Is Trump Catholic? What if he is, and Bishop Sheen becomes the first TV saint? What happens then?
So he is a Saint if he is from Peoria but not if from NY. But he wouldn’t be famous if he had stayed home. To this Catholic he was just another, really boring TV preacher who is not deserving of Sainthood.
Coming from a devout catholic family in the Midwest, we watched his program religiously. “Better to light a candle then to curse the darkness” etc. I quit the church and deity-following years ago, so I probably have no standing for this next statement.
I object strenuously to the reduction in number of miracles required to be canonized. I think Benedict or John Paul reduced, probably to boost business. It used to require 3 solid miracles to get the halo. Almost anyone can do one. Why, my dead grandmother did one for me. DM if you want the details.
I’ll pray to St Fulton J after he gets the next two done.
1
Sheen gets credit for my becoming a recovering Catholic.
I remember seeing him on TV, blessing busloads of boys (yes, 18, but boys...) headed off to Fort Dix, NJ for induction, many to fight and die in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, I was being "taught" the value of all human life in a Catholic HS. Right then and there I saw the "sheen" of all the lies of his and all religions.
Congrats and thanks, Fulton J.
4
The obvious solution is to split up the Archbishop's remains between the two dioceses. Bits and pieces of Catholic saints' bodies, hair, blood, and the like are scattered among cathedrals all over the world. The one example that comes to mind is St. Thomas More, whose headless body is buried in the Tower of London, where he was executed, and whose head is entombed in Canterbury with his daughter, Margaret More Roper.
As a Catholic, I find this unseemly scrapping over Archbishop Sheen's body very embarrassing. It makes Catholics look ridiculous. (Unfortunately, not that that's hard these days.)
Just open the casket, check to see that it is the right body and whether the body is incorruptible, then divide it some way, no matter how distasteful and disrespectful that seems. Maybe, leave some hair at St. Patrick's crypt.
It's where this is heading anyway. If Archbishop Sheen is canonized, there will end up being pieces of his remains in several different places anyway. It's the historic Catholic way, like all of the so-called pieces of the True Cross scattered worldwide. Even my parish church claims to have one which is obvious nonsense.
I am seriously considering
getting myself canonized.
I will get an ex seminarian
or someone equally devout
to perform the service.as
for the miracle, that's easy.
keeping myself alive after
"all my trials,Lord."
there is absolutely no reason why I should not
be Saint Frank.when one
thinks about it,it makes
just as much sense as any
other canonization.
3
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's "Life is worth living" is seen in reruns on EWTN. It is as relevant today as it was in the 1950s. We certainly need his message today with all the uncertainty and hatred we are experiencing in our country.
He was beloved by millions of Catholics and non Catholics alike. I saw him in a restaurant in 1979 and he was a very warm person. He made me appreciate my Catholic faith even more. Those who are enemies of the Church will never like him but those who love the faith admire him. He cannot become a saint fast enough as he has done more to spread the Catholic faith than just about anyone else.
4
The Catholic Church has no moral authority to declare anyone a Saint. It stopped following the path of Jesus over a thousand years ago and never stepped back on it. It’s a sad testament to the immense harm a male patriarchy that exists only to feed the egos of power and status hungry men can do to the world. It’s an institution (like so many in the ‘religious world) that just needs to disappear. No I’m not anti-Catholic. I was raised Catholic and have seen its horrors. The same can be said about Southern Baptists, most evangelicals, fundamentalist Judaism and Islam and many other religious groups that create a god in the form of men’s egos.
10
Did I miss something in this article? WHY is it important to disturb this man's grave to achieve sainthood? The writer did not provide sufficient background and really, is it that important where he lies? Personally, New York is where he wished to be and that's where he should stay. It sounds as if it's a grab for a tourist attraction.
8
@Jack I thought it was clear. the Diocese of Peoria is the one that is spearheading the advocacy toward sainthood (I'm not Catholic, but I know that a particular bishop takes up sainthood). He was born there, and the people there believe they have a special relationship to him.
