[00:00:00] Speaker A: Get ready, guys. A serious wave of spiritual grace is about to sweep over America and, frankly, the world. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is about to be beatified this coming September. I'm gonna talk today to the man behind it all to dive into what the beatification process looks like and what this event is gonna look like. Guys, they got a stadium that's gonna house 75,000 people. You don't wanna miss this. Okay. To get all the info and stay up to date, I'm gonna sign up for this the second I'm done filming this video. So sign up for their
[email protected]. that's the Fulton J. Sheen Foundation. Also, if you want to join me, I'll be personally at the beatification. We're having a very special event exclusively for people who come with one of our groups. There's a link below this video for that as well. Hope to see you there. Let's dive in.
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Bishop Tilke, thank you so much for coming. I'm really. I'm really just. I was humbled and honored that you reached out and made a trip here to Colorado just for us.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: It's great to be with you. Yeah.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: Praise God.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: It's a wonderful opportunity.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Thank you. I can't imagine how busy you are lately.
What's someone's life look like when something. I mean, like a wedding comes to a parent's life and plan it for the kids, like, that's a great blessing. And then all of a sudden, like, six months of your life is completely turned upside down?
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: Okay, so what's this look like when a beatification comes to a bishop?
[00:02:15] Speaker B: Well, it's quite, quite an undertaking.
Not a lot of time, basically about six months to prepare everything from the time we found out that we could move forward with the beatification.
So I've said to my team a couple times, you know, careful what you ask for. The Lord might give it to you.
And the Lord's given us this tremendous opportunity for the church. And we, we're doing our best. It's going to be good. We're going to try to make it great.
And so we're spending lots of time and energy.
It's pretty much our number one priority in the Diocese of Peoria for the next four and a half months now.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Yeah, we're going to be praying for this, please. And I'm so excited to get into talking about what to expect from the event.
And by the way, you're watching, come, come, go to the event, right? That's one of the reasons you're here, is just invite the world and if you can't get there, be part of it prayerfully. You know, watch it on streaming. It'll be in ewtn, just like just. This is a, this is a moment for the whole, for the whole country, for all of us.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: You know, when we were thinking about dreaming about what the beatification was going to look like, you know, I've said, Sheen is not for the Diocese of Peoria. He's for the church. He's for the world. And my goal from the start has been to maximize people's participation in this historic and unique moment.
So that's why we made the decision to move the beatification actually out of Peoria. We don't have a facility in our diocese. As large as our diocese is, we don't have a facility that could hold what will be 70,000 plus people, especially covered.
As a priest of Chicago, I was involved in the Jubilee mass back in 2000 when Cardinal George celebrated Mass at Soldier Field. It rained the entire day. So I have a little PTSD as far as doing an outdoor event, especially for beatification.
But, you know, we from the start, moving to host the event at the Dome at the America center in St. Louis, which is only two and a half hours south of Peoria, means that we could have 70,000 plus people actually physically present for the Mass, but also, you know, through wonderful partnerships that we're forming, to know that we'll be able to livestream not only the Mass, but most of the events surrounding leading up to the beatification and afterwards and, you know, broadcast partners, so really the world will be able to participate.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: This Is a mo. Man. This is a serious moment for America.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: I think of the Eucharistic Congress.
This has a potential to be even that fit about 60,000 people in Lucas Oil. That was, by the way, the most terrifying onstage experience I've ever had.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: When I was watching. I was watching the night before I was supposed to speak, and Bishop Barron was speaking, and he looked a little bit nervous, which I could perceive as a guy who talks a lot. And I thought, oh, man, I'm in trouble.
To get out there seeing, like, for, like. For, like, five seconds, my brain was wiped clean. I'm like, oh, Lord, please let something come back in there.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: But. But the significance and the. Thank you, God, that you did let something come back in there.
But the ripple effect that we're still experiencing, and I think this is like, a second is another wave.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: This can really impact the whole church,
[00:05:44] Speaker B: I think, in God's providence, you know, we often want things on our timetable, you know, and God says, no, there's a better time. And when I think of doing the beatification now in 2026, there's just. It's the right moment. It's the opportune time, and it's a time when America's bishop will be beatified by the first American pope during the 250th anniversary of the United States, part of our extended 150th anniversary with the Diocese of.
So it's God said, this is the right time, and, you know, and is helping us see where the. How the right venue and right plan is falling into place.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: That really moves me thinking of that, because I can't imagine the frustration of things that made it not happen six years ago. Like, people put their lives into this and then looked at, like, maybe it won't even ever happen.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: And the hand of God actually works through those things. It's just a reminder to stay calm when something's not happening like we want it to in the time we want it to.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: What's the whole beatification process look like? Okay, give us the. How is our sausage made here? They say, you don't want to know that, but I really do.
