Such is the news from WGLT and the NatCathReg:
PEORIA, Ill. — On the evening of June 8, the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, announced that earlier in the day the Supreme Court of New York had ruled for the second time in favor of Joan Sheen Cunningham and her petition to move Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s body from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria.
Bishop Daniel Jenky, bishop of Peoria and promoter of the cause for canonization of Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, made the announcement “with great joy,” according to an official statement.
The new ruling and order, to move Sheen’s body from New York to Peoria, comes after the Appellate Court of New York remanded the case, following the first decision in Cunningham’s favor back to the Supreme Court for an evidentiary hearing and a new ruling.
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More there.
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I think that this is a very good decision.
This just makes me sad. Sad because of the fighting and the hurt that brings, and sad because his legacy is as the Archbishop of New York, not as a son of Peoria.
[Sheen was an auxiliary bishop of New York and then Bishop of Rochester. After his resignation, he was named a titual Archbishop. He was not the Archbishop of New York.]
This all transpired rather quietly. I was under the impression that it had been definitively been decided that he remain in New York.
This is the right decision. It is just. It is in accord with agreement made between Peoria and New York when Peoria took up the work of the cause of Bishop Sheen. The agreement made by Cardinal Egan requires compliance. Of this there is no doubt.
Archbishop Sheen surely did not regard himself as a target for the Congregation of Saints, and his personal humility would supersede any attachment he had to New York City (which I share). From the perspective of Almighty God we are all buried on the head of a pin. To give Peoria the remains of its saintly son is a small price to pay in lieu of the scandal – and I use that word with purpose – which the Archdiocese has provided by going back on its word.
There are already some, and there will be, God willing, many saints to find a place at Saint Patrick Cathedral. Pierre Toussaint is already entombed in the Cathedral as well as Terrance Cardinal Cooke. Other causes under the wing of the Archdiocese are Mother Angeline Teresa, O.Carm., Dorothy Day and Mother Mary Alphonsa, O.P. (Rose Hawthorne).
Seems the Archdiocese unwillingness to adopt Archbishop Sheen’s cause was the result of having too many saints in the Big Apple?
Who knew?
Peoria might just have this one raised to the altars of all the multitude of its anonymous faithful gazing upon the Face of Almighty God.
And what a one he was!
About time. Unseemly spats like this give the whole process a bad name.
From everything I’ve read, a previous Archbishop of New York made life difficult for Bishop Sheen when he was alive. Has the present Archbishop of New York chosen to continue this legacy for Bishop Sheen after he is dead?
Just contemplating the irony.
“a previous Archbishop of New York”
Not just a previous Archbishop….Cardinal Spellman.
I’m glad for the outcome, but I am also am hesitant when a secular court is involved in church matters.
In case anyone is unaware, you can contact the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation via mail, and they will send you a piece of his vestments in a nice card. Just write them and include a self addressed and stamped envelope. They do ask for a donation if you can, but it is by no means required.
I’m not sure if it’s OK to post a link, so I won’t post the url, but a internet search will pull up the foundation and their mailing address.