A member of Congress honoured Archbishop Fulton Sheen a week ahead of his beatification with a floor speech on Thursday, September 17.
Rep Darin LaHood, Republican from Illinois, spoke for about five and a half minutes, praising Archbishop Sheen’s virtues and discussing the impact of his legacy on Illinois and beyond.
In a post on social media, LaHood called it an “honour” to speak about Archbishop Sheen.
“A son of the Diocese of Peoria, Archbishop Sheen made an immense impact on millions through his devotion to God, powerful ministry and service to others,” he said. LaHood is also from Peoria.
He continued: “As the first American-born Bishop to reach this status, his legacy remains a source of great pride for Peoria and an inspiration to people across our nation and around the world.”
“Sheen’s influence extended far beyond the classroom,” said LaHood in his speech. “During the Great Depression and the rise of totalitarian regimes abroad, he used the pulpit, the lecture hall, the radio, to reach Americans across the country.”
In 1952, after Archbishop Sheen’s television show Life is Worth Living began airing, the archbishop “quickly became one of the most recognizable religious figures in America. His combination of scholarship, humour, storytelling and common sense attracted tens of millions of viewers,” said LaHood.
LaHood also spoke about Archbishop Sheen’s embrace of technology to reach people, even in their own homes, long before things such as streaming or podcasts.
Archbishop Sheen, he said, asked “fundamental questions” about the meaning of life and what kind of life a person should be living. Following his retirement, he remained active with travel and speaking, and led retreats for both clergy and the laity, said LaHood.
“Even as his health declined, he remained intellectually curious, spiritually devoted and engaged in the world around him,” he said.
The Diocese of Peoria formally opened Archbishop Sheen’s cause for canonisation in 2002. In 2019, Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to Archbishop Sheen’s intercession, “the healing of a stillborn child in Washington, Illinois – outside of Peoria,” noted LaHood.
That child, said LaHood, is now 15 years old and will be present at the beatification Mass.
“Now, after decades of prayer and discernment, his cause is reaching a historic milestone,” said LaHood. Following the beatification, Archbishop Sheen will be known as “blessed”.
This is particularly special for the people of Central Illinois, said LaHood, as Archbishop Sheen was “one of our own, a product of Central Illinois. All of his formative years were spent there, and he carried with him the faith and values he first learned from in the Peoria area.”
Archbishop Sheen is set to be beatified in a Mass celebrated in St Louis, Missouri, on September 24. The beatification comes nearly seven years after it was initially scheduled for December 2019 but postponed just weeks before it was set to occur.
