Before Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, there was Fulton Sheen. The beloved tele-evangelist will be beatified on Sept. 24 in St. Louis, Missouri, and for Cardinal Raymond Burke this soon-to-be blessed serves as the perfect role model for Catholics living in the digital age.
The 78-year-old cardinal recently sat down with Evan Raugust and Braden Johnson — two Gen Z Catholic content creators — for a sit-down interview where he spoke about the legacy and witness of Sheen.
He recalled watching Sheen as a young boy.
“I was a little boy when he first came on radio and television,” Burke shared. “Of course we listened to him on the radio but then I think it was around 1954, maybe a little earlier, that my family bought the first television and he had his program. I believe it was on Tuesday nights and we would all be, the whole family, gathered around in front of the television set.”
He added, “He made such an impression on me as a boy.”
Burke pointed out how Sheen was “addressing the faith to the times” and that God “gave him a great gift as a communicator.”
Burke noted that Sheen rose to prominence at a time when the United States was not culturally Catholic and “in fact one of the, they say, the only acceptable prejudice in the United States was anti-Catholicism.”
“But he was so popular that he exceeded even some of the famous programs like Milton Burrow, [who] was a great comedian in those days, but he [Sheen] had more viewers,” he added.
He also highlighted many of Sheen’s impactful books including “Life of Christ,” “Three to Get Married,” and “The Priest is Not His Own.” These are only three of the over 60 books Sheen wrote during his lifetime. Many of these books continue to be in print and several also continue to be translated into other languages.
With this in mind, Burke said, “He's continuing to have quite a strong impact. I'm so happy, finally, that he will be beatified.”
The miracle that led to Sheen’s beatification
Burke also has a connection to the beatification of Sheen because he was assigned to study the miracle that led to it as part of his work with the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
The formal miracle required for Sheen’s beatification involved James Fulton Engstrom, a baby born apparently stillborn on September 16, 2010, in Peoria, Illinois.
Bonnie Engstrom, James’ mother, had a healthy pregnancy and healthy labor in her home but, when James was born, he had no pulse or respiration for 61 minutes due to a severely knotted umbilical cord.
During her pregnancy she and her husband began growing a devotion to Sheen and decided to name their son after him. So, when James was born without any sign of life, she began to call out to Sheen and prayed for his intercession.
James was taken by ambulance to the hospital and right as the medical team working on him was about to call time of death, his heart began to beat again. While the initial MRI taken during James’ first 24 hours of life showed extensive brain damage, the follow up MRI was completely clear. Despite extreme oxygen deprivation, James survived and grew up healthy without the expected severe brain damage.
Watch the full interview with Cardinal Burke: