societies (TPMS) in the U.S. celebrated the news of Archbishop Sheen’s beatification finally moving ahead. On social media, it noted that Archbishop Sheen “helped shape the missionary soul of the U.S. Church.”

“Through his prophetic use of media, he invited millions to pray for, support, and love the missions he championed,” TPMS USA said. “His legacy lives on in every mission chapel where the Eucharist is celebrated, in every child formed in a mission school, and in every young Church strengthened through your prayers and generosity.” Archbishop Sheen was the national director of TPMS from 1950-66. During that time, the archbishop’s TV show “Life is Worth Living” made millions of dollars in advertising, all of which he gave to the missions.
Lay Catholics and clergy alike shared and celebrated the news on social media, with some institutions highlighting their connections to the archbishop.

In the Feb. 9 announcement, Bishop Tylka explained that beatification is “the first major step to sainthood, granting a deceased person the title ‘Blessed’ and allowing limited public veneration (like in a region) after proving heroic virtue and one verified miracle.”