"Only Connect": Blessed Fulton J. Sheen
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Peoria native, was beatified today in St. Louis. Beatification is an important step on the road to sainthood and involves a miracle being attributed to the intervention of the person. In Sheen's case, a baby who was stillborn with no heartbeat or respiration for the first 61 minutes of his life came alive after the prayers to Fulton Sheen by the baby's family. This baby, James, is now a normal, healthy 16-year-old boy. The Diocese of Peoria led the successful investigation to beatify the Archbishop. There is not a facility in Peoria large enough to hold the number of people attending the beatification Mass, so the beatification was moved to the Dome in St. Louis, which could hold the 50,000 attendees.
Some of my friends and relatives attended. I was tempted to go, but today is also my Dad's 95th birthday. So I am watching the Mass with him and my Mom at Buehler. It was fun to see people we know at the Beatification: St. Mark's pastor Fr. Robert Lampitt, St. Mark's alum and seminarian Dominic Taylor, family friend, Delores Sheen, who brought up the gifts.
Many people, especially those from Peoria feel connected to the Archbishop, and I am no exception. I am a member of St. Mark's Parish. Fr. Sheen celebrated his first Christmas Mass at St. Mark's. He said both his parents' funerals at St. Mark's. He gave a life-sized wooden statue of Mary holding the Baby Jesus to a former pastor of St. Mark's, Father James Fitzgerald. The statue now stands in the school, inside the Bradley entrance.
Berniece McEntee was a first cousin of The Archbishop`s mother - accounting for his residence with the McEntees. Fulton Sheen, therefore, was a parishioner of St. Mark`s during his high school years in Peoria.
Here's another connection: I grew up on Maplewood in a house across the street from where Fulton Sheen lived in 1909-1913. While neither of the houses exist anymore, and Fulton lived on Maplewood 55 years before I did, we were both residents of the same block. I also am an alum of Spalding Institute.
I grew up at 841 N. Maplewood, which was then 201 S. Maplewood. Fulton Sheen lived across the street at 200 S. Maplewood.
Because of other commitments, I haven't attended any of the Beatification activities in Peoria. I wanted to do something to commemorate Sheen's beautification, so I decided to read his autobiography, "Treasure In Clay."
Archbishop Sheen is well known for his radio and television programs. But he also wrote 73 books and was the National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Church's principal mission organization. In this role, Fulton travelled widely and saw poor people up close and personal. I'm only about half way through his autobiography, but here are a couple of quotes which give nuance to Sheen's reputation as an orthodox evangelizer and a fervent anti-communist.
"Trips to India. . . along with constant study of other religions--have brought me somewhat to the same conclusion. . . Christ is hidden in all world religions. . . . we are not so much to bring Christ to peoples as we are to bring Christ out of them." p. 148
I gave a series of broadcasts in Rio. . . as I look back on them now, I wish I had said nothing about communism, for such statements seemed to comfort the landowners, who were already oppressing the poor." p. 149
I am in a study group of seven women at my church that has been meeting for more than 10 years. Recently, we read a little masterpiece by Archbishop Sheen, "Calvary and the Mass." Regarding the Mass:
"With Him we are united, in spite of our nothingness; in a certain sense, we lose our individuality for the time being; we unite our intellect and our will, our heart and our soul, our body and our blood, so intimately with Christ, that the Heavenly Father sees not so much us with our imperfections, but rather sees us in Him, the Beloved Son in whom He is well pleased."
Of Communion:
"We must therefore bring a spirit of sacrifice to the Eucharistic table; we must bring the mortification of our lower self, the crosses patiently borne, the crucifixion of our egotisms, the death of our concupiscence, and even the very difficulty of our coming to Communion. Then does Communion become what it was always intended to be, namely, a commerce between Christ and the soul, in which we give His Death shown forth in our lives, and He gives His Life shown forth in our adopted sonship. We give Him our time; He gives us His eternity. We give Him our humanity; He gives us His divinity. We give Him our nothingness; He gives us His all."
This past week at our Bible study, one of our members, Kathy Ward, was paraphrasing Archbishop Sheen on how as people age, they need to continue to work to be holy. As we get older, falling prey to creature comforts can cause us to become spiritually complacent. We need to continue to go out into the vineyard and do the Lord's work. We need to count our blessings. I think about my dad. He is constantly giving thanks to God and talking about his blessings even though he is experiencing much physical frailty. The gift of long years also give us the opportunity to make amends and purify our souls by continuing to deepen our relationship with God. Hearing Kathy talk about this got my attention. Too often, I want to focus on rest and daydream about luxuries.
I've recently joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society. In 1945, Bishop Sheen spoke at the 100th anniversary of the SVdP Society in the United States. At our meeting a couple of nights ago, Deacon Terry Dixon read excerpts from Sheen's talk.
"Vertical kindness is one in which people who live in abundance on the second floor go down to the basement to relieve the poor and then go back to their comforts. Horizontal charity is one in which the needy are on the same level, and once one has crossed the border, one never comes back, for conscience will not rest so long as an individual is in need. Gregory the Great fasted a week because a poor person died in Rome."
I think I oftentimes practice vertical kindness more than horizontal charity, though it is true that once you interact with a person who is poor, it's hard to go back to unknowing.
My husband John's Dad and Grandparents lived below the hill in Peoria on Hulburt Street and were members of St. Patrick's Parish, the location of Fulton Sheen's first priestly assignment. John remembers his Grandma talking about having the young Fr. Sheen over for supper. From them we have the picture at the top of this post, of Fulton Sheen as a Bishop. He has signed the picture with his name and his trademark, "God Love You." This reminds me of my friend Jeanie Gorman Bachler, who has gone to God and who often said God love ya.
When Fulton Sheen was ordained a priest, he promised to make a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament every day. He kept that promise. It may not be a coincidence that it was 61 minutes before little James' heart began to beat. Perhaps a sign to us to take up this practice. Also, I believe that fame can be corroding to one's character and one's soul. So many people think you're the cat's meow. Maybe this daily Holy Hour protected Bishop Sheen and kept him humble.
When I was in grad school, I read "Howard's End," by E.M Forster. I remember little of the book, but what I do remember is opening it for the first time and being struck by the epigraph, "Only connect." I love to connect--with people, ideas, in my writing. I think Fulton Sheen was a connector par excellence, so I thought it was a good title for this post.
Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, pray for us!
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