Yeah. It's got to be way more complicated than you'd think from the outside.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Well, the whole process of canonizing a saint in the church is an interesting sausage mix. Right. You know, you start with a diocese taking up a cause, initiating the cause, saying, we have somebody that the church should look at, and that began over 20 years ago, and there's the initial Phase of study and reflecting on the person's life, learning as much you can, seeing if there's what we call the cult in. In the good sense of people interested in who this individual is and what their witness of faith meant.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: So you gauge are people looking to this guy, reading him still?
[00:07:50] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Looking to him for his intercession, maybe.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Right.
And so all of that developed over time.
And as that process moves forward in stages, he's first declared, the cause is officially accepted, and then he's declared venerable.
And then you're praying for the miracle, Right?
A miracle is what gets you to the stage of being beatified. And then we pray for one more miracle for canonization. So the miracle for Fulton Sheen happened back in 2010.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: This is a biggie.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: This is not a small miracle.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: No, it's not. It's not. It's a great story.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: What's up, you guys? I'm so glad you're watching. Would you please let us inspire you every single day?
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[00:09:12] Speaker B: The miracle was approved, you know, once the miracle happened. And then of course, that in itself is studied to make sure and was accepted as a miracle. And then the next stage of beatification is to celebrate the mass you receive.
Pope Francis actually signed off on the beatification and it was postponed in 2019.
But the important aspect of actually the beatification is the Mass and it begins. The mass begins with a request, which would be my response, really.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: I want to stick on this miracle for a second.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Because not everybody knows this miracle.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: Sure, sure.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: Tell us what happened. And were you as mind blown as absolutely verifying, like, whoa, this is actually real?
[00:10:00] Speaker B: Yeah, this is real.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Because you get all sorts of, like, you get all sorts of interesting people. That would be the way I'd say it. Probably claiming things happened. Yeah, right. You have to weed through them all.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Well, you know, so we have, God willing, five potential miracles to investigate.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: For the next stage already.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: And that we're blessed to receive reports from places around the world where people say through the intercession of Fulton Sheen, a favor has been granted.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Some of them might rise to the level of actually being a miracle.
So the miracle was a young family lived in Washington, Illinois, which is not far from Peoria. They had planned a home birth for their, their child.
And when, when the baby was born, there was no pulse.
And they basically devoted to Sheen, were praying for his help.
Obviously, moving from the home to the hospital was important, trying to see if this child was going to survive.
And basically when the doctors were ready to say that the child did not survive, after 61 minutes, there was a heartbeat.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: 61 minutes, no sign of life.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: 61 minutes, no signs of life.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Fulton Sheen, pray for us. Heartbeat.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: And there's a heartbeat.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: How is the kid now?
[00:11:29] Speaker B: He's great.
Nothing wrong with him. No residual effects. He's your normal, like, 16 year old kid, plays sports, goes to high school. You know, in some sense, I, I
[00:11:41] Speaker A: mean, I, my hair's standing on edge. I didn't know it was 61 minutes. Yeah, you can't, you can't really fake that too well.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: Like, that's really dead.
You know what I mean? One would have thought, yeah, 61 minutes is a long time.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Right.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: And then to have no ongoing neurological problems.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: There's no, no problems, you know, so.
And he's, he's, he's a great young man, you know?
[00:12:03] Speaker A: You know him.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: I've met him several times. I know the family.
They're, they're, they're wonderful people. Good, faithful family.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: It just blows my mind.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: And, you know, I always kind of in the back of my mind, I always kind of feel a little bit sad for him because he's the miracle kid. Right. You know, so kind of he doesn't get to go anywhere without somebody going, well, there's the miracle.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: Right? Yeah.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: I mean, what a great blessing that is. But also, you know, that's a heavy weight to carry.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: That's a defining thing for the rest of your life.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: He'll be able to. Like I'm thinking right away, I want this kid on my show. Like, he'll be getting that request till he's, you know, until he's in his 70s, probably.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. But now when you get these claims of miracles, there's times, and I've been in touch with people who have submitted themselves for a claim for a miracle and it wasn't approved. And I actually think it probably was a miracle, like, for. I talked to a guy who had an amazing experience with Versatile, but he wasn't chosen as the miracle because it just didn't meet certain criteria to be officially counted as a miracle. I think it probably was, but, you know, it's just not counted as. So what separates those things in this process?
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Well, you know, again, I don't think we should think about limiting God's action in the world and in our lives. You know, if God wants a miracle to happen, it's going to happen.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: Whether we say it's a miracle or not, whether the church officially says it's a miracle or not, you know, so I think miracles happen every day.
