Pentecost

“Assuming a human nature from the Blessed Mother, the procession of Divine Life moved on the earth in the Person of Jesus Christ and finally wound its way up the hill of Calvary, and on Good Friday a soldier struck a lance into the side of that Sacred Humanity and blood and water poured forth: blood the price of our Redemption, and water the symbol of our regeneration. The Son sent by His Father now returns to the Father, and from the Eternal Godhead the procession of life moves on as the Father and the Son send their Holy Spirit full of Truth and Love to the Mystical Body on the day of Pentecost. Striking that Mystical Body as the brightness of the sun striking a prism splits up into the seven rays of the spectrum. The procession of Divine Life broke up into the seven sacraments to flood the members of that Body with Divine Life for the seven states from the cradle to the grave. The procession of Life moves on as Christ once more walks the earth in His Mystical Body, the Church." Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

Sheen Get's Lifetime Achievement Award From Alma Mater!

At a Mass celebrated by Msgr. Stanley Deptula, Msgr. Mark Merdian and Fr. Adam Stimpson, Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen received the lifetime achievement award from his Alma Mater, now called Peoria Notre Dame. The award was accepted by Msgr. Deptula who is the Executive Director of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation in Peoria, IL.

Sheen was enrolled in Spalding Institute conducted by the Brothers of Mary. He thought the Brothers were excellent teachers, given to discipline, yet much beloved. One of his classmates was Jimmy Jordan, who later on became known on radio as Fibber McGee. Just across the street in the girls Academy of Our Lady was a young girl who later became Fibber’s wife Molly on radio. One block away at Peoria High School was a boy who later became Andy of the famous Amos and Andy team. Thus Peoria produced four famous radio personalities of those times. Sheen was valedictorian of the class his senior year.

After the Mass there was a reception in the school library where special guests could admire the award.  Also in attendance were “friends of Sheen”, Sharon Fulton, Jane Hunt, Michelle Rebello and Grace Sposato.     

Listen to the homily here: SHEEN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD MASS

  During the Mass was the May Crowning of Mary.  This is the same statue of Mary that would have been at the school when Sheen attended.  Pictured here is the crowning at the Mass and Sheen visiting the school later in life with the same statue in the background.

Happy Birthday Venerable Fulton Sheen 5/8/1895

Happy Birthday VENERABLE SERVANT OF GOD ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN! In honor of Archbishop Sheen’s birthday today, May 8th, EWTN will be showing the movie about his life at 1PM EST (2PM CDT). Please encourage your friends to watch this great movie.

I have always enjoyed the wit and wisdom of Venerable Sheen and I must say I have inserted this quote by Sheen in a few birthday cards as Sheen truly appreciated a good joke.

“The best definition of an adult that was ever given is that an adult is one who has stopped growing at both ends and has begun to grow in the middle.” Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Sheen started all his shows with a little humor, mostly at his own expense. Sheen was so humble he could always laugh at himself. As we wish Sheen a happy birthday and pray for his Canonization, it is good to remember that part of our mission is to bring people closer to Christ through Venerable Fulton Sheen. As the great Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is almost upon us I thought it would be a good time to share with you a reflection Sheen wrote for the Ascension while praying the rosary. Thank you for all your prayers for the Cause and may you have a blessed Solemnity.

Peace,

Msgr. Stanley Deptula
Executive Director



“The Ascension of Christ is the assurance of our own ascension into heaven after the Last Judgment. Not yet ascended in body, we nevertheless enjoy the ascension of our minds in union with Him. We find our true home in heaven. It is to heaven that we look expectantly for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to save us; He will form this humbled body of ours anew, modeling it into the image of His glorified body, so effective is His power to make all things obey Him. O heavenly Magnet, in each communion draw our body and blood to Thy own, that already following Thee in heart, we may later ascend with Thee in the flesh!” +Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Feast of St. Joseph The Worker 5/1/2013

