Archbishop Ronald Hicks exhorted pilgrims in Peoria to embrace Blessed Fulton Sheen’s commitment to evangelization and living the gospel during a Mass of Thanksgiving for the newly beatified on Friday morning in Peoria, Ill. 

“My friends, one of the many reasons that Fulton Sheen is now Blessed is because he lived this Gospel. He understood this Gospel, and he took it to heart. When Jesus says, ‘Go out and preach the Gospel to the entire world,’ he did it,” the Archbishop of New York said. 

Following Thursday’s beatification Mass in St. Louis, the site of the Celebrate Sheen festivities shifted to the Diocese of Peoria, where Sheen was ordained and incardinated for more than 30 years, and where he is now entombed. 

Archbishop Hicks celebrated the Mass and gave his homily just feet from Blessed Sheen’s tomb, which resides in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, the diocesan seat of Peoria. A steady stream of faithful visited the tomb throughout the Mass. 

A missionary church, not a club 

“Fulton Sheen is a son of the world, which reflects today’s Gospel. Jesus invites his disciples, and he invites us, to go out to the world and preach the Gospel, living out the mission of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When he’s preaching like this, to go out to the world, what he’s sharing with us is that he does not want our Church to be a club, a club that only cares for its members,” Archbishop Hicks said, returning to one of his regular themes. “He wants us to be a missionary Church, a Church on mission, a Church that loves its faith, loves Jesus, loves the Church, loves the salvation that comes through the life, suffering, and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then goes out there, shares that faith with the world, and puts that faith into action for the mission of the Church.” 

“Today, and for the days to come, let us continue following the example of holiness and evangelization, and living the mission of our Church, according to Blessed Fulton Sheen. And just as he taught us, let us do everything in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Archbishop Hicks concluded. 

At the beginning of Mass, Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, who celebrated the first of four Masses of Thanksgiving at the Peoria cathedral earlier in the morning, welcomed Archbishop Hicks, along with his concelebrants, including Archbishop Mitchell T. Rozanski of St. Louis, Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis Bernard A. Hebda, and Bishop John J. Gomez of Laredo, Tex. Two more Masses of thanksgiving were scheduled for the afternoon, including a 1 p.m. CDT liturgy to be celebrated by Bishop of Rochester John Bonnici, also a former auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York. 

Archbishop Hicks prays at Blessed Sheen’s tomb 

Following the Mass, Archbishop Hicks took time to pray at the tomb of Blessed Sheen, touching the new “Blessed” placard affixed to its front. 

“It just seemed like the right thing to continue giving worship, glory, and praise to God for giving us Blessed Fulton Sheen, and to do so once again. This was a beautiful Mass, and so many people of faith gathered together. I could not be happier,” Archbishop Hicks told The Good Newsroom after the Mass. 

On Oct. 1, Bishop Tylka will present a first-class relic of Blessed Sheen to the Archdiocese of New York, in recognition of his long residence in the archdiocese and service as an auxiliary bishop. Bishop Tylka will make a similar presentation in Rochester, where Blessed Sheen served as bishop before his retirement.