Priests, deacons, seminarians experience Church’s universality at Bishop Sheen Beatification
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The bus carrying seminarian Gabriel Eckstein from Mundelein Seminary in Chicago arrived in St. Louis after the Opening Procession started.
“We were allowed to skip security and enter through a back entrance,” he noted. “We were able to process out of Mass with the other seminarians at the end of Mass, which was a very powerful experience.”
Mr. Eckstein was one of hundreds of seminarians — men who are actively discerning a possible call to Priesthood — who attended the Beatification Mass of Blessed Bishop Fulton Sheen on Sept. 24 in the Dome at America’s Center.
Bishop Sheen (1895-1979) was a gifted Catholic prelate, author, promoter of missions and groundbreaking evangelizer through radio and the then-new medium of television.
He helped lead millions of people to Christ and assisted countless others, Catholic and non-Catholic, in deepening their faith.
At the Beatification Mass, Bishop Sheen was formally declared Blessed, one step away from being formally listed among the saints.
Mr. Eckstein said it was beautiful to see so many people, including seminarians and priests from this diocese, together who have all been inspired by one humble priest.
Attending the Beatification was powerful and emotional for him, having devotedly read some of the late bishop’s works on the Priesthood.
Mr. Eckstein’s propaedeutic year at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio (2023-24) included a weekly seminar-style class.
Students listened to recordings from a retreat Blessed Fulton Sheen preached in 1977 for priests in Ireland (known as “The Dublin Retreat”) and then discussed the talks.
“They were very formative for us new seminarians,” Mr. Eckstein recalled.
Arriving late for the Beatification Mass meant sitting in the back row of the seminarian section on the stadium floor.
Nearby, Mr. Eckstein caught sight of the Engstrom family, who had been beneficiaries of the miracle that led to Bishop Sheen’s beatification.
The family stood in line while preparing to present the relics of Bishop Sheen in the procession.
“It was beautiful to be able to be present with the family and really humanized the experience of the miracle,” said Mr. Eckstein.
He felt like he knew the family in some way, as if the Engstroms were representing the many families each priest and seminarian has met or viewed from a distance in this diocese.
“That miracle could have happened to some family I knew personally,” Mr. Ekstein noted. “But through the mercy of God and the intercession of Fulton Sheen, the miracle happened to this particular family.”
Crossing paths with them helped Mr. Eckstein experience in a tangible way some of the joy, awe, and shed tears that the family must have felt when the miracle first happened — “when they realized that a miracle had taken place, that their son who was medically dead inexplicably is now alive.”
“It was a humbling experience of God’s grace,” said Mr. Eckstein. “Still in my heart is a deep-felt reverence for that family and in turn a reverence for every devout Catholic family.”
Witnesses
Concelebrating priests from this diocese at the Mass included: Father César Anicama, Father Christopher Aubuchon, Father Brad Berhorst JCL, Father Christopher Cordes, Father Paul J. Clark, Father Gregory Clever, Father Christopher Hoffmann, Father Daniel Merz SLD, Father Philip Niekamp, Father Gregory Oligschlaeger and Father Dylan Schrader Ph.D.
Other clergy from the diocese included Deacons Mike Berendzen, Ron Deimeke, John Hill, Brian Lutz, Harvey Million, David Thompson and Rick Vise.
Several of the diocese’s seminarians were also present.
Each priest received a special chasuble — the priestly vestment worn at Mass — with a replica of Bishop Sheen’s signature on the back.
Fr. Cordes pointed out that Bishop Sheen spent an hour on every minute he would preach, which helped make his homilies and reflections incredibly effective.
Bishop Sheen also worked on his homilies in the presence of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Father Christopher Hoffmann said attending the Beatification was memorable for many reasons.
“The atmosphere was full of reverent excitement,” he said. “There were a surprising number of people from near and far.”
He got to reconnect with priest friends from several states; seminarians and staff from seminaries he had attended; parishioners from about six parishes in this diocese; and other friends he hadn’t seen for years.
“With the broad collection of laypeople, seminarians, religious, priests, bishops and cardinals, it was a microcosm of the Catholic world worshiping God’s awesome goodness through his servant, Blessed Fulton Sheen,” Fr. Hoffmann stated.
Deacon Berendzen’s clearest memories of the celebrations are from the Vespers service held in the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica the night before the Beatification Mass.
“Looking around, I was impressed by how many seminarians and young women religious I saw,” he said. “I was also impressed by the number of families that included young children.”
He noted that Bishop Robert Barron, one of many successful heirs to Blessed Sheen’s media ministry, preached the homily.
“The beautiful thing was that Bishop Barron didn’t focus on the media evangelization, but on what was behind it — Blessed Sheen’s holiness and the fact that he was a ‘friend of Jesus Christ,’” Deacon Berendzen noted.
The following day at the Beatification, he saw whole sections reserved for women religious, many of whom seemed to be young and very joyful in their vocation.
Deacon Berendzen got to help distribute Holy Communion to people in the massive stadium.
“I saw family after family reverently receive Christ, with many of these families made up of young children,” the deacon recounted.
He noted that Blessed Sheen was known for his incredibly effective evangelism.
“My hope is that all those who were present for the Vespers and Mass have been touched by his witness and example and will themselves be witnesses and examples to the world in their own way,” the deacon stated.
Connected
Blessed Sheen is one of seminarian John Paul McGuire’s favorite authors and preachers.
“He has inspired me and my vocation in many ways,” said Mr. McGuire. “I have learned a lot of what I know from him, and I have befriended him over the years as I ask for his intercession more and more.”
He said the Opening Procession at the Beatification Mass felt like “a march of the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant.”
Seeing people looking down from the various levels of the stadium while processing toward the altar, where heaven meets earth, reminded him of artistic depictions of heaven, “where the angels and saints are surrounding God on levels of clouds.”
“It was inspiring and a sight to behold,” he said.
Seminarian Cameron DeGraff was pleased to see how many Catholics came to participate in the Mass.
“I know that the Church is universal, but I would say that I experienced it to such an extent,” he said.
Cardinal Luis Antonino Tagle, who presided at the Mass as Pope Leo XIV’s official delegate, emphasized in his homily that especially through his radio and television ministry and extensive missionary endeavors, Blessed Sheen was not just a son of Illinois or America, but of the whole world.
“I felt connected to the Church that day, as someone who also admired Blessed Fulton Sheen,” said Mr. DeGraff.