1
The body also needs to be examined to see that it's the right one and whether it's incorruptible. Besides, wherever the body is becomes the primary, profitable, pilgrimage destination if Archbishop Sheen is canonized.
Seems I've been to places in Europe that had partial remains.
Why not here?
1
That's actually how it will end up. St. Patrick's and Peoria will both end up with remains, and probably other places in the US, and Rome.
A living body houses a soul and so is a temple of the Lord. After the physical body has died and the soul has passed, what is left is nothing more than a shell, thus, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
A dead body is nothing more than an empty tupperware. To pretend it is anything else is not only the height of absurdity, it is a Lie that the Catholic Church uses to prey upon its people.
I am always somewhat surprised that Catholics have not gained enough knowledge to leave this Lie in the dust by now.
3
Oh how I wish that miracles were true and that saints exist. We can use all the help we can get down here.
8
I remember Bishop Sheen with his charismatic smile, chalk board, and his cape. As I was a seminarian in 1964-65 he had an influence on me. He was the head of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith. Keep the Faith Baby, Keep the Faith! Adam Clayton Powell could have taken lessons from him.
1
Please leave Archbishop Sheen alone to rest in peace. As a faithful Catholic and former altar boy, I don't understand why the church would violate the Archbishop's last wish, to be buried where he wants. This disrespect goes against everything I learned as a Catholic. Can Pope Francis intercede to stop this foolishness? If so, please do, ASAP, before its too late. What are the "do gooders" going to say when they reach their place in heaven, and are asked by the good Archbishop, "why did you move my body from my final resting place, as I wished?"
2
Wherever the remains (or most of them) end up becomes the primary, profitable, pilgrimage site.
1
In this era of “fake news,” it may be high time for the media- TV- to get it’s own Saint. Journalist, pundits and other performers can ware a Saint Sheen medal while doing miracles.
2
@Taher Francis de Sales is the patron saint of journalists.
Further evidence that the Catholic Church has become an experiment in Absurdist Theatre.
I’d like to know what the tab would be to exhume a casket from a crypt in St Patrick’s, transport it across the country and re-inter it.
Not cheap, I’ll bet.
11
@Bill bartelt
I wonder how many poor American schoolchildren could be given a laptop w/ those funds?
Today - %17 of American schoolchildren do not have access to a computer or broadband at home.
Boy, we know what is important - moving a dead man's bag of dust and bones from one place to another.
6
With the utmost respect to the Catholic Church - I think more courageous leaders are needed than adding another saint.
17
I am a native of that diocese. Former Catholic, too. I’ve never understood the veneration of relics or the importance of having an esteemed person’s body in one location or another. And fighting over a body is not only grotesque but barbaric. It’s their ACTIONS and words that deserve attention and being remembered. Yes? So Sheen “comes home.” What then? Someone will build a shrine? Then a hotel? Then a park with displays about him? I don’t think the Archbishop would look kindly on ANY of it. This whole thing is ridiculous.
16
It's embarrassing, isn't it, for us Catholics?
1
Bogus claims about a miracle so that a man may be elevated to divine status? This practice of the Roman Catholic Church worshipping human beings instead of divine ones is one of the many self-contradictory problems that it has. A religion that arose during the influence of Gnosticism and idol worship will deify humans in an attempt to legitimize itself.
8
@John I'm Jewish, but I have enough respect for other religions not to put them down as absurdities. If this woman wants to believe that a miracle restored her newborn son to her, what's so harmful about that?
