Fulton Sheen conference to feature leading Catholic speakers on eve of beatification

The Fulton Sheen Movement will host a daylong conference Sept. 23 in St. Louis exploring Venerable Fulton Sheen’s enduring call to holiness, prayer, and evangelization — one day before the famed Catholic broadcaster is beatified.

The “America’s Saint” conference will run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac, with both in-person and virtual attendance available, according to the event’s website.

Through talks and personal testimonies, organizers said the program will consider why Ven. Sheen’s witness remains timely and invites Catholics to follow his example in prayer, thought, and ministry.

Peter Howard, founder of the Fulton Sheen Institute and Fulton Sheen Movement, will host the gathering. 

CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt, who has a wealth of experience in Catholic media and evangelization, will give a talk titled “Fulton Sheen: The American Saint Maker.”

Author and Harvard professor Arthur Brooks will deliver the keynote address. Other speakers include Dale Ahlquist, president of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton; Catholic convert and podcast host Tammy Peterson; filmmaker and human rights advocate Jason Jones; Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the U.S.; Bishop Joseph Coffey, episcopal vicar for veterans affairs in the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA; and Sister Dede Byrne, a surgeon and member of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The conference comes on the eve of Ven. Sheen’s long-awaited beatification and will be followed by a separate pre-beatification gathering Sept. 24 at The Dome at America’s Center. The program will feature prayer and reflection leading up to the beatification Mass.

Ve. Sheen, who died in 1979, became one of the most recognizable Catholic figures in 20th-century America through his preaching, writing, and pioneering work in radio and television. His popular television program “Life Is Worth Living” brought Catholic teaching to millions of American homes and earned the archbishop an Emmy Award.

As Zeale News previously reported, the Holy See cleared the way in February for Ven. Sheen’s beatification nearly seven years after Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to his intercession in 2019. His beatification had initially been scheduled for December 2019 before being postponed shortly before the ceremony. The Sept. 24 beatification will bring to a close the yearslong wait for Sheen’s elevation.