The One Thing You Need to Know About Fulton Sheen’s Cause

It’s not over.

Earlier this week the Sheen Foundation shared a press release stating that “the seven-member theological commission who advise the Congregation of the Causes of Saints at the Vatican unanimously agreed that a reported miracle should be attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Archbishop Fulton Sheen.”

The alleged miracle involves my son, James Fulton, who was a stillborn and without a pulse for sixty-one minutes. While he was lifeless we asked Fulton Sheen for his prayers, and just as emergency room doctors were prepared to call time of death James came back to life. His body should have shut down from massive organ failure caused by his severe lack of oxygen. He should not be alive today, but he is. When it was evident that he would live, doctors and specialists warned us that he would be severely disabled, but he is not.

The Sheen Foundation’s press release went on to say “Today’s decision by the theologians comes after the March 2014 vote by the team of Vatican medical experts who affirmed that they could find no natural explanation for the child’s healing. With the recommendations of the medical experts and now the theologians, the case will next be reviewed by the cardinals and bishops who advise the Pope on these matters. Finally, the miracle would be presented to Pope Francis.”

If Pope Francis approves the alleged miracle then it will be official: a real miracle.

But at that point the Sheen Foundation will still have to petition the Vatican for Venerable Fulton Sheen to be beatified.   There are three more steps that we need to go through before we could possibly have a miracle and a Blessed Fulton Sheen and as the Foundation has pointed out, “there is no timeline as to when these next steps might move forward.”

Hopefully the bishops and cardinals who sit on the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will approve the alleged miracle this fall when they return to Rome following the summer holiday. Hopefully Pope Francis will approve it very soon afterwards. Hopefully the pope will swiftly approve the beatification. We don’t know; we could be waiting for months or years.

Why do I share all this with you? Because, while I want us all to celebrate this important ruling from the advising theologians, I also want us all to continue to pray for and support this cause. If you believe in Venerable Sheen’s holiness and example – if you believe that he would make a great saint for the Church, leading many to a deep, loving, joyful relationship with Christ – then please continue to hope and pray for the next three steps.

Please continue to raise awareness of Venerable Sheen and his passionate love for our Lord. Please even consider tithing to the Sheen Foundation as they work to promote and further his cause for canonization.

Let’s celebrate: our God is good and has done marvelous things!

And let’s pray: Heavenly Father, source of all holiness, You raise up within the Church in every age men and women who serve with heroic love and dedication. You have blessed Your Church through the life and ministry of Your faithful servant, Archbishop Fulton J Sheen. He has written and spoken well of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and was a true instrument of the Holy Spirit in touching the hearts of countless people.

If it be according to Your Will, for the honor and glory of the Most Holy Trinity and for the salvation of souls, we ask  You to move the Church to proclaim him a saint. We ask this prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Bonnie Engstrom

Bonnie Engstrom

Bonnie Engstrom is a cradle Catholic and stay-at-home mom. She married her dashing husband in 2006 and they now have five children: one in Heaven and four more wandering around their house, probably eating pretzels found under the couch. Bonnie lives in central Illinois and gets excited about baking, music, film adaptations of Jane Austen books, and the Chicago Bears. She was a cofounder of The Behold Conference and she blogs at A Knotted Life.

Leave a Replay

9 thoughts on “The One Thing You Need to Know About Fulton Sheen’s Cause”

  1. Pingback: The Miracle of Fulton J. Sheen - BigPulpit.com

  2. I know that I’m praying for a full recovery for little James — and not doubting it. In 1980, I was where he was at birth for twenty-nine minutes. As the first”born” of a set of twins, and with my brother in peril (we were nearly a month and a half premature and had serious cord issues), I was effectively given on up as dead by everyone but my hard-praying father (who proceeded to spend the next two months with me in NICU) — while even my mother had come to the realization that I was gone, he suddenly somehow found the one young doctor (a former Indian military doctor/former Hindu chaplain of all combinations) who had ANY idea how to attempt a neonatal resuscitation…

    The wacky part is that my father had to rush from the hospital straight to church (we were born just before 3am Sunday morning) to lector the first mass, with no sleep or shower. He could have gotten a replacement after a night like that, but he felt that he owed God (he’s never been one for Saints; his confirmation name refers to the pastor he altar served under) one after a particularly close call!

    My late grandmother, who helped raise me (sadly, my late mother never quite got over the traumas of the births of my brother and I), was a huge fan of Fulton Sheen, and I recently got some old Sheen books of hers out of family storage to add to my religion shelf in my apartment. Seeing that he works to save babies like me explains why my grandmother (who was responsible both for the tradition of baptismal naming that gave me the patronage of her beloved Thomas Aquinas as well as taught me that love) was such a fan — and makes me want to crack those books open right now, to remember family lost and honor infants given a second chance…

  3. Is there a prayer to Bishop Sheen? I have a cause I’d like to have his help on and I honestly don’t know how to do it.

    1. PRAYER FOR FAVOR
      Eternal Father, You alone grant us every blessing in Heaven and on earth, through the redemptive mission of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and by the working of the Holy Spirit.
      If it be according to Your Will, glorify Your servant, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, by granting the favor I now request through his prayerful intercession (mention your request here)
      I make this prayer confidently through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

      PRAYER FOR CANONIZATION
      Heavenly Father, source of all holiness, You raise up within the Church in every age men and women who serve with heroic love and dedication. You have blessed Your Church through the life and ministry of Your faithful servant, Archbishop Fulton J Sheen. He has written and spoken well of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and was a true instrument of the Holy Spirit in touching the hearts of countless people.
      If it be according to Your Will, for the honor and glory of the Most Holy Trinity and for the salvation of souls, we ask You to move the Church to proclaim him a saint. We ask this prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
      source: http://www.archbishopsheencause.org/prayers-and-meditations

      1. Thank you so much! I will begin praying immediately. God Bless you and may God grant that Bishop Sheen become a saint.

  4. Fulton Sheen was creating mass media miracles when I was a small lad in the 1950s. In my heart, I know he still creates miracles in this world.

  5. We must all pray this great man becomes one of the saints we so need for these troubled times. Locutions.org

  6. I am a Catholic because of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. I grew up in a Methodist household. My father was a lapsed Catholic and my Methodist grandmother, who was in charge of my education, taught that the Pope was the Antichrist and the Catholic Church was pagan and worshiped the saints as if they were gods and goddesses. She believed that the Knights of Columbus went around the country kidnapping Christian children to raise them as Catholics in Catholic orphanages. A relative sent us a recording of Haydn’s Mass No. 7 in D Minor, and I fell in love with the music. I listened on the radio to a Mass from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, with Bp. Sheen as celebrant. I went to the public library and checked out his book on the Mass, and following that read everything I could find on Catholicism. It was Bishop Sheen who pointed the way for me.

Leave a Reply to John Parrillo Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sign up for our Newsletter

Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit