Archbishop Sheen’s beatification is ‘a real gift to our young people’
The students from Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis who attended the beatification Mass of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in St. Louis on Sept. 24 pose for a photo with a cardboard figure of Blessed Fulton. (Submitted photo)
By John Shaughnessy
On a day when 50,000 people from around the world came together to celebrate the faithful witness of a fellow Catholic, Caroline Mason found herself embracing a deeper desire to be a witness of God’s love to other young people.
At 6 in the morning on Sept. 24, the senior at Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis boarded a bus with other students and school staff members to make the journey to St. Louis for the beatification Mass of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen—someone she knew just a little about, someone who would inspire her to do more before the bus returned to her school at 11:30 that night.
“Honestly, before heading to see the beatification Mass of Blessed Fulton Sheen, I hadn’t heard much about him,” Caroline says. “I felt I was more being called to experience something so monumental within my faith and experience a celebration in the Church. While being there, I learned so much about him, especially from hearing personal witnesses and seeing old footage of him speaking.”
One of the stories about the 20th-century theologian, evangelizer and Catholic media pioneer especially resonated with her—the story of the first miracle attributed to his intercession.
The miracle is connected to the life of James Fulton Engstrom, the now-teenager who was born in 2010 without a pulse or respiration because of a knot in his umbilical cord. After 61 minutes in that condition, James came back to life after his parents and others prayed for Archbishop Sheen’s intercession.
The miracle—approved by Pope Francis in 2019—struck home with Caroline.
“I was most inspired by his first miracle, especially since I’m co-president of the pro-life club at Chatard,” she says. “Fulton Sheen inspires me to represent my faith proudly by advocating for the pro-life message, understanding communications and learning to openly express and share it with others, and finally to be humble.”
The journey to St. Louis also left an impact on Damian Cain, a sophomore at Bishop Chatard.
Part of the impact came from learning more about Archbishop Sheen.
“He was able to inspire so many people through his ministry and his media of sharing the Gospel,” Damian says. “He was such an influential figure for Catholics who were trying to learn more about the faith and for Protestants as well.”
Being part of 50,000 people participating in a Mass celebrating Archbishop Sheen’s life was also powerful for Damian.
“It was cool to see all the people who were gathered to celebrate this really important person,” says Damian, a member of St. Malachy Parish in Brownsburg. “It gave me a new perspective about how important he was.”
The changed perspectives of Caroline, Damian and the other students on the pilgrimage reflected the hope of Matthew Hilton, the director of faith formation at Bishop Chatard.
‘A real gift to our young people’
“It was an opportunity to see an American saint in the making—someone who is still relevant in the cultural memory of the United States, even if the young people we took didn’t have a chance to watch his programs or hear his lectures in person,” Hilton says.
Just as important was the desire to give the young people on the trip a rare opportunity to experience the universality of the Church.
“The causes of the saints are one of those gifts to everyone in the Church, but in a special way to those communities where the saints are from,” Hilton says. “And so, it was really our desire to give young people the opportunity to see the universal Church alive here in the United States.
“It was a Thursday morning-and-afternoon experience, and for 50,000 people to have taken off work and rearrange their schedules because they decided this was important enough to make a priority in their lives, that witness was a real gift to our young people.
“The people there were people of meaningful faith and relatable. The young people that were there were just like our kids. I don’t suspect our young people know that their choice to go was a witness to others, but it was. That was really impactful to me.”
So was sharing the experience with his wife, Katie, an English teacher at Bishop Chatard, and their son, Benjamin, a fifth-grade student at Christ the King School in Indianapolis.
“To be able to experience that as a family was amazing,” Hilton says. “And really, my son was a powerful witness for me that day. The Mass was long, and he was enraptured the whole time. To see him participate in the liturgy and to see him get a small sense of how important this holy person is to so many people in the world was a real gift.”
Both Damian and Caroline believe the pilgrimage will continue to be a gift for them.
“It was inspiring to see the impact he had through what he was able to do through teaching people about the faith,” Damian said about Archbishop Sheen. “It inspired me to know that hopefully I could do somewhat of the same and inspire people.”
Caroline shares that hope.
“This experience has given me the confidence, courage and determination to openly express my faith,” says Caroline, a member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Indianapolis. This experience will affect my parish and final year at Chatard by expressing positivity and gratitude toward those around me.
“My goal is to make everyone feel included, valued and loved, especially when exploring their faith, because that is not only the Church’s mission but God’s will for us.”
She also feels a deeper connection to Archbishop Sheen now.
“Overall, this experience inspires me to pursue my faith and explore the possibility of sainthood since it was attainable for many modern and young saints,” she says. “I will definitely be praying for him to reach canonization sooner.” †
