Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Declared 'Blessed'

More than 50,000 people attended the Beatification Mass for Blessed Archbishop Fulton J Sheen at the Dome in the America's Centre, St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday 24 September, among them, 90 bishops, 1,000 priests and 1, 600 women and men religious. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was the chief celebrant. He conveyed the greetings of Pope Leo XIV, who, he said, "rejoices at the beatification of his fellow countryman, his fellow Illinoisan and brother Bishop."

The Cardinal also invited the faithful to pray for the Pope's pastoral visit to France, beginning today.

In his homily Cardinal Tagle reflected on Pope Leo's apostolic letter declaring Sheen Blessed, and in which he describes the new Blessed as "a tireless preacher of the Gospel through the modern means of communication and a diligent shepherd animated by missionary zeal."

For Cardinal Tagle, two aspects of Sheen's life stand out in particular: his identity as an evangelizer, or proclaimer of the Gospel, and his vocation as a missionary shepherd. And he noted that the three readings proclaimed at the beatification Mass likewise place evangelisation and mission at the centre.

But Tagle posed a question: What makes an evangelizer blessed? Is it the size of the audience? The reach of a radio or television programme? The number of people who listen, read or respond? For Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who presided over the beatification Mass of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the answer is found elsewhere.

During his homily at the Mass that took place on Thursday in St Louis, Missouri, the Cardinal turned the spotlight away from the American bishop's fame as a communicator and towards the heart of his missionary vocation: communion with Christ and communion with people, especially the poor and vulnerable.

Quoting Pope Leo XIV's apostolic letter declaring Sheen Blessed, Cardinal Tagle described him as "a tireless preacher of the Gospel through the modern means of communication and a diligent shepherd animated by missionary zeal."

Those two descriptions, he said, point to the two dimensions of Sheen's blessedness, the first of which, he said, is communion with Jesus.

The readings proclaimed during the Mass all speak, in different ways, of the Church's mission to proclaim the Gospel. Yet Cardinal Tagle noted that Christian mission is not something the evangelizer invents or undertakes simply according to personal preference.

"The Risen Lord chooses and sends his friends," he continued, adding that the missionary, therefore, is first of all one who has been called. And that distinction, he said, mattered greatly to Sheen.

Cardinal Tagle recalled an exchange between Sheen and Pope Pius XII: Asked how many conversions he could claim, Sheen replied that he had never counted them, lest he be tempted to think they belonged to him.

He described himself instead as "simply a porter" who was sometimes able to lead people to the open door of God's house.

The evangelizer, the Cardinal explained, does not own the people he encounters, nor does he take credit for what God accomplishes in them. He simply opens the door.

"Blessed are you, porter to the door of God's house!" Cardinal Tagle exclaimed. "I never tire of telling it"

Sheen, he continued, understood his vocation in similarly simple terms, and he recalled yet another anecdote: When a friend once asked why he had become a priest, he replied: "I was called to tell this story (the Gospel). I never tire of telling it. I never tire of improving my telling of it. I love my calling."

For decades, Tagle continued, he found new ways of telling that story. His voice reached homes across the United States through radio and television, while his writings and international missionary work extended his reach well beyond the country.

But for the cardinal, the significance of Sheen's communication ministry was not the celebrity it brought him. The question was always what - and whom - he was proclaiming.

St Paul, he recalled, "does not preach himself, but rather Jesus Christ as Lord". To preach oneself rather than Christ is to distort the purpose of evangelisation, he explained, noting that the missionary is called to know Jesus, to allow Jesus to know and send him, and to labour humbly with him.

Cardinal Tagle then added another dimension to missionary blessedness, highlighting that the missionary is also called into communion with people and peoples - particularly those who are poor, vulnerable or easily forgotten.

The Gospel does not send Christ's disciples to an abstract "world", he said, but to human beings whose lives, wounds and dignity must be encountered, and this was a concern that Sheen himself repeatedly expressed.

In the end, he said, Fulton Sheen's blessedness was not measured by the millions who heard him, it was found in the One whom he never tired of proclaiming - and in his willingness to encounter that same Christ in the people who were most vulnerable.

(Source: Independent Catholic News)