Peoria clergy, mother of child saved through Fulton Sheen's intercession reflect on lead-up to historic beatification

Bishop Louis Tylka, Monsignor Jason Gray, and Bonnie Engstrom of Peoria, Illinois, answered questions from an array of local, national, and Catholic media in a press conference ahead of Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s beatification Sept. 24 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Archbishop Sheen (1895-1979), who mastered the new media of his day to share the Gospel, was known for proclaiming the truth with clarity and charity. The Emmy winner’s cause for canonization was opened in 2002. 

For a non-martyr such as Sheen, beatification ordinarily requires one approved miracle; canonization ordinarily requires a second miracle. Monsignor Gray, who conducted the diocesan investigation into the miracle attributed to Sheen that paved the way for beatification, said 89 bishops, 1,000 priests, 850 religious brothers and sisters, 850 seminarians, and 260 deacons are expected to attend the day’s events and the beatification liturgy. 

‘A moment of grace’

In talking about the significance of the moment, Bishop Tylka, who had the honor of wearing Sheen’s pectoral cross, said he was surprised to be named a bishop in the first place and even more surprised to become entrusted with the responsibility of moving Sheen’s cause forward.

“Getting to know Fulton Sheen, reading, watching and, more importantly, getting to hear so many different stories — and then, as the application was approved to move forward, beginning to think and dream of what this day might look like, knowing that I have a very significant role in making a lot of the decisions about how we were going to celebrate this — to see it now happening, I am overwhelmed with joy,” the Peoria bishop said.

He thanked everyone who stepped up to help plan the beatification over the past seven months.

“I naively thought, ‘Oh, just go down and have Mass at the Dome,’ not ever really thinking about what that would be,” he explained. More than 50,000 people will be in attendance at the Mass.

“I’m very thankful, filled with joy and excited. I know this is a moment of grace for not just the Church of Peoria, not just the Church in the United States, but literally the Church around the world,” he said. “Thinking that I had some small role in that is very satisfying.”

Monsignor Gray noted that Bishop Tylka painted a picture of how important the day is not only for the local Church of Peoria where Sheen was ordained a priest, but for the whole Church.

“That’s part of the reason why we’re in St. Louis and not in Peoria,” Monsignor Gray said. “It was the conviction that this is something that should be shared with the world.”

“I’m thrilled to have so many people take part,” he added. “I know it’s not simply here in St. Louis, but people will be streaming and watching this around the world. It’s a joy to arrive at this day at which we have the chance to share this moment and share Sheen with the whole world.”

Investigating a miracle

Responding to a question from The New York Times about the process of approving miracles, Monsignor Gray said it involves hearing witnesses and gathering documents. 

“The witnesses include medical experts — the doctors who were involved, the nurses who were involved — and also the people who were present,” he said. “That would have been the family and anyone who was present at the birth.”

“It also means gathering medical documentation, which is the entire medical file: from the midwife who provided care beforehand, the care from OSF St. Francis Medical Center where James was admitted, and later the follow-up with the pediatricians to determine that he was continuing to meet all the normal benchmarks and that there was no sign of lingering damage,” he continued.

He explained that it was his job to gather the information and send it to Rome. 

“It’s reviewed there by a series of experts,” he added. “You have doctors, theologians, and cardinals. Usually one or two of them will vote ‘no.’ As long as the majority votes yes, then the cause proceeds.”

“The votes in this case were all unanimous,” he said. “The doctors in Rome unanimously approved the miracle. The theologians unanimously approved it. The cardinals unanimously approved it. It’s actually one of the few where that happens.”

Engstrom said most of her role was just signing releases, so the doctors could talk about the case.

“But as a laywoman,” she said. “I was so impressed with how thorough the investigation was. My husband, Travis, and I felt very reassured: When the Catholic Church says something is a miracle, it is a legitimate miracle.”

‘He just felt like a loved one’

Engstrom, mother of James Fulton Engstrom, whose miraculous healing through Sheen’s intercession paved the way for the archbishop’s beatification, answered numerous questions about what the moment means to her and her family.

Her son, who stopped breathing for 61 minutes at birth, is today a healthy 16-year-old with no signs of the significant brain damage doctors expected. The number 61 has particular resonance for Sheen’s devotees: The archbishop maintained a daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament for 61 years.

Engstrom said her devotion to Sheen began before James was born. 

“I had asked Bishop Sheen to intercede for him throughout his whole life and to protect and defend my son through his prayers, starting in the womb,” she said. “So it was very natural, in the hardest hour of our life so far, for us to fall back on calling for the help of the man whom I had already been asking to intercede for my child.”

She also explained that she chose to ask for Sheen’s intercession in part because she felt as though she knew him personally.

“And we did it because he’s like a local boy — hometown pride. Watching Fulton Sheen, watching his videos and reading him, for me, is very similar to listening to my grandpa and my great-grandpa talk and share stories,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s a Midwestern thing, but he just felt like a loved one. My husband and I were very drawn to him from the very beginning.”

Asked about the place of personal devotion in family life by Zeale News, Engstrom described how she has sought to foster devotion to the saints among her children, including James’ own devotion to Sheen.

“For all of our children, we put all of our kids under the patronage of a saint and have really built a culture where we are celebrating feast days, we are calling on intercession,” she said. “I want all of my kids to feel like they have a squad that surrounds them, that is following them through life, praying for them, interceding for them, and cheering them on.”

That stewardship to foster her children’s spiritual lives, Engstrom said, has taken root in James in a particular way. 

“James definitely has a devotion to Bishop Sheen, and he will — not a lot, because he’s a very private boy — but he will sometimes say, ‘I was praying, and I feel like God said this, and I feel like Bishop Sheen is kind of pointing me in this direction,’ and I’m thinking, as a mom, I am super thrilled.”

Reflecting on her anticipation of the beatification Mass, Engstrom said, “I just feel like it's gonna be a foretaste of heaven, where we are all going to be worshiping God together, and celebrating the Church as a whole, and that just the power of the Body of Christ, and every good grace that God has given us. I am so looking forward to it.”