By Anne Marie Amacher
Bishop Martin Amos has joined the Episcopal Advisory Board for the Cause for Beatifi-cation of the Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
Bishop Amos says he does not know to what extent he will be involved at this point.
“Bishop (Daniel) Jenky (of the Peoria, Ill., Diocese) asked me to serve on the Episcopal Board,” Bishop Amos said.
Sara Worrell of the Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation in Peoria, Ill., said 45 cardinals, archbishops and bishops currently serve on the board of advisors from across the country. The goal is to invite all bishops in the United States to join the board.
She said the clergy offer “spiritual support” by uniting the country in prayer for the cause of canonization for Archbishop Sheen, a native of the Peoria Diocese, who was ordained a priest in 1919.
While teaching in Washington, D.C. at The Catholic University, Fr. Sheen began a local radio broadcasting in the New York area.
In 1930 he began his national radio broadcast, The Catholic Hour, which continued for 22 years.
In the fall of 1951 he was named a bishop and began his television series entitled, Life is Worth Living, according to the Foundation Web site. The show eventually reached an estimated 30 million viewers each week. He won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality in 1952. His series ran with great success until 1957.
In 1969, after retiring as bishop of the Rochester, N.Y., Diocese, he was named archbishop.
He continued to write and preach until his death in 1979.
Archbishop Sheen was seen as a popular evangelist, radio and television personality, writer and missionary.
In 2002 his cause for beatification and canonization was officially opened by the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., which is Archbishop Sheen’s birthplace. He lived from 1895-1979.
Bishop Amos said he met Bishop Sheen once when he was a seminarian. He also said he used to watch Bishop Sheen on television when he was young.
The Sheen Foundation works to make known the life, works and thoughts of Archbishop Sheen , to educate people in the values that he taught, to assist the missions to which he dedicated his life, to assist others in seeking his intercession and to undertake and pursue all acts including, but not limited to, the advancement of the cause of canonization under Code of Canon Law.
