Fulton Sheen Helped Lead Me Back to the Faith. Then I Witnessed His Beatification.
Deacon Joshua Dalcher first encountered the legendary Catholic preacher when he was struggling with the Church. More than a decade later, he stood among the clergy as Sheen was declared blessed.
By Deacon Joshua Dalcher
As the procession line for the Beatification Mass of Archbishop Fulton Sheen passed through the lower bowl entrance, the sounds of a beautiful choir intensified. A sea of white stretched out in front of me, rounding the corner to the center aisle. I gasped as I looked up and saw a full arena of the faithful. On the large screens, an impossibly long shot of the center aisle showed us slowly moving forward, the black and white of the seminarians' surplices and cassocks and the white of our albs giving the appearance of smoke rising toward the altar.
This must be a glimpse of what Heaven looks like. I remembered Revelation 5:8 and Psalm 141 — the prayers of the faithful rising up like incense toward Heaven, and those golden bowls of incense.
I overheard media commentators speaking in languages that I didn’t understand, saw giant television cameras, and the enormity of the moment began to sink in. Processing up the center aisle felt like I was in a fog, the stadium lights illuminating a sea of suit coats, mantillas and smiling faces.
A Long Road
I seemed very far away from where I started at that moment.
I first encountered Archbishop Sheen when I was still very far away from my faith. We were expecting our first child, and I was struggling with what the world had taught me about what the Church teaches.
I don’t recall exactly how I encountered him well over a decade ago, but I was first captivated by the intensity of his speaking. His willingness to speak out on Communism and the ills of society while simultaneously proclaiming the beauty and dignity of the Gospel was convicting then and remains so in an increasingly secular world. His commanding, almost stage-like presence on Life Is Worth Living was impressive as well, appearing otherworldly in his ferraiolo (cape) and his piercing eyes that seemed to cut right through the grainy, 1950s-era TV recording.
In time, I learned that he was born less than an hour from my hometown and ordained a priest in my home diocese. After he was disinterred from St. Patrick's Cathedral and moved to St. Mary’s Cathedral in my birthplace of Peoria, IL, I made it a point to visit his tomb every time I was home on business.
Around this time, I had entered formation to become a deacon. My spiritual director, Father Dennis Brown, O.M.V., shared joyfully that he was a directee and friend of Bishop Sheen’s, and this shared connection did nothing more than fan the flames of my devotion.
Then, much to my frustration, the cause was paused for several years while questions about priest assignments during his time in Rochester, NY, were further reviewed.
My wife and I were eagerly anticipating his beatification. “When they finally work this out, we’re going to that event!” we said, presuming it would be in Peoria, where we had visited so many times.
Fortunately for me, the delay gave me enough time to be ordained a deacon. Now I had the opportunity to vest and distribute Communion. AND it was going to be in St. Louis, AND there were going to be 50,000+ people attending.
The Blessed Moment
From my seat in Section B, I watched the procession drawing to a close — but no… there were the mitres! Almost 90 of them, and there was Cardinal Tagle, smiling joyfully to the crowd as he processed in.
Shortly thereafter, they reviewed the holy life of Bishop Sheen — his academic prowess, his popular acclaim and his fierce love of Christ and the Gospel — after which Cardinal Tagle began reading the decree in Latin. My Latin isn’t the greatest, but when I heard his name — Venerabilis Servus Dei Fultonius Joannes Sheen — I knew that the moment had come.
Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria then read the proclamation in English as they unveiled a huge icon of the now-Blessed Fulton Sheen!
As they cut to a livestream from Sheen’s tomb in Peoria and unveiled the icon there, along with the new plaque showing “Blessed,” I was grateful to be in the sea of clergy because the joyful tears had come. It was difficult to choke out the words to one of my favorite hymns, “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.”
The moment deepened as James Fulton Engstrom, the boy whose healing through Sheen's intercession was recognized as the miracle for his beatification, processed in with his major relic: Sheen's mandible, chosen for his extraordinary ability to preach and proclaim the Gospel. I know this practice is difficult for some, but the visceral and beautiful reality that blesseds and saints really lived among us, really died, and God truly works through their intercession speaks to our hope in eternal life and the sovereignty of God.
Cardinal Tagle’s homily spoke eloquently of what it means to be blessed, which means fortunate or happy. Those who preach the Gospel tirelessly often meet difficulty and persecution. What is blessed about that? Is it only because of his fame and celebrity? No. Instead, Cardinal Tagle focused on Sheen’s communion with Christ: His proclamation and living of the Gospel message is truly what makes him blessed, fortunate and happy. I would strongly encourage reading or watching the full homily, because I certainly cannot do it justice here.
Cardinal Tagle's charge was still fresh when it was time for us to move from hearing the Word to service. We all now had the opportunity to receive and distribute the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Blessed Lord, whom Sheen loved so deeply.
As we recessed out, we were among the first to venerate the smaller major relics being given to Rochester and New York — the metacarpal bones of the index fingers of his right and left hands. The stream of white now looped around the ballroom to spend a moment in gratitude to God for this great gift.
My prayer was that if I could cooperate with God’s grace enough to profess the Gospel even a fraction as well as Bishop Sheen did, I would glorify God for it.
Most of all, I am grateful to Almighty God for continuing to do his work through the intercession of now Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, son of Illinois. My prayer is that the grace that brought Archbishop Sheen into my life will multiply through this event and bear much fruit, that we can all proclaim the Gospel effectively with our lives.
Blessed Fulton John Sheen, pray for us — and God Love You!