[00:13:29] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: In so many different people's lives in different ways.
When you're looking at somebody in particular like a cause for saints, you really want to be sure. And so there's a lot of study that goes into it. You know, was the healing instantaneous?
Can it not be medically explained?
Is it attributable to, you know, someone's intercession? You know, there's these qualifications that the Church really looks at to make sure that if they're going to say this was a miracle that we're going to accept, doesn't diminish the fact that there could be others out there and likely are. As I said, we have five potential miracles to investigate that have happened since the time that Pope Francis signed the initial decree of the cause to move forward with beatification. And when I met with the dicastery of saints back in 2022, the cardinal assured me that any reported miracle from the date that Pope Francis signed that decree could be considered a miracle for the canonization. Wow.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Wow.
I love. It's comforting. I mean, I'm sure it's frustratingly bureaucratic, but also comforting to know. Like, the biggest skeptic looking at these miracles is the church.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Before we give the rubber stamp, it's going to pass through all sorts of study.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: I find it very interesting. I was in Lourdes, France, for the first time back in January, and that was a place Fulton Sheen loved to go.
But I found it fascinating when I was there.
There's been over, like 70,000 reported miracles that have taken place in Lourdes, but there's less than, I think, 20 that have been officially recognized by the Church.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: You know, so here's a place that miracles happen. Right.
But it doesn't mean everyone's going to get the stamp of approval from the Church.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: It's a good reminder. We should be asking more boldly for miracles that do happen.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: They do.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: I talked to a guy who tangent, went to Lord's, met him a month ago, and his son had been born with this horrible skin disorder and was bleeding all the time. He couldn't walk at age 5 because he was in constant pain, skin just cracking everywhere.
And they dunked him in the water. Nothing happened. The Eucharist came by in the procession after they had dunked him in the water. And in his hand, he's holding his kid like his skin became like baby skin.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: Like, boom.
These are not uncommon stories.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: That aren't even counted necessarily correct as official miracles.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: It's a cool reminder. That's one of the blessings of these processes. It's a reminder like God actually intervenes in human history when we ask.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Well, I always talk about, especially when I'm with the students for confirmation, I talk about a miracle. Happens every time we gather for Mass.
Jesus gave us his body, blood, soul, and divinity.
So, you know, you want to see a miracle, go to Mass.
[00:16:34] Speaker A: Amen. The miracle.
Praise God. Right.
You know what else I'm thinking as you talk about the five more under investigation, my second thought is this poor guy thinks he's going to have a day off, and you have the next wedding coming probably a year from now. Or how long do you think this might take?
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Well, you know, so you have to do the work of the investigation of the potential miracles.
And to be honest, we don't have time to do that right now because we have to plan a beatification.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: But, you know, it could be a year. It could be two years.
Personally, one of my lines since I became Bishop of Peoria and was asked when I was going to make Fulton Sheen a saint, my line has always been, that's above my pay grade. First and foremost, it's for the church to make him a saint. But my belief is he's a saint. We're just trying to catch up.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: So whether, you know, whether beatification happened in 2019, now we know it's happening in 2026.
I don't have a date for canonization, but I'm 100% confident that the day will come when the church will be able to respond and say, yeah, we got that second miracle and it's time to canonize him.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Man, it's awesome. Let's make it 2033. Wouldn't that be cool? Wouldn't that be Cool. I'm just saying. I kept saying lord. I mean, it's up to you.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: It's a lot less planning on our part because that'll happen in Rome, not in Peoria.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: Canonizations in Rome. Up to Rome. Canonizations in Rome. I really do love the process too, that we can say we think someone is worthy of veneration based on what we know. And the next steps are entirely up to God.
Up to God. And obviously there has to be a machine behind the process.
I've heard it's very expensive to actually run that whole process.
You need a lot of personnel. You need your website up.
Where do people go, by the way, to report an alleged miracle?
[00:18:27] Speaker B: Sure. So the Archbishop Fulton Sheen foundation is the official promoter of the cause, responsible for the cause.
Our website is celebratesheen.com celebratesheen.com. right.
Celebrates calm. If you go on that website now, obviously there's a lot of information about the beatification. That's where you get the most up to date information as our planning continues to move forward. But there's also the, you know, you can register for the foundation, you can get our magazine that we. A newsletter that we produce. But that's also where, you know, you have the contact information that if you receive a favor from Fulton Jean, if you believe a miracle has taken place through his intercession, that's where folks can get that information and send it to us so that we can have that as we go forward. Awesome. So we get stories all the time, people saying, you know, I mean, it's kind of odd to talk about, like, miracles, like to this degree versus that degree, you know, but we get stor stories all the time of people saying, well, I prayed for, you know, Fulton Sheen's intercession for somebody in my family to convert and they've converted. That's a miracle, you know, as opposed to, you know, a miracle like the ones that has been accepted.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: You know, it won't make the list of the approved miracles for canonization, but that is the great miracle.