Dear friends,


Every once in a while I read something that I just must share. On this great Feast of St. Joseph the Worker I wanted to share with you this quote from Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen given on his radio show the Catholic Hour on February 18, 1951. Please remember that we post daily quotes for Archbishop Sheen on both Facebook and Twitter so make sure you tell your friends and help us in the mission of bringing people closer to Christ through Venerable Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. 
Peace,
Msgr. Stanley Deptula,
Executive Director
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation


“the type of marriage which took place between Mary and Joseph; it was such as the stars have, whose light unites in the atmosphere, though the stars themselves do not; a marriage like the flowers in the garden in springtime, who give forth perfume, though they themselves do not touch; a marriage like an orchestration where a great melody is produced, but where one instrument is without contact with the other. In such a marriage the use of the right to another is surrendered for a higher purpose. Mary wanted to know how she could be a virgin and a mother, and Joseph wanted to know how he could be a virgin and a father. It took an angel to reassure both that God had found a way. Only those who listen to angels’ voices can pierce that mystery. How much more beautiful Mary and Joseph become when we see in their lives what might be called the first Divine Romance. God loves bellowing waterfalls, but I believe He loves them better not when they overflow and drown His flowers, but when they are harnessed and bridled to light a city and to slake the thirst of a child. Not then in Joseph and Mary do we find one pure controlled waterfall and one dried-up lake, but rather two youths who before they knew the beauty of the one, and the handsome strength of the other, willed to surrender it for the ‘passionless passion’ and ‘wild tranquility’ of Jesus.” Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Dr. Yolanda Holliger 4/5/1938 to 3/30/2013 tribute

Dr. Yolanda Holliger (nee Tomaiuoli), age 74 of Wayne, passed away on Saturday, March 30, 2013.

Yolanda was an accomplished musician and became good friends with Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen.  She gave Venerable Sheen organ lessons and the match maker he was Sheen introduced Yolanda to his cousin Thomas Holliger.  Eventually Thomas proposed to Yolanda in the Bishop's chapel at his residence in New York and the Bishop conducted a solemn betrothel ceremony right then and there, then celebrated with the happy couple and chose their wedding date that very day.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen married Thomas Reed Holliger and Yolanda Tomaiuoli Holliger June 18, 1961 at the main altar St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. 

Later Yolanda's daughter Rosemarie Holliger Costello was married to her husband Brian in the same wedding dress at St. Patrick's Cathedral and in 2012 her daughter was married in that dress in Oklahoma. 

Following her marriage to her beloved husband of 44 years, Thomas Holliger, the couple began a life journey together and lived in various places including Tonawanda, NY, Packanack Lake and St. Petersburg, FL before returning to Packanack Lake in 1977. Wherever they lived, Yolanda always maintained a studio in which she taught students to play piano.

Despite all her accomplishments, nothing was more important to Yolanda than her faith in God and her love for her family. She will be missed by all of them and is survived by her six children: Rosemarie Costello and husband Brian of Edmond, OK, Michele Betz and husband William of Wayne, Aileen Lange and husband Frank of Lincoln Park, Thomas Holliger and wife Michele of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Maureen Karsen and husband Keith of Pompton Plains, and Michael Holliger and wife Deanna of Denver, CO; and two sisters-in-law: Cookie Tomaiuoli of Syracuse, NY and Patsy Landholt of Columbus, OH.  Yolanda was predeceased by her beloved husband Thomas in 2004, as well as her brother Matthew and brother-in-law Gerald Landholt.  



Yolanda Holliger and Archbishop Sheen




Tom & Yoland Holliger with Sheen



Archbishop Fulton Sheen baptizes Yolanda's daughter Rosemarie Holliger in 1961 (He baptized all of Tom and Yolanda's children)

Sheen would read bedtime stories to Rosemarie in Latin

Rosemarie & Sheen



Rosemarie & Sheen

Archbishop Sheen Confirmed Yolanda's daughter Rosemarie Holliger March 10, 1975


Rosemarie Holliger Confimation

Rosemarie, Tommy, Maureen, Tom, Sheen, Yolanda, Michael Fulton Sheen, Aileen & Michelle

Arturo Tomaiuoli, George Holliger, Tom & Yolanda, Sheen, Reeda Eibeck Holliger, Rosella & Lillian

Yolanda, Sheen and Reeda Eibeck Holliger

Tom and Yolanda were at the Mass where Archbishop Fulton Sheen hugged Blessed John Paul II at St. Patrick's Cathedral.  They both visited Venerable Sheen the day before he died and it was at this visit that Bishop Sheen gave Tom and Yolanda this photo and wrote the beautiful inscription on it as well. 