2
Very strange court proceedings. Sheen specified in his will that he wanted to be buried in the official cemetery of the archdiocese of New York. After his death, his closest living relative (Joan Cunningham) agreed with Cardinal Cooke that he would instead be interred in St. Patrick's Cathedral. And so he was, in 1979. Forty years later, Cunningham decided that Sheen would have a better chance at sainthood if his body were moved to Peoria. Apparently God metes out miracles according to where a saint's earthly remains are interred. The intermediate New York state appellate court decided in March 2019 that although burial in St Patrick's cathedral is a "high honor," the evidence showed that "Archbishop Sheen lived with an even higher intent and purpose in mind, namely to attain Heaven and, if at all possible, sainthood." Never mind Sheen's own wishes as to his burial place: the court decided, apparently as a matter of its own theological judgment, that there was a "higher intent at purpose" at stake. Civil courts in the US should not be making that kind of theological judgment. Sheen's remains should stay in New York, as he wished. (The March decision is controlling because NY's highest court declined to review the case a few days ago.)
9
The sheer insanity of this whole situation really comes through in this article. However, some questions remain: In 2019, they considered exhuming and carving up the body of a man who has been dead and buried for 40 years? To the point of going to court? Why did the New York court side with Illinois? A mother believes her baby was brought back from the dead after 61 minutes? The church seems to agree with her? Why wasn't this international front page news everywhere? It's amazing this story is happening in the United States in the 21st century and not in an Italian backwater in the 12th.
25
The article misses the rationale for the medieval fights over the location of a saint's remains. A saint's remains meant pilgrimages, and pilgrims meant money and a sign of the city's rank. Back in the day the corpse of a well known saint was the economic and civic equivalent of a football franchise.
26
A Saint's remains would be good for the Peoria diocese economy as a tourist pilgrimage attraction.
So after 40 years Peoria needs a cash cow tourist attraction? Seems sainthood has been diluted quite a bit over the centuries. Let the man rest where he is.
16
How very Catholic. There are children going hungry and homeless people in every city but lets spend our time, energy and money on something that will result in bragging rights.
20
As a kid we watched Sheen's show on TV. That was long before I realized that the whole religion thing was just plain silly. This article confirms it. Dividing body parts? Miracles on Sheen's behalf? Really?
17
In military parlance, it's called "fussing over the body."
2
This whole thing is creepy.
This could have been written in 1519.
But in 2019?
Squabbling over a dead body is pretty twisted folks.
16
Back in the day, having a piece of The True Cross or the finger of St.Stephen was a draw to the sites of their repose.
Pilgrims make journeys...receive blessings...leave money...Church is made famous and has the money to buy the next artifact to come on the market.
A carney at Mississippi's Neshoba County Fair could step into the scheme with not a moments reference to the new script.
9
sheen's gospel of Fear of communism during the 50's was the sound track of Catholic life in the 50's. a dreadful man.
12
I used to watch Bishop Sheen on tv. He was handsome, and women swooned. He also competed with Milton Berle who called Uncle Fulty.
4
I recall him as creepy, unctuous and extremely rightwing, definitely not someone who merits sainthood.
12
The result of the miracle is the little boy now "laughs at farts!'
That will make for interesting reading in hagiography being spawned.
Hard to beat St. Eliphius who when beheaded walked for a time, carrying his head, till he gave it up!
7
I noticed that expression too.
If that's the best a mother can say about her normal child . . . .
3
The proposal of canonization is quite a bit more complex and vigorous than the impression left by this article. Every incident and encounter in the life of the "Tank-blessing Archbishop" will be diligently scrutinized. And remember the officially-appointed role popularly known as "The Devil's Advocate," which is to stubbornly contest every element of the case. The miracle claimed I'm sure is sincere, but it is weak in evidence. It will have to be demonstrated the baby indeed lived 61 minutes without blood flow to the brain, not just that the mother says so.
3
@David
Thank You.
1
Regardless that Fulton J. Sheen was an Archbishop, the fact that his surviving family members want his remains returned to Peoria, IL in which he was a native son should be the real matter at heart.
Leave it to religion and politics to complicate something that should be respected with grace and dignity.