My father in law just baptized at 85.
All right, think like Keith Richards getting baptized. You know, like, this is like, I mean, maybe he's a great Christian. I have no idea. But like, my point is he's lived a life not going to church at all to see him receive communion. I'm looking at that thinking this is a miracle.
And the amount of people that Sheen's life had that impact on.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: It's mind boggling.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: It's staggering. It's staggering.
In the official positio which is the document that went to Rome.
In the process.
The claim is over 40,000 converts to the faith.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: You know. And most say that's probably low.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: I would guess it's low, honestly. Or just the boost to faith it gave, which has the indirect effect of converting people. Someone feels emboldened to share it.
And the way it positions. He positioned the faith as irrelevant in a strange changing time.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: From. I mean, you had 30 million people
[00:20:56] Speaker B: a week watching him.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: Watching him, which is you combine all Catholic media efforts and Christian media efforts right now, and it won't equal what he was getting at. A providential time when there was three channels. And that's what you watch this. Or two other things. Right.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: Well, stop and think about it. I mean, Monsignor Gray, who's the executive director of the foundation, we were in a conversation and he said, you know, he was up, like, against Milton Burrow. And if you go back and you watch one of those episodes of Milton Burrow, it was a whole production, right? There was people to sing, and there was conversations, and there were different sets to act out, you know, different scenes. And that Sheen walked out looking like a bishop, and he had a chalkboard.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Yeah. And it worked.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: And he drew more viewers than Milton Burrow or Lucille Ball.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Isn't that wild? Like, he was the medium.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: He. Exactly.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: He was the show.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: He was the message, the messenger for the message.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: Dang.
[00:21:58] Speaker B: And he was more effective by being himself and speaking the message of Jesus and the gospel than any entertainment could be.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Isn't that a reminder how we're all supposed to do it?
Like, if we're really holy, he's just going to come through the bottom of our feet to the top of our head. He's going to shine through. We're like, you are the TV set. You're the set. You're the show. You're the Jesus show.
That's really cool.
You know, I'm thinking of a parallel here. You have this miracle of a resurrection from the dead. In some ways, the beatification happening is a miracle of a resurrection from the dead. You know, you walked into the scene, correct?
There was battles over where the body was that in the Middle Ages would have just. People would have armored up and, hey, we're going to meet somewhere in Pennsylvania and have a fight to the death, right?
Obviously not. But, you know, and then you have this strange thing that happened when. And everything's strange with the abuse scandals and bankruptcies of diocese and so much pain, and then people putting a pause on it, thinking, well, we have to make sure that he wasn't involved in any of the abuse stuff, which no one was even asking that except maybe a couple bishops. And it was so confusing. What did that take out of you and your team? Like, how did you resurrect the whole thing?
[00:23:20] Speaker B: Well, honestly, when I walked in, which was the middle of the Summer, July of 2020 was when I was ordained the CO Junior Bishop in Peoria.
I mean, I literally found out I was in charge of this cause or going to be in charge of this cause on Twitter.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: Other duties as a sign, the day
[00:23:40] Speaker B: that it was announced I was gonna become a bishop, you know, publicly I got.
I'm like waiting for a Zoom Media interview, and on Twitter I find out I'm responsible for cause of sainthood.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: As if being a bishop wasn't picking
[00:23:55] Speaker A: up news in my life. Right.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: So.
But when I got there, you know, I just tried to assess where we were at. And people were disappointed. Right? People were frustrated.
People didn't understand why it had been paused.
And what I said was that as long as I serve as the bishop of Peoria, and God willing that it'll be for many, many years, again, I can't make him the saint. That's the church's responsibility. But I can do everything I can to promote his life and legacy because he's our native son and he's an important figure in the life of the church. And so since July 23rd, when I was ordained in 2020, it's been on my mind and my heart of how can I move this forward now? Learning about the cause, learning about the. The challenges that were faced and why there was a pause initiated.
I will say that, you know, my conversations, I have never encountered a bishop, including Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Montano, who has. Have not been in favor of the canonization. Of the canonization.
The concern was the church and the concern was is this the opportune time when there were things like a look back period in the state of New York, from the attorney General on past abuse cases, when the Diocese of Rochester was in bankruptcy proceeding. Is this the opportune moment? Right.
And not that really anybody ever doubted. You know, our line of sheen is clean, right?
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: But it wasn't the right moment. As I mentioned earlier, it was in 2022.