To my dear cousin Tom, Yolanda and Family with the love and blessing of the Rock and the Pebble



Notes from the Blackboard Lent/Easter 2013

Novena of Masses and Prayers Around the World

As the cause for his beatification continues, devotees of Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen concluded an international novena to mark the 33rd anniversary of his holy death on December 9, 2012.   Msgr. Richard Soseman, Coordinator of International Outreach, Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR, Vice-Postulator, and Msgr. Stanley Deptula, Executive Director of the Sheen Foundation offered nine consecutive days of Masses. On December 5th, a special anniversary Mass was also offered in the Lady Chapel of St. Patrick Cathedral, New York, NY by Fr. Andrew Small,OMI, National Director of the Propagation of the Faith which Sheen had directed for 16 years.

Msgr. Soseman began the Novena with a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome which was served by a student from Thomas More College in New Hampshire.  Msgr. Soseman stated the altar used portrays the doubting Thomas, who although he believed in our Lord, was overcome with doubt, and so needed physical proof.  We can tend to look down upon St. Thomas, but thank god he doubted as his need to prove his faith in Our Lord, reassures us when we are stumbling along the way.

MSGR. RICHARD SOSEMAN at ST. PETER'S BASILICA

Immaculate Conception Seminary Chapel Novena Mass

Msgr. Richard Soseman, who is a priest of Sheen's home diocese of Peoria, IL and currently works in the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, also offered a Mass that approximately 100 seminarians plus many faithful were in attendance for.  This special novena Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica.  In his homily, preached in Italian, Msgr. Soseman connected Venerable Fulton Sheen to Pope Benedict XVI’s call for a New Evangelization during this Year of Faith:  “As Bishop Sheen said, we can transform the world through ‘two hands and two knees,’ and through the daily Holy Hour.”  The sermon recalled the prophecy of St. John the Baptist, calling people to repentance to prepare the way of the Lord.  Soseman added: “In a similar way, we follow the example of Bishop Sheen, who God has provided in our own times, so that through our prayer and spreading of the faith in modern times, we may also prepare the Advent of Christ in souls.”

ST. PETER'S BASILICA

 Msgr. Brian Brownsey, Vocations Director of the Diocese of Peoria, presided at the official conclusion of the Novena in Sheen's home parish, the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Peoria.  In his homily, Msgr. Brownsey said “Advent is a season of hope…Sheen’s show was Life is Worth Living, is there a more hopeful statement than that?”

Cathedral of St. Mary of The Immaculate Conception Peoria, IL

Sheen grew up in the Cathedral parish, attending the local Catholic grade school and Catholic high school.  In 1919, he was ordained a priest in the Cathedral and the next day offered his first solemn Mass of Thanksgiving.  The Cause for Sheen's beatification and canonization was officially opened by the Diocese of Peoria in 2002 and the Peoria Cathedral has hosted several celebrations over the years to mark the progress of the Cause. 

Most recently, a Mass of Thanksgiving was offered in the Cathedral in September to commemorate the title "Venerable" bestowed by Pope Benedict XVI this past June.  In December, 2011, Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, Bishop of Peoria, presided over the official conclusion of a diocesan inquiry into an alleged miraculous healing of a still born baby, reportedly through Sheen's intercession.  Also attending the Mass in Peoria for Sheen's 33rd anniversary was the child James Fulton and his mother Bonnie who said "My only intention for the Novena was that Sheen be Canonized."  The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of the Saints continues its own process of reviewing this alleged miracle.

Fulton Sheen died on December 9, 1979 at the entrance of his private chapel in his New York City apartment.