My mother loved Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I recall being extremely bored and not caring what he had to say EVERY SUNDAY EVENING when it was mandated in our home to sit in front of that small b/w TV set, listening to him go on and on and on. The only joy I ever got out of those programs was seeing my mother smile while soaking in his words. It was also one of those few times she wasn't yelling at us to behave. All us kids wanted was for that show to end so we could watch the next episode of "Bonanza".
May the dear Archbishop continue to lie in rest. Happy for his family that he will be finally coming home to them.
I know my mother would be happy at that too.
4
@Marge Keller
"Life is Worth Living"
was on the Dumont Network
on Tuesday Nights from 1952 - 1955
and then on ABC from 1955 - 1957
on Thursday Nights for 1955/1956 and
Monday Nights for 1956/1957.
A variation of the program appeared on local channels
from 1958 on.
"Life is Worth Living" never played opposite of
"Bonanza "on the National Networks as
Bonanza did not debut until 1959.
3
@John Brown
Reruns were played and we had to sit and watch them a second time.
I never said the broadcast shows competed for air time. I apologize for giving an incorrect impression. We just waited for the program to be OVER so we could then watch a program that we thought was entertaining to us rather than being spiritually guiding. Very sorry that I may have mislead, inadvertently.
4
@Marge Keller That show was sponsored. I remember a commercial for canned vegetables.
2
I have watched some of Sheen's Life is Worth Living episodes. Maybe is was the Catholic television channel, but I don't remember. What I do remember is how weird it was. It was in black and white and his sunken cheeks and eyes gave him the look of someone already dead, maybe dead and resurrected. And his voice and delivery would scare any child. It's been so long that I don't remember the overriding message, but it was weird, with him wearing vestments and alone in front of the camera. If at the time one would have told me he would be up for sainthood one day, I would have thought it would take a miracle.
8
@reaylward
I never found anything but pleasure i watching Life is Worth Living. He did fast severly during lent and you many have seen him then, I dont recall him wearing vestments. He may have worn a monsignor's cape occasionally. Mostly it was just a priests black shirt and white collar.
One thing I do remember is that he gave a speech in Ireland where he famously began by acknowledging in detail the various members of the hierarchy attending, then the priests, then sisters and finally he said with great enthusiasm, Saints of Ireland, as he addressed the common folk in the auditorium. Of course he endeared himself to the people. May he pray for us during our current tribulations
3
@reaylward
You may have have caught only the very late episodes. My childhood memory of him was a much younger & funnier man, so much so that I am always surprised when I see photos of him as an old man. Perhaps what you saw were sermons from much later. He was after all only monsignor when I was a kid.
2
As others have noted, this is an excellent article. A note on the “miracle” in the story. I am thrilled that the child recovered, but to claim he did so as a result of a prayer involving a dead Archbishop? Dodgy, to say the least. Faith does not require, nor should it be based on, this kind of so-called proof. Faith means believing something to be true even in the absence of empirical data.
11
@Mark Siegel Their faith is not based on this incident. They believe that their child's life was saved by a miracle based on this incident. A difference.
1
@Mark Siegel
No Catholic is "required" to believe in the miracles of the saints. Official Church teaching is that it is not contrary to reason to believe that the event (usually a healing that seems medically impossible) was caused by divine intervention. The only miracles Catholics are "required" to believe in are those performed by Jesus in the Gospels.
3
"The remains of saints are holy objects of veneration in Catholicism and have been objects of intense dispute for hundreds of years. In the past, the resolution has sometimes been to divide the body. " You are kidding, right? How medieval. Permit Archbishop Sheen to rest peacefully intact in St. Patrick's. To rephrase W.C. Fields, the Archbishop would probably rather be there than in Peoria.
24
@jsf
"How medieval". Well, yes. You'll note that the Catholic Church has been around for a long, long, long time.
1
@js "All things considered. I'd rather be here than in Philadelphia." -- reputedly on WC Field's tombstone.