I'm a Covid bishop. Right.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: So come right in. Right in the middle of that.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: I was right in the heart of COVID was when I was ordained a bishop. So every year, you know, they have new bishops formation which we Affectionately call Baby Bishop School.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:25:59] Speaker B: You know, my Baby Bishop School didn't happen until 2022.
[00:26:03] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: And so I went to toddler school. I say.
But that's when I got to meet at the Dicastery of Saints. That's when I had a conversation with Cardinal Perelin, Secretary of State, about the whole everything that had happened and everything that we hoped would happen, you know, and in fact, he was the one who said the word opportune, and he assured me that Rome would be ready to move forward when the bishops in the United States said it was opportune.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: You know, and so we've been working at that for the last basically six years, and it is opportune.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: And that could be counted as another miracle. All the bishops agreeing on something.
Hallelujah. No. That's awesome. That is awesome.
How has. I'm guessing that diving into this, it's opened your eyes about so many things about our church and how it works and about Fulton Sheen and who the man is and what he actually said.
You know, how has that all changed you personally and changed you as a bishop?
[00:27:13] Speaker B: It's been a great blessing.
As I said, finding out on Twitter that I was in charge of this, going to be in charge of this when I would succeed my predecessor.
You know, it was a daunting realization.
One of the first things that I did was initiate celebrating a Mass in front of his tomb, which we did for the first time December 9th of 2020.
And, you know, in my homily that day, I mentioned that I'm not of the generation who grew up watching him. I knew of him. I had read a little bit, seen a few episodes, but it wasn't like.
I would never say I was a Sheen devotee prior to becoming a bishop of the diocese that has advanced his cause. Right.
So he's had a huge impact for me because, one, it's an important value of our diocese that we actually named that as one of our foundations to build our future legacy of Fulton Sheen living that out, bringing his witness to the world, personally getting to know and pray to him.
And I've been blessed, you know, to be able to stop by his tomb every time I go into my cathedral and pray at his tomb, you know, and so to look to him and learn about the amazing things that he accomplished in the mission, I say that I can not go anywhere in the world without saying, I'm the Bishop of Peoria, where the conversation doesn't then come to Fulton Sheen. And literally, I can tell you stories of Tanzania France, Italy, across this country, you know, people will come up to tell me about their connection to Fulton Sheen. So it reminds me every day of the power of the witness that I'm called to as a bishop, as a disciple first, because that impacts everybody that we encounter.
And then even my prayer life has deepened. You know, rediscovering.
That's probably not the right word. But going deeper into the daily holy hour and that, I just get so much more fruit out of that. And honestly, most of my holy hours, I try to read a little Sheen.
[00:29:41] Speaker A: Oh, cool.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: You know, to read a little bit about him or his writings. You know, I mean, my Lent, this past Lent was so fruitful because I was reading an anthology which is really a collection of his Good Friday reflection on the seven last words of Christ.
And to just read one of those, one section, you know, a day during Lent was so fruitful in my prayer,
[00:30:08] Speaker A: it's almost counterintuitive that I would hear as an answer, we're talking about a bishop whose life was so busy and said more things and reached more people, was out there doing the thing. And your response to how has he changed you? Is, I'm praying more.
Isn't that cool?
[00:30:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: Why is that the big takeaway?
I want everybody to hear that takeaway. I want everybody to have this takeaway.
[00:30:34] Speaker B: I think it's a big take. I mean, I don't want to come across like, I never prayed before I became Bishop Rahman. Oh, yeah, of course, I did holy hours, and I had my hours of prayer and that.
I just think that.
So in my encountering of him and his, you know, commitment to that daily holy hour, his commitment to his devotion to the Blessed Mother, you know, that comes across throughout all of his writings and his speeches and talks and that. I mean, if you encounter Sheen, you're going to encounter the Lord.
And that's what I keep saying about the beatification.
Our goal is to bring people to Christ through Sheen.
His, you know, Episcopal motto was to come to Christ through Mary. Right.
He's just another example of that. Come to Christ through someone else who's living and witnessing to Christ.
And, you know, I think because of my responsibility with the cause, you know, I don't want to.
I would say today I'm not subject matter. Matter expert. Right.
[00:31:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: There are. There are people in my diocese and there's people around the world who know Fulton Sheen a lot better than I do. You know, he's written 66 books. I've read five.
You know, so, you know, there are people who have read all 66 books, you know, or seen every single program or listened to, you know, so there. There are. But for me, my experience of encountering somebody who so, in my opinion, genuinely and authentically committed his life to Christ and lived, you know, his life, was the witness of who he wanted to be, which was a disciple of Jesus, that just inspires me to keep going deeper in my own path of holiness. You know, the universal call to holiness. We're all called to be saints, right?
