Our pilgrimage to Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica on August 17 was wonderful! Fifteen people went, and it was a great opportunity to be at Mass at a massive Roman Basilica. Also, the guided tour was very informative.
Today's Gospel really speaks to us! We hear some conditions of discipleship from the Lord Himself: "ThenJesus said to his disciples, 'Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profitwould there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?"' What powerful words for us to reflect on thisweek.
Big news regarding the late Archbishop Sheen being beatified in September! Jonah McKeown, in an August21, 2026 article for the National Catholic Register, reveals exciting news. Here is the article:
What's Happening for Fulton Sheen's Beatification?Find Out Here
Tens of thousands of tickets have already been sold for the upcoming beatification of the Emmy-winningAmerican prelate.
Excitement continues to build for the beatification of media evangelist Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.Slated to become the first "Blessed" to have won an Emmy Award, the Illinois native is set to be beatified on Sept. 24 in St.Louis.
"Well over 40,000" tickets for the beatification Mass have already been sold, said Royce Hood, chief operating officer for the Diocese of Peoria, where Sheen was ordained a priest. He told the Register the diocese anticipatesselling at least 30,000 more, as many local parishes and groups who plan to attend have yet to sign up. Tickets andschedules for all events are available at CelebrateSheen.com. EWIN will air the Mass live; related programmingwill include special news segments and historical retrospectives, along with extensive coverage from the Register and other EWIN News entities.
The beatification Mass will take place at St. Louis' The Dome at America's Center, which can hold more than65,000 people. It will be the first beatification to take place in the United States since that of Blessed Michael McGivney in October 2020, which had a limited attendance due to COVID-19 restrictions. And it will mark thefirst time in nearly a decade � since the beatification of Solanus Casey in 2017 � that thousands of Catholicswill be able to attend a beatification Mass for an American taking place in the United States.
Though Sheen's earthly remains are in his home Diocese of Peoria, St. Louis was chosen as the city to host the beatification due in part to the availability of a venue large enough to accommodate all the pilgrims expected toattend.
"We anticipate a full house in St. Louis," Hood said.
As a Catholic figure, Sheen was popular in the mainstream culture of mid-century America in a way that hasarguably never been rivaled. A staple of the radio waves and a prolific author, his TV program Life Is WorthLiving also drew some 30 million viewers (and can be watched on EWIN), and he even won an Emmy Award for "Most Outstanding Television Personality" in 1953 over such industry giants as comedian Jimmy Duranteand journalist Edward R. Murrow.
He was also renowned for, among other things, contributing his scholarly prowess to the Second Vatican Council, raising an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars to support worldwide missionary activity, and personally befriending and accompanying countless converts to the Catholic Church.
Sheen's beatification was originally scheduled for December 2019, but it was postponed by the Vatican due to requests for further investigation into his cause.Devotees of the media figure were therefore overjoyed whenthe new date was announced in March 2026.
To prepare for the beatification celebrations, religious sisters across the country are creating75,000 WorldMission Rosaries, based on a design created by Sheen himself, to distribute at the celebrations so that tens ofthousands can gather to pray the Rosary before the Mass.
Hood said the series of events honoring Sheen are designed to take attendees on a "pilgrimage," beginning inPeoria, to St. Louis for the beatification, and back again to Peoria to continue the celebrations. Before the gatheringsbegin in earnest, the faithful are encouraged to take part in a novena of Holy Hours taking place at the Cathedral ofSt. Mary in Peoria beginning on Sept. 15.
The week of public events begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19, with a family-friendly Holy Hour and guided tour of the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria. Then, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20, there will be a Mass atthe same cathedral to celebrate the 107th anniversary of Sheen's priestly ordination, which took place that sameday in 1919.
St. Louis Events
The next major event will be vespers at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 5 p.m.Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski of St. Louis will preside, with Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester,Minnesota, and an Illinois native like Sheen, as the homilist.
That evening, there will be a Holy Hour for young adults from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Louis, Kingof France, also known as the "Old Cathedral," which is located by the Mississippi River on the grounds of theSt. Louis Arch. During the Holy Hour, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal will provide Eucharistic adorationwith music, preaching and confessions.
The beatification Mass itself, celebrated on Pope Leo XIV's behalf by Cardinal Luis Tagle, will take place on Thursday, Sept. 24, at The Dome at America's Center, a stadium located in the city's downtown. St. John Paul IIcelebrated Mass at the same stadium in January 1999 with 100,000 in attendance.
Doors to the venue will open at 8 a.m., and Eucharistic adoration and confession will be available. There will also be anexpo showcasing Catholic vendors that will be open before and after the Mass. At 10 a.m., there will be a "Celebrate Sheen" show with performers such as Catholic musician Matt Maher.
The Mass, airing live on EWIN, will begin at 2 p.m., and immediately following the Mass a relic of Sheen will bemade available for veneration until 6 p.m.
Back to Peoria
Following the beatification itself, there will be several Masses of thanksgiving that the faithful can attend back in Peoria.These will be held at the cathedral on Friday, Sept. 25, and Saturday, Sept. 26, presided over by various celebrants, including Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York, who is also an Illinois native. There are also parish talkstaking place throughout Friday, Sept. 25, at St. Jude and at St. Philomena in Peoria and at St. Thomas the Apostle inPeoria Heights.
Also on Friday, Sept. 25, the first-ever "Sheen Awards Gala" will take place at 6 p.m. at the Peoria Civic Center. Setto be a family-friendly entertainment event with a red carpet and a dinner, the award show will be modeled off of majorentertainment awards such as the Emmys or Oscars and will recognize individuals who carry on Sheen's legacy ofsharing the faith "through film, television, digital media, writing, preaching, music, or missionary service." Hood saidthe awards, which will be held annually, are designed to support the building of an interactive Sheen museum in Peoria.
The weekend events will conclude with a Byzantine Rite Mass of thanksgiving � honoring the fact that Sheen was bi-ritual with the Byzantine Rite�at the Cathedral of St. Mary on Sept. 26.
Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria explained that all of the upcoming events have been "thoughtfully planned as part of a pilgrimage to help us enter more deeply into the spiritual richness of this occasion and to encounter the Lord in ameaningful way."
The bishop said: "My hope is that through this beatification, many will come to know more deeply the love of Jesus Christ, be renewed in their faith, and be inspired to live as joyful witnesses of the Gospel in their own lives."
Saint Rose of Viterbo, who at the age of 10 became a Secular Franciscan and began preaching in the streets about sin and the sufferings of Jesus, pray for us.
Father Miller