ST. LOUIS (OSV News) – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen – the 20th-century theologian, evangelizer and Catholic communications pioneer – “opened the door to the evangelization of the world,” said Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota.
The bishop shared his thoughts on Archbishop Sheen in a Sept. 23 homily at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, where hundreds gathered for vespers a day before the archbishop’s beatification in that city.
Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski of St. Louis presided over Evening Prayer, part of the Liturgy of the Hours, the Church’s continuous cycle of daily prayer at set times.
Although Archbishop Sheen’s canonization cause was introduced in 2002 by his home Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, organizers selected St. Louis as the beatification site in order to better accommodate the thousands in attendance.
Cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful from around the country — along with Archbishop Gabriele G. Caccia, apostolic nuncio to the U.S. — were on hand for the vespers, which took place on the memorial of St. Pius (Pio) of Pietrelcina.
Addressing the congregation, Bishop Barron said, “I consider it one of the single privileges of my life to be able to preach this homily on the vigil of Fulton Sheen’s beatification.”
He described Archbishop Sheen as “my model and inspiration,” and as “one of the pivotal players in the modern history of the Catholic Church” who emerged amid a mid-20th-century Catholic “renaissance” that included “Graham Greene, Dorothy Day, Jacques Maritain, Henri de Lubac, Thomas Merton, Evelyn Waugh and many others.”
Bishop Barron said Archbishop Sheen was “by common consensus” regarded as “the premier preacher in the English language in the 20th century.”
What made Archbishop Sheen “a blessed, saintly man of God” was his friendship with Jesus Christ, said Bishop Barron.
Archbishop Sheen’s description of his vocational discernment in his autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” offers “a template for anyone’s relationship to the Lord,” said Bishop Barron.
Citing passages from the book, Bishop Barron said three stages mark the development of that relationship: recognizing God’s transcendent holiness, reckoning with one’s need for redemption and the mandate for mission “as a bearer of grace to others.”
Archbishop Sheen embraced “unmerited divine love,” exemplified in Mary, whom he viewed in accord with Catholic theological tradition as “the prime instance of a human being receiving the unmerited love of God,” said Bishop Barron.
He noted that Mary “haunts the spiritual life of Fulton Sheen, from his baptism in the Church of St. Mary to his ordination in the cathedral dedicated to Mary, to his deep devotion to the rosary, and finally to his more than 30 journeys to Lourdes to visit, as he put it, ‘the woman I love.'”
Bishop Barron said that “nowhere was Fulton Sheen’s rootedness in the grace of Christ more apparent than in his practically lifelong dedication to the Holy Hour — the daily, uninterrupted, hour-long prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.”
The bishop stressed the importance of that practice in his own life, admitting he learned to embrace it from his students while he was rector of Mundelein Seminary from 2012-2015.
“I now savor the Holy Hour … in my private chapel every morning before commencing my work day,” he said.
As he contemplated God’s holiness, Archbishop Sheen was ready “to admit his failures, his bad judgments, his personal weaknesses,” said Bishop Barron.
Through radio and television broadcasts, extensive writings, speaking engagements and missionary travels, Archbishop Sheen devoted his life to making Christ known to the world, said Bishop Barron.
“No one in the 20th century walked the great path of mission with more flair and dedication than Fulton Sheen,” said the bishop.
And, he added, “I believe that Fulton Sheen is, par excellence, the saint of the New Evangelization,” the Church’s renewed commitment — called for in particular by St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II — to fulfill Christ’s command to bring the Gospel to all people.
“Anyone who seeks fresh language to bring the Gospel to our culture, anyone who preaches the ancient word with a heart on fire, anyone who dares to use the media of communication available to us today, is indebted to Fulton Sheen and finds in him a powerful heavenly friend and intercessor,” said Bishop Barron.