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: So how does that develop in my life?
And the blessing of the last six years has been encountering Sheen and learning more about him and how he touched people's lives.
Just makes me reflect, how can the Lord use me? And how much more generous can I be?
And committed to the mission as sheen was 100%.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: It's so easy to get wrapped up in what we have to do every day. Absolutely. Or maybe sometimes, especially in ministry, because you can just justify or app to also parenting. Right. Because he justified as. Well, God's clearly calling me to do X, but he's first calling us to become X, to become someone holy, and that is that. I guess that's what I was going to ask you. What do you hope the whole country hears from the beatification? I'm going to guess that's it. Like, it's the call to sainthood.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: You know, my preaching to the people, the young people that I'm blessed to confirm.
I always try to say, you have a path of holiness that the Lord is giving to you.
God made you for who you are and loves you for who you are. You don't have to be anybody else.
What we want to discover is through the grace of the Holy Spirit. How are you going to use your unique life, your gifts, your talents for the mission that Jesus calls us all to?
And, you know, Sheen is obviously an individual that I believe, especially through my own encounter of him over the last six years in particular.
But the world has seen how to live a life for Christ, a life worth living. Right.
[00:34:23] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: It's the name of a series. Right.
[00:34:26] Speaker A: He loves you for who you are. You don't have to be someone else. Boy, teenagers need to hear that.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:34:31] Speaker A: That's the heart of the confirmation program right now. It's all about identity in Christ and finding yourself as you find him.
Okay, tell us what you got, what you're cooking up for us.
This is where it gets fun. Yeah. What happens when I come to the beatification event?
[00:34:46] Speaker B: Well, we first want to encourage you to start now, start planning Start praying. More importantly than planning. Praying.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: Pray for the church in this moment that it will bear the fruit that God wants it to bear.
If you don't know Sheen, start to get to know him.
We have resources that we're hopefully very soon ready to share.
So parishes, you know, book clubs, you know, formation, catechetical material for schools or re programs.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: How do we make sure we get that? When you're ready to share it.
[00:35:27] Speaker B: Celebratescheen.com so sign up for the newsletter.
[00:35:30] Speaker A: And as it comes out, everything will be put.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: Everything that we're doing to prepare spiritually, which is an important thing for the beatification and practically for the beatification, all that comes out on our website, celebratechene.com as soon as we have it and we're ready to release it, it goes there.
So stay in touch, get connected to us. So the beatification mass, September 24th, 2:00 in the afternoon. The DOMA at the America center is in St. Louis, Missouri.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: Nine days leading up to the beatification Mass, we're going to follow the example of a holy hour. So each night we will have a holy hour in the cathedral in Peoria.
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Beautiful.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: And each night we're looking to have someone come in to give a reflection connected to Sheen. And one of the themes of Sheen's life. So prayer, education, the missions, devotion to the Blessed Mother, the Eucharist, it happens that Sunday, 20 September, is his priesthood ordination anniversary. And so we're going to reflect on the priesthood on that Sunday during the holy hour.
So nine nights of praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament and having some reflection on these themes that characterize his life, that kicks off our pilgrimage.
St. Louis, obviously, we're going to have the beatification mass is the most important thing, the central thing.
[00:37:01] Speaker A: Yeah. What happens at a beatification mass?
[00:37:03] Speaker B: Well, the beatification rite itself is right at the beginning.
As the bishop of the diocese and responsible for the cause, I will request that the beatification happen.
Cardinal Tagle is the Holy Father's representative.
So after my request, in a short bio of Fulton Sheen, he will read the apostolic decree declaring him blessed. He'll do that in Latin, then it'll be read in English, and once it's read in English, actually once it's read in Latin, but then the relics will be presented.
And after the relics are presented, Cardinal Taglia will present copies of the apostolic letter to a handful of folks.
And then he's blessed. He's blessed.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Boom.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: Right there. Right there. And part of the reason that all takes place at the beginning of the Mass is that then as you go into celebrating Mass, as we would celebrate any other Mass, we now use the prayer texts that will be used to celebrate the feast day of Fulton Sheen.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:38:23] Speaker B: So the colic prayer for the opening prayer of the Mass for Fulton Sheen, those are now the texts that will be utilized because he's blessed, powerful.
[00:38:35] Speaker A: Okay, so. And before this Mass you're going to have a.
I get to give an hour long talk. Two hours. I could cut it down to 20 minutes. But do you have other stuff going on?
[00:38:45] Speaker B: So knowing that that number one, it's a day, day long event, right?
[00:38:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: And expecting 75,000 of our closest friends to show up, you know, we wanted to make sure people have opportunities to fill their time as they come in.
