Archbishop Dolan to mark 30th anniversary of Archbishop Sheen’s death with memorial Mass

New York City, N.Y., Dec 3, 2009 / 03:25 am

Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan will celebrate a special St. Patrick’s Cathedral Mass on Dec. 9 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. The Mass will be broadcast live on the Catholic television network EWTN.

Archbishop Sheen was a radio host and bestselling author who also hosted the popular 1950s television series “Life is Worth Living.” He served as the Bishop of Rochester, New York from 1966 to 1969.

He died on Dec. 9, 1979.

In 2002, Archbishop Sheen was declared a Servant of God. In 2008, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints opened his cause to consider his beatification and canonization.

Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan will be the main celebrant and homilist at the memorial Mass.

The archbishop has told EWTN host Raymond Arroyo that he had the chance to meet the famous prelate several times. However, he only became interested in him during his graduate work on the history of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Archbishop Dolan told EWTN:

“My professor, John Tracy Ellis, used to say there’s never been anybody who’s been able to communicate the timeless truths of the Catholic religion to a very timely culture, namely the United States, like Fulton Sheen – without diluting any of the essentials of our Catholic Faith. He was able to present it in an eminently attractive way and that has always inspired me...”

Archbishop Dolan said he would never pretend to be like Archbishop Sheen or to have “his culture and bearing.” However, Sheen was an “inspiration” to him to bring “the immutable truths of the Catholic Faith to a very changing culture and society.”

The memorial Mass will be broadcast live on EWTN at 5:30 Eastern Time on Dec. 9. It will be rebroadcast at midnight Eastern Time.

The EWTN web site is at http://www.ewtn.com