1
the death of the baby could have been to an inaccurate diagnoses by untrained medics. why not just give Peoria reruns of sheen's tel shows instead of parts of his body. is there money in sainthood?
13
Dividing the body is a thing? He’s dead. He doesn’t care where his remains are. Why do the living care so much? The veneration of tombs is one reason that I prefer cremation. Dump the ashes in the water and be done with it. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.
8
@Jas Kaur
Think about the men and women who died in service to our country. D day services reminds us of past history and sacrifice of those before us. The cemetery is a reminder to the living. The military cemeteries and cremation niches are our real history and what community really means to the living. I feel that looking at the crosses and stars is significant to the living. While scattering of ashes may be meaningful for some, so do final resting place have a place in the living conscious souls.
Here was a great man. Here is a Great man! His words in books and tape live on. He converted me via his words in his book the "Life of Christ." God's great messenger. Please honor this man because he is religion at its best!
11
Do they make money off possession?
6
@Phat Skier
They certainly hope to-- if he gets all the way to Sainthood, it means tourists! In Peoria!
5
@Phat Skier No and Yes. With Archbishop Sheen 'no' because some of the remains would be used to sanctify Catholic Churches everywhere. There are remains of a saints in every Church.
The yes has mostly to do with European museums where a bunch are.
What ever you think about this practice, only a Catholic could understand.
1
Instead of obsessing about this man, I strongly urge the Catholic Church to admit the horror story that was going on while he was preaching about abstract religious issues while the Church was being the chief conduit and safe haven for child abusers in the world.
I know. Members of my family were victims of it while my mother was obsessing and worshiping this man.
47
Stemming from a decision by the New York State Court of Appeals on Friday, the move brings an end to the decade-long fight over where Archbishop Sheen’s remains should be entombed.
Well, NYT, what was the actual decision and on what grounds was the determination made? Did I miss something here?
31
I remember watching some of his shows on television because my mother was Catholic. I thought he was a con man then. Cutting up bodies and burying them in different places is grotesque.
36
@minidictum
"Cutting up bodies and burying them in different places is grotesque."
But maybe appropriate in his case?
1
The battle over the remains was awfully close to naturally occurring satire . . .
And the NY Diocese didn't even merit a finger?
20
Aside from the sexual abuse of minors scandal this macabre fight over the decaying body of a celebrity priest reinforces the increasingly held view that the Catholic church has not left its medieval past and has no relevance to people living today.
56
@Edward B. Blau How would you know??
@Dlud
I went to a Catholic grade school, high school, college and professional school, was an altar boy and my sainted mother was a faithful fan of the bishop's TV show.
So I do know enough to have become a recovering catholic.
10
@Edward B. Blau and Diud. Both of you are examples of the extremes....ie one goes in the direction of religion is of important unregulated relevance and the other says it has no relevance.
Religion is a form of a drug. When used in moderation it is like sipping a glass of fine wine. When it is abused you get the dark ages, Spanish inquisition, Nazi enablers, child abusing priests etc.
It should be treated like a drug, regulated by gov't and I believe in 20, 30, 100+ yrs., you will not be able to partake in it till you are age 18.
No relevance? Alcohol still has relevance today, banning it did not work. Mixing religion and the state? You get the horror stories in so many countries.
We can thank the founding fathers for creating it and Lincoln for saving it, ie separation of state and religion that we don't have the horror story going in so many areas of the world today especially the Middle East.
2
Excellent and informative piece by Ms. Otterman. While a relatively small affair in the context of today's world, her piece was refreshingly absent of the NYT's usual anti-Catholic bias. Bravo!
7
Dividing the remains, a niece trying to move her uncle to aid in his promotion to sainthood, bishops dueling for a miracle draw to their cathedrals; this is nothing but the commercialization of the poor mans bits.
37
I'm not a Roman Catholic, but I am grateful for this very well-written, balanced, and informative story. Ms. Otterman explains a lot and does it very, very well.
12