Not every bus is going to get there at one time and that. So we're going to have an expo with a number of vendors of, you know, Catholic groups that are either supporting us in, in the beatification or perhaps publishers and things like that. But we're also going to have an opportunity for people to go to confession as well as also we'll have an adoration chapel.
[00:39:22] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:39:22] Speaker B: So the expo goes.
[00:39:24] Speaker A: That's even better than giving a talk probably.
[00:39:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: Jesus. We'll just go straight to Jesus.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: Go straight to Jesus. Right. So that all takes place up until about one and then we'll want everybody in their seats because just before the beatification we'll have a biography. We're also going to wait.
[00:39:38] Speaker A: So doors are opening at what I think 8:00am so it's a lot of time to just mix and mingle. The prayer and stuff starts to get official at 1 o' clock around 1
[00:39:49] Speaker B: and then the, and then the beatification mass at 2 o' clock and then as soon as the beatification mass is complete, the expo will open up again. But we'll also now have the opportunity for people to venerate the relics.
[00:40:01] Speaker A: What relics are going to be there?
[00:40:03] Speaker B: Well, we are preparing the relics at this point is what I could say.
[00:40:08] Speaker A: Okay, okay. But there will be relics and people will be able to go get up
[00:40:12] Speaker B: close in person, get up and see the relics.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: It'll be a long line, but you'll be able to do that.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: Well, we're trying to manage that and think about that because obviously there'll be more than one relic. So there'll probably be a couple opportunities for 70,000 people, whoever wants to stay, to actually be able to go and visit the relics. And then we're not done because the
[00:40:35] Speaker A: doors are Open in Peoria.
[00:40:36] Speaker B: We're coming back to Peoria.
And the two days after, we have a number of events planned. First, giving thanks to God for the beatification. We have a series of masses in our cathedral to give thanks for the beatification.
So we'll have masses at 9am 11am 1pm and 3pm on Friday in the cathedral.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: It's a beautiful cathedral, by the way. And I love the painting behind the altar.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it's great.
[00:41:04] Speaker A: I mean, Sheen would have prayed before that painting. It's been there for a long time.
[00:41:08] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: It's gorgeous.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So those masses of thanksgiving and we have our friends. Archbishop Hicks is coming for one of the masses. Bishop Benici from Rochester is coming for one of the masses on Saturday. We'll have the same schedule of masses, but we have two kind of unique things. On Saturday, we have a mass which will be invitation only because the church is very small. But bishop Bares from Rockville center, who was baptized by Fulton Sheen, is going to go to the parish that Sheen was baptized in for a mass of thanksgiving on Saturday morning. And then Sheen was by ritual, he was able to celebrate the divine liturgy in the Byzantine rite. Wow. So Bishop Pipta is coming to celebrate divine liturgy in the cathedral on Saturday.
Additionally, we have some holy doors in for him. Well, he told me they have everything they need.
[00:42:03] Speaker A: Okay. They travel with the holy doors.
[00:42:04] Speaker B: They're traveling. We're actually hopeful that he's going to use some of Sheen's personal items that we need.
That's the hope. He's going to take a look at that and see what might be used.
We also will have three of our parishes hosting what we basically have six opportunities talks at 10, noon and two on that Friday.
So we have folks that will come in to give reflections on Sheen and his ministry and his life.
And then we're going to host Friday evening, the first ever Sheen awards game.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: Nice.
And so this will be a yearly thing.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: The plan is to have a yearly gathering where we can recognize and show some support to folks who are carrying on the mission of the church. The mission of Sheen in media, in education and missions.
I mean, there's a lot of different aspects of life that we just think it's an important opportunity to, you know, he won an Emmy. Oh, yeah. So why not have a Sheen?
[00:43:13] Speaker A: And he thanked his writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which is so cool.
I'm really excited to think, too. We have a legit pilgrimage site here that just opened around a new saint, a new blessed. It was really I was. Where was I? I was speaking somewhere in your diocese last year and swung by the cathedral, and it was really moving to me. I just. Because his body's so beautifully there.
Right. There's a little altar, and he's right in it.
And I didn't really know what to say, so I just. I'm like, okay, I haven't prayed my evening prayer yet. And I said, fulton Sheen, would you pray evening prayer with me? I just sat there and prayed with him. And it's moving thinking about it. But just the communion of saints, to feel their nearness and how that's driven home by their physical remains being somewhere. Their spiritual nearness is so very real.
I hope we see a lot more pilgrims going and a lot more miracles happening.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: Well, and to prepare for that, we have been dreaming and working on, long term, what we call the Sheen experience.
