Archbishop Ronald Hicks presided over a Vespers service Thursday night at St. Joseph’s Church in the Orange County city of Middletown. It was part of his visit to the deanery serving Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan counties.

The archbishop brought with him a first-class relic of Blessed Fulton Sheen for veneration after the prayer service. The relic, normally kept at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, is part of Blessed Sheen’s right hand – the hand that he used to write his homilies and teachings. A reception also followed the service at the parish located on Cottage Street.

More than 50 deanery priests

“We met with him (for dinner) beforehand – we, the priests of the deanery,” Fr. Dennis A. Nikolić, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church, told The Good Newsroom Friday morning via telephone. “It went very well. Because of the rain, the crowd wasn’t as big as we were expecting, but it was almost a full church. There were 52 priests present from Orange, Ulster and Sullivan.” Close to 500 people attended.

Fr. Nikolić also noted, “Bishop [Gerardo] Colacicco was there, as the episcopal vicar for the northern counties [of the Archdiocese of New York]. It was beautiful. [Archbishop Hicks]  took some time to greet everybody present. He was very gracious; he brought the relic of Blessed Fulton Sheen with him for veneration. And he spoke about Fulton Sheen in his remarks. He was very well received; everybody was very happy and pleased that he took some time to spend with us.”

A community on mission

In a reflection summary provided by the parish, Archbishop Hicks’ central message was: “The Church is a community on mission, not an organization focused primarily on caring for its own members. Its purpose is to serve others, proclaim the Gospel, make disciples, and lead people toward salvation through Jesus Christ. The archbishop calls the congregation to evaluate its ministries and resources according to this mission, using Fulton Sheen as an example of evangelization, service, humility, and commitment to future generations.”

The summary said Archbishop Hicks mentioned Blessed Sheen’s high financial success as a TV preacher: “He gave nearly all of that money to the poor and used his position with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith to support mission and humanitarian work. The example emphasizes that success and material resources should be shared rather than treated as possessions for personal comfort. Discipleship means following Jesus, accepting his mission, and living according to his teachings and values. Like Fulton Sheen, Christians are called to combine proclamation with concrete service, generosity, humility, and concern for others.”

Joseph Russo, 21, is a lifelong parishioner of St. Joseph’s Church and a recent addition to its parish council. Russo said by phone Friday, “It was definitely a great event, very beautiful. And his reflection was awesome. I got an opportunity to speak with the archbishop afterward [during the reception]. He was very personable, a down-to-earth nice guy…If we had a little nicer weather, I don’t know if we would have been able to fit everybody in the church.”

St. Joseph’s Church was officially established as a parish in 1865 under Fr. Andrew O’Reilly by Archbishop John Cardinal McCloskey, after origins dating back to the first recorded Mass in 1848. The first wood-frame church was dedicated in 1867, and the current church building was dedicated in May 1880.