This coming weekend, St. Anselm will host Msgr. Stan Deptula of the Diocese of Peoria, IL. Monsignor is the man in charge of the "Cause" for canonization of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. He is also the nephew of our own Parish Spiritual Director, Marge Gryta.

It looks like the cause of Archbishop Sheen is proceeding at a good pace. I won't be surprised to see him named "saint" within my lifetime.

Below is the text of a blog entry from Rocco over at "Whispers in the Loggia" on the subject of Archbishop Sheen. Enjoy!

Next Wednesday sees the 30th anniversary of the death of the prelate who, quite possibly, became American Catholicism's most consequential product of all: Fulton Sheen, the Illinois farmboy who famously trumped "Mr Television" in the ratings and, in the process, delivered the death blow to the long history of societal suspicion directed at the church's own on these shores.

With the evidence of his heroic virtue -- the first step toward a possible beatification -- soon to face investigation in Rome, the archbishop's New York-based cause has sparked a worldwide roster of Masses to crop up to commemorate the anniversary, the largest of which will be held in St Patrick's Cathedral at 5.30 Wednesday night, to be celebrated and preached by a well-known devotee of Sheen's ministry in media: the Big Apple's Archbishop Tim Dolan.

In the history of the Stateside church, Dolan recently mused in an EWTN interview that "there’s never been anybody who’s been able to communicate the timeless truths of the Catholic religion to a very timely culture" as Sheen did, "without diluting any of the essentials."

The Elegant One "was able to present [the faith] in an eminently attractive way," Dolan said, "and that has always inspired me."

For those unable to make it, the evening liturgy will be streamed live by both EWTN and CatholicTV. Prior to it, though, a rare opportunity will present itself as the St Pat's Crypt -- where Sheen's buried alongside Gotham's archbishops -- will be opened to the public for prayer from 3 to 5pm.

An auxiliary of New York from 1951 until his appointment as bishop of Rochester in 1966, Sheen rests next to his arch-rival in the hierarchy, Cardinal Francis Spellman.

And, well, as no post on "Bishop Sheen" would ever be complete without a cameo from the man himself, here he is: