IN HONOR OF THE RECENT beatification of Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Christ Cathedral hosted veneration of Blessed Sheen relics, vespers and a blessing ceremony for a Sheen statue on Oct. 6. Members of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, of which Blessed Archbishop Sheen was also a member, also attended.
CHRIST CATHEDRAL HOSTED A VENERATION OF BLESSED FULTON SHEEN ON OCT. 6, WITH CLERGY, MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY AND HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST. LAZARUS OF JERUSALEM IN ATTENDANCE. PHOTOS BY IAN TRAN/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
The event was livestreamed and is available on YouTube.
BLESSED ARCHBISHOP SHEEN PREACHED ON THE CATHEDRAL CAMPUS DURING ITS CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL ERA UNDER DR. ROBERT SCHULLER. THE BRONZE STATUE DEPICTING BLESSED SHEEN WAS RECENTLY INSTALLED OUTSIDE THE ARBORETUM.
Fr. Al Baca, episcopal vicar of ecumenism and inter-religion, noted during the service how Blessed Archbishop Sheen “was engaged in building bridges with other Christian leaders and communities at a time when ecumenism was only beginning to be a normal part of the Catholic landscape we know today.”
Blessed Archbishop Sheen preached on the cathedral campus during its Crystal Cathedral era under Dr. Robert Schuller, who, like many Americans, was inspired by the powerful Catholic televangelist. The Crystal Cathedral commissioned a bronze statue of Sheen in the 1990s and displayed it for decades, but it left the campus following the Crystal Cathedral sale to the Diocese of Orange.
About two years ago, the Catholic Church-affiliated Santiago Retreat Center managed to acquire the Sheen statue and put it on display at their center.
In light of Blessed Archbishop Sheen’s beatification, it was thought that the Sheen statue should return to the cathedral campus where the archbishop preached. Thanks to the generosity of a loan agreement with
the Santiago Retreat Center, the bronze statue is back on the cathedral grounds, close to the Arboretum where Sheen famously spoke to an ecumenical congregation in 1972.