J.M.J.

MADISON -- More than 30 years after his passing to eternal life, Archbishop Fulton Sheen is visiting Madison.

The Office of Evangelization and Catechesis will be sponsoring a free showing of the new biographical documentary, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Servant of All, produced by the Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation.

Born and raised in Peoria, Ill., Sheen was ordained a priest of the diocese in 1919. He was sent to continue his studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and in Rome, Paris, and London. Sheen earned his doctorate from the University of Leuven, Belgium, after which he was invited to study for a super-doctorate called the Aggregé degree, which he attained with highest distinction.

Beloved educator

Sheen was renowned as pastor, professor, and preacher. He soon rose to national fame through his radio program The Catholic Hour. In 1951, Sheen began recording and airing his live television show, Life Is Worth Living, developing international acclaim and winning the Emmy for the Most Outstanding Television Personality, competing with friends including Lucille Ball and Jimmy Durante.

Fulton Sheen had become a revered household name, not only among Catholics, but among Jews, Protestants, and atheists.

Sheen was named monsignor in 1934, and in 1951, auxiliary bishop of New York. He was also named the director of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith, a ministry specializing in world missions. In 1966, he was assigned to the Episcopacy of Rochester, N.Y., a post he left three years later, saying, "I am not retiring, only retreading." That same year, 1969, Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of the Titular See of Newport (Wales). Archbishop Sheen spent his remaining 10 years finishing writings and leading priest retreats around the nation.

In his career, Sheen wrote 66 books, in addition to the hundreds of articles, pamphlets, lectures, and television and radio programs he published. An active participant in the Second Vatican Council, Sheen also spent his life propagating missions and civil rights and condemning communism and the war in Vietnam.

On October 3, 1979, Sheen experienced one of the greatest moments of his life when he was visited in his cathedral in New York by a longtime friend, Karol Wojtyla -- the newly elected Pope John Paul II. In a famous scene, the Holy Father embraced Archbishop Sheen, not allowing the humble man to kneel before him, and he spoke into the archbishop's ear a blessing and an affirmation: "You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus. You have been a loyal son of the Church!"

Two months later, on December 9, Archbishop Sheen was found in death in the one place he truly loved to be: in the presence of the most Holy Eucharist in the private chapel of his apartment.

Cause for sainthood

In 2002, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, Diocese of Peoria, petitioned to open the Cause for the Canonization of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. Now under the direction of Msgr. Stanley Deptula, the Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation makes its mission to "introduce a new generation to the holy priest, missionary, and communicator, Fulton J. Sheen, and to move the Church to proclaim him a saint."

Monsignor Deptula, with the help of his assistant, Julie Enzenberger, CV, both experts on the archbishop, will be at the Bishop O'Connor Center Auditorium on Friday, Aug. 13, at 7 p.m., to show the new documentary film about Archbishop Fulton Sheen. After the hour-long documentary, both Monsignor Deptula and Enzenberger will be available to answer questions about Archbishop Sheen and the foundation. A number of books about and by Fulton Sheen will also be for sale.

The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation will have on display a collection of relics of the Servant of God, including his beautiful chalice and his Byzantine crown. Every other day of the year, these relics are kept at the Sheen Museum in Peoria.

More information about Archbishop Sheen, the foundation, the film, and this showing, including registration (free, used only for the purpose of seating and refreshments) is available online through the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis, accessible at www.madisondiocese.org

God love you.

Tyler Dickinson is from Edgerton and is a seminarian for the Diocese of Madison. This fall, he will be entering first pre-theology at the American College of the Immaculate Conception in Leuven, Belgium.