SPEAKER_02 0:03

And the Lord asked of us only one thing to watch an hour. So the heart of Christ is now manifested to the world in a new way.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

And that is Archbishop Fulton Sheen, theologian, evangelizer, Catholic communications pioneer, teacher, and preacher. Hello, I'm Gina Christian of OSV News, and you're listening to another special edition of our OSV Newscast. Our team is here on the ground in St. Louis, Missouri for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen today. It's an historic event for the Catholic Church and in particular for the Catholic Church in the United States. And to put it all in context, I spoke with Michael Heinlein, contributor to OSV News, and the author of Glorifying Christ, the life of Cardinal Francis E. George O.M.I. Let's take a listen to what Michael had to say.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Well, I think it's an incredibly monumental day for the life of the Church in the United States. I was thinking just yesterday how uh September 23rd is the anniversary of the canonization of Unipro Sarah, also the anniversary of the beatification of Stanley Rother. And now today we have the beatification of Fulton Sheen. Uniprocera was the first canonization on U.S. soil. Stanley Rother was beatified the first priest and martyr born in the United States. And today we have the first bishop born in the United States to be beatified. So it seems like in our own time in the last decade or so, we are experiencing the church coming to its own, the fruit of the missionaries who came here in the 14th, 15th century and since the planted the seeds to the god of the gospel to grow in our hearts, ultimately for us to become saints, is really coming to fruit. And I think that today is one of the uh most significant signs to the country of that reality.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

And it occurs at a time when we have the first US-born pope, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yes, exactly. And I you know, uh Pope Leo talked about uh this beatification in his general audience yesterday, and uh we had the very uh painful delay of this beatification in 2019, but in God's providence it has come to pass when we have an American Pope, not only an American Pope, but one who grew up watching this great man on television and who basically is now beatifying, of course, this great bishop. So um it's really a beautiful moment for this country and for the church throughout the world, I think, to show what American Catholicism is.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

And it also comes at a time where we've had year-over-year religious disaffiliation that only now some demographers like Pew are saying may have leveled out, but not necessarily yet shown signs of revival. What's the challenge of bringing Sheen to people in a still largely disaffiliated and certainly divided society?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, I think that when we see the fruits of this disaffiliation and this secularization in this country, people don't like it. And so people are experiencing what has been going on in this country in the last 60 years. And so Fulton Sheen, of course, was a prophetic voice who told us what would come to pass. And people are seeing it's coming to pass. And people are also now, as you see here in St. Louis with the crowds we have, they know what a prophetic voice Sheen was, and that he was right. And so I think that now that he's beatified and he's getting wider attention once again, people are going to start paying more attention, and maybe we can get glean from him how to avoid repeating the mistakes that we've re we've you know transgressed in this country.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

Two final questions here. One would be, especially a younger generation that doesn't necessarily know Sheen at all, and also isn't even really familiar with the media that he used for mass communication. It's changed totally. I mean, they're not obsolete, but they're certainly not, you know, preeminent. What is the challenge of bringing Sheen to the TikTok generation?

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Well, I think when you look at the TikTok generation, you have uh a culture that is worried about instant information and small amounts of information. Sheen is somebody who can invite us to learn more about Jesus Christ with just a few words, as he was so successful to do in his show on television. Of course, also his his um persona is something that draws people in. The visual of a man in a cape, you know, I think is attractive in the sense that it's totally other. And so I think that that could have appeal to the younger generation that's individuals and quick information.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

You had just three words to sum up Sheen, elevator pitch. What would they be?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Model American Catholic. I think that he really showed us how to proclaim Christ, but how to live Christ. And it's a very rare combination to find people that can do both. And so he is the best of us.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

And you've been listening to Michael Heinlein, contributor to OSV News and the author of Glorifying Christ, the life of Cardinal Francis E. George OMI. I spoke with Michael here in St. Louis just a few hours ahead of today's Beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. You can follow our ongoing coverage of this historic event at osvnews.com and on our social media accounts. I'm Gina Christian. Thanks so much for listening and God bless.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

This has been an OSV News production. To learn more, visit osvnews.