FIRST PARISH NAMED AFTER BLESSED FULTON SHEEN
Sep 26
Bishop Louis Tylka makes announcement at church
where Archbishop Fulton Sheen was baptized.
“This has been a remarkable week of firsts for the Diocese of Peoria and the universal Catholic Church.
We have celebrated Archbishop Fulton Sheen becoming the first American-born bishop to be declared Blessed. For the first time, we have heard his name invoked as a Blessed in the Eucharistic Prayer. For the first time, we have prayed the Collect given to the Church for his feast. And today, I have the great joy of announcing another first: the establishment of the first parish in the world named Blessed Fulton Sheen Parish.
The new parish will unite St. Mary Parish in El Paso and St. John Parish in Benson and will officially be established on December 9, the feast day of Blessed Fulton Sheen.
The church buildings themselves will retain their names and each will continue to carry the history, traditions and memories of the generations of Catholics who have worshiped there. Together, however, these two communities will become one parish under the patronage of Blessed Fulton Sheen.
There is something profoundly fitting about this new parish carrying his name. It was at St. Mary Church in El Paso that Fulton John Sheen was baptized. There, his life in Christ began. From those waters of Baptism flowed a remarkable life of faith, priesthood, preaching, teaching, missionary discipleship and evangelization that eventually touched millions of people around the world.
Today’s announcement is made even more meaningful because I was joined for Mass by my brother bishop, Bishop John Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Bishop Barres has his own extraordinary connection to Blessed Fulton Sheen: he was baptized by Archbishop Sheen. To have him with us as we mark this moment provides a beautiful reminder that the sacramental life of the Church connects generations of disciples in ways we cannot always foresee.
My prayer is that generations from now, when people hear the name and visit Blessed Fulton Sheen Parish, they will encounter a vibrant community of disciples who live as he did, convinced that Jesus Christ is worth knowing, worth loving and worth sharing with the world.
+Bishop Louis Tylka, Dioc
FIRST PARISH NAMED AFTER BLESSED FULTON SHEEN
Sep 26
Bishop Louis Tylka makes announcement at church
where Archbishop Fulton Sheen was baptized.
“This has been a remarkable week of firsts for the Diocese of Peoria and the universal Catholic Church.
We have celebrated Archbishop Fulton Sheen becoming the first American-born bishop to be declared Blessed. For the first time, we have heard his name invoked as a Blessed in the Eucharistic Prayer. For the first time, we have prayed the Collect given to the Church for his feast. And today, I have the great joy of announcing another first: the establishment of the first parish in the world named Blessed Fulton Sheen Parish.
The new parish will unite St. Mary Parish in El Paso and St. John Parish in Benson and will officially be established on December 9, the feast day of Blessed Fulton Sheen.
The church buildings themselves will retain their names and each will continue to carry the history, traditions and memories of the generations of Catholics who have worshiped there. Together, however, these two communities will become one parish under the patronage of Blessed Fulton Sheen.
There is something profoundly fitting about this new parish carrying his name. It was at St. Mary Church in El Paso that Fulton John Sheen was baptized. There, his life in Christ began. From those waters of Baptism flowed a remarkable life of faith, priesthood, preaching, teaching, missionary discipleship and evangelization that eventually touched millions of people around the world.
Today’s announcement is made even more meaningful because I was joined for Mass by my brother bishop, Bishop John Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. Bishop Barres has his own extraordinary connection to Blessed Fulton Sheen: he was baptized by Archbishop Sheen. To have him with us as we mark this moment provides a beautiful reminder that the sacramental life of the Church connects generations of disciples in ways we cannot always foresee.
My prayer is that generations from now, when people hear the name and visit Blessed Fulton Sheen Parish, they will encounter a vibrant community of disciples who live as he did, convinced that Jesus Christ is worth knowing, worth loving and worth sharing with the world.
+Bishop Louis Tylka, Diocese of Peoria, Illinois
Comments