Blessed Fulton Sheen

Dear Parishioners,

Praise God it is happening!  On Thursday this last week Venerable Fulton Sheen was officially declared a Blessed of the Church!  That is the second to last step before canonization as a Saint!

In September 2010, Bonnie Engstrom delivered her son James at home near Peoria, Illinois. He was born without a pulse and was not breathing. Emergency responders rushed him to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, the same city where Sheen had been ordained almost a century before.  At the hospital, the medical team worked to revive him. Minute after minute went by with no heartbeat. By every ordinary measure, it was over. The staff began preparing to declare him stillborn.  As the doctors worked, the family and those around them prayed, asking for the intercession of Venerable Fulton Sheen. The Engstroms had a devotion to him, and they had even given their son his name.  For 61 minutes, James had no detectable pulse. Then, with no medical explanation, his heart started beating.  Sixty-one minutes. The number alone says what the rest of the investigation would confirm.  A child with no pulse for that long would normally suffer severe, permanent damage. James did not. He grew into a healthy boy, with no physical or mental impairment tied to the event.

What the Church Requires of a Miracle For the Church to approve a miracle in a canonization cause, two conditions must be met. First, medical experts must rule out any natural explanation for the recovery. Second, theologians must confirm that the recovery is tied to prayers specifically invoking the candidate's intercession. Both conditions were satisfied in the Engstrom case.

Blessed Fulton Sheen was instrumental in so many people encountering the Church.  He was an engaging intellectual who lived a life of humble, suffering.  He inspired millions around America to consider the Catholic Faith, while providing an opportunity for young men and women to consider a vocation to priesthood and religious life.

When Sheen was eight years old, he was serving Mass for the Bishop when he accidently dropped the cruet used for holding the water and wine.  He was terriifed that the Bishop would remonstrate him afterwards.  Instead, he was surprised when the bishop put his hand on his shoulder and asked where he would go to school one day.  Fulton responded that he would go to the local Catholic high school, Spalding Institute, down the road.  The bishop told him to go home and inform his mother that one day he would study at the great Catholic university of Leuven in Belgium. This was then followed by an even more extraordinary prediction: “Someday you will be just as I am (a Bishop).”

This week we begin our Bishops Appeal for Vocations we are truly blessed in our diocese to have so many young men respond to God's call to spend time discerning the call. We have greatly benefited over the years through the generosity of so many individuals to have many incredible priests come through our seminary formation. This annual appeal helps to unburden our seminarians from the worry of financial costs so they may authentically discern God's call for them. As we celebrate the beatification of Fulton Sheen, maybe we joyfully celebrate the witness of such a holy priest who served in the United States so well and faithfully! May we also pray for vocations to the priesthood here in Colon and Cedar bluffs!

In Christ,

Fr. Luke Fleck