As the faithful prepare for the Sept. 24 beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, a priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington recalls that as a young boy he was an altar server at a Mass celebrated by the renowned churchman.
“He was very gracious, the kind of guy you’d expect him to be with that sonorous voice of his,” said Father William Gurnee, pastor of St. Joseph’s Parish on Capitol Hill. “He was so elegant.”
On Nov. 14, 1976, Father Gurnee was an altar server at his home parish, Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, when he was asked to serve at a Mass that Archbishop Sheen would celebrate to dedicate that parish’s new school and activity center.
He said that “since I was in the eight-grade and one of the older altar boys, Father Christian Hearing, (then a parochial vicar at the parish) who greatly inspired us, asked me to serve for Archbishop Sheen.”
“I never heard of him (Archbishop Sheen) at the time” Father Gurnee recalled. “When I told my parents, my father said ‘this is one of the great legends of American Catholicism. This is a great honor for you.’”
Father Gurnee recalled that “I was a long-haired hippie in those days, and believe me my hair looks nothing now like it did then.” He was working on his school’s “one-sheet newspaper” when he asked if he could interview the churchman for the school paper.
He said he was admonished that he would be allowed to ask only one question, which he still remembers to this day: “What do you think is the importance of dedicating a new Catholic school in the Protestant south?”
“I was kind of excited I got to interview him. I had never been in a rectory before, and there in a common room was Archbishop Sheen with other priests,” Father Gurnee said. “Father Hearing Introduces me to the great man, and I ask my one question that I had prepared.”
The results were not as the young journalist had expected.
“Archbishop Sheen looks at me and says, ‘That is my whole homily (at the upcoming dedication Mass). What is the next question?’”
Father Gurnee said he stammered since he did not have a second question prepared but was mercifully saved by a fellow altar server who asked a question, “but I don’t remember what it was.”
Father Gurnee also recalled the Mass that the renowned Catholic television evangelist celebrated.
“I think I was the candle bearer, so I was upfront. I remember that as soon as we came off the altar, two burly men shoved me out of the way,” Father Gurnee said. He later learned that the two men were providing security because “we didn’t know then that Archbishop Sheen was under a death threat.”
Archbishop Sheen was outspoken against communism, fought against Jim Crow laws, racism and other forms of discrimination, denouncing them as affronts to God and attacks on human dignity.
Born in 1895 and ordained in 1919 as a priest for the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, the future archbishop was a noted theologian who taught theology and philosophy at The Catholic University of America.
He was appointed as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York in 1951, and in 1966 he was named bishop of Rochester, New York. He held that post until his retirement in 1969.
From 1930 until 1968, Archbishop Sheen used the media to evangelize and teach the Catholic faith. From 1930 until 1950, he hosted “The Catholic Hour” radio program. From 1952 to 1957, he hosted the immensely popular television program “Life is Worth Living,” earning an Emmy award as outstanding television personality in 1952.
From 1961 until 1968, he hosted “The Fulton Sheen Program” that was syndicated across the country. He was the author of more than 70 books and countless newspaper and magazine articles.
“He was famous for speaking out against Communism which was a big threat to Catholicism. I bet he would speak out today against relativism,” Father Gurnee said. “He was sort of timeless in a way. He could be overly dramatic, but I think he would be there right in the middle of everything today.”
After he retired as bishop of Rochester, then-bishop Sheen was appointed by Pope Paul VI to the ceremonial post of archbishop of the titular see of Newport, Wales. Later in life, Archbishop Sheen suffered from heart disease and died on Dec. 9, 1979, at the age of 84.
His cause for canonization was officially opened in 2002. In 2012 the Vatican recognized his life of virtue and bestowed on him the title, Servant of God. In 2019, the Vatican recognized the miraculous healing in 2010 of a little boy whose parents prayed for Archbishop Sheen’s intercession.
The little boy – who was stillborn and clinically dead for 61 minutes and is now fully recovered with no lasting effects – is expected to attend and participate in the Sept. 24 beatification Mass of Archbishop Sheen in St. Louis.