And so we are. Sheen went to Spalding High School, which is actually a building connected to our pastoral center.
And we are in the process of developing what we call the Sheen experience, which will be a much larger museum.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: The one that's already there is beautiful.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So the one we have is pretty small, and we have many more treasures that we would like to be able to share.
So they are physically working now, prepping the building.
What will become this experience, which my language is, it'll be the traditional style museum, you know, that you go to and you see artifacts and that. But knowing who Sheen is and what he did using the latest, greatest media of his day, awesome. We want an immersive experience.
And so we're developing, using the latest technology for folks to have an encounter with him and through him, an encounter with the Lord.
The way I describe it, because I'm of the generation that grew up on Star Trek and Star Wars.
[00:45:27] Speaker A: Oh, heck, yeah.
[00:45:27] Speaker B: Remember the holodeck? You know, you walk into the holodad deck and say where you want to be. And all of a sudden.
So my dream. My dream is, is that you will walk into this immersive experience and feel like you've walked on this stage.
[00:45:40] Speaker A: Oh, that's cool.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: For life is worth living. And with the technology, they bring Sheen back to life in a way.
[00:45:46] Speaker A: That little hologram Sheen preaching for you, Perhaps.
[00:45:49] Speaker B: Perhaps.
[00:45:49] Speaker A: Stay tuned, kids. Disney can do it. Peoria can do it.
[00:45:54] Speaker B: We are working with some of the greatest.
What I would say, some of the greatest folks who have the ability to do something like that. Wow. And so that's. Obviously, we're actively working on the building, and we're actively in the design Stage, and we're actively fundraising to bring that to life. So hopefully within maybe the next two to three years, you'll not only be able to come to visit the tomb of blessed Fulton Sheen, but also to have this powerful experience through the Sheen experience.
[00:46:28] Speaker A: Praise God. Okay, what's that website again for that one? Is that also on celebration?
[00:46:31] Speaker B: I'll celebrate Sheen.com. look up you go to celebrate Sheen.com.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: all the goods are there.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: It'll lead you to where you need to go if you want to learn about the experience. If you. Beautiful plan for the beatification.
[00:46:42] Speaker A: I am so grateful that you came. I'm so grateful for your trusting me and our show to just honor you and to honor this whole topic and for you making the time.
[00:46:51] Speaker B: Glad to.
[00:46:51] Speaker A: In this insanely busy season in your life. I hope it's actually a breather. I hope you get to.
[00:46:55] Speaker B: It's kind of. It kind of is.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Hope you get to relax a little bit in the hotel before flying home.
I'm grateful that you're a good man and a good bishop and you're taking all the message of Sheen to heart. And so thanks for that witness, because you are continuing that legacy. Because if Sheen does anything, he's one of the leaders of the church that we look to, and we need this deeply to look to and say, I trust that guy.
[00:47:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:17] Speaker A: So thanks for being that guy.
[00:47:18] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:47:19] Speaker A: And for all the dang. For the.
All the struggles and the blood, sweat, and tears that no one has seen for you and your staff and everybody working on this beatification and canonization for years.
Thank you for blessing us all with this.
[00:47:34] Speaker B: Sure, sure.
[00:47:34] Speaker A: Because this is. I mean, I just love what you're describing. That's going to unfold when we're. There is, like, this is pure Catholic chaos in the best way. Absolutely. This is going to be awesome.
[00:47:43] Speaker B: There will be fruit from this encounter and moment that I think will be lasting in the life of the church.
[00:47:51] Speaker A: Yeah. So try to get there, and if you can't get there, be there in prayer. I mean, this is something that everybody's a part of, whether you're physically there or not.
[00:47:58] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:47:58] Speaker A: So thanks for that. Can we. I want everybody who's watching say prayer for you and for your staff, and then if you could pray for and bless our viewers.
[00:48:06] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: Thank you, Lord, for Bishop Tolka, for who he is as a bishop and as a man. We ask you to just fill him with your grace and your holy spirit and your power to sustain him and all those who are working with him right now in this incredibly busy time that they would not only do it effectively and smoothly, but also in a way that is peaceful and shows your presence and grace in the midst of all the chaos for all of us.
Amen. And if you bless us and pray
[00:48:35] Speaker B: for us, simply ask God's blessings upon all those involved here at Real Life Catholic for the ministry and work that you're doing and helping to spread the message of the gospel. Give witness as missionary disciples. May the Lord continue to guide you through the grace of the Holy Spirit and through the intercession of venerable, soon to be blessed Fulton Sheen. May God bless you all, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
[00:48:57] Speaker A: Amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you so much. Thank you guys for watching. We love you. Praying for you. Pray for us and pray for all these good people.
See you next time.
