Feature of the Week

A Letter From Mrs. R. G.
Mattawan, MI

(Posted on August 28, 2008)

Dear Father Apostoli and Friends at The Sheen Foundation,

I understand that you are seeking anecdotal evidence of favors granted as a result of devotion to the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen. May I share with you my experiences over the past nine months of prayer to this fine man?

My husband and I have one son, John, aged 28. A gifted musician, he is currently at the University of Iowa, working towards a Ph.D. in Music Composition. It is a very demanding program, and although he has done extremely well, he has always asked us to pray for his continued success.

Last summer, as he was about to begin his second year at UI, I determined to find a patron to whom I could address specific prayers for John’s intentions. I settled upon Archbishop Sheen, knowing and admiring his reputation as a brilliant scholar, teacher and communicator. I asked him to support and encourage our son especially during two sets of crucial examinations (December ‘06 and April ‘07). We saw amazing results: John prospered in his classes, produced excellent original compositions, and then passed the first set of oral and written exams.

Next he faced the prospect of additional class time during this summer to fulfill the foreign language requirement for the Ph.D. degree. He had taken Spanish at the undergraduate level but doubted if he was competent enough to “test out” of these courses. He worked hard reviewing Spanish grammar and vocabulary, took the qualifying tests and passed with ease!

Finally, during Holy Week (of all times) John needed to take a set of written examination papers: five different topics (quite demanding and difficult) set by five separate professors, one per day. It was a test of physical, mental and spiritual strength and I petitioned Archbishop Sheen to support him through this challenging time.

When I commenced my prayer to Archbishop Sheen, I asked him to send me some sign that he was listening and willing to be helpful to John. Bishop Sheen responded in a totally unexpected manner which I believe reflects his legendary sense of humor and love of language. I enjoy doing crosswords: I work at the New York Times puzzle everyday and the one in Wall Street Journal every weekend. While filling in the New York Times crossword on July 6th last year (#0525 for the record), I was amazed to see that one of the answers was “SHEEN”. Last Friday (04-27-07), the Wall Street Journal puzzle included the answer “SHEEN” also; later that same day we got the good news from our son that he had passed all his exams, and had been congratulated on his accomplishments!

I sincerely hope and pray that you will soon accumulate sufficient evidence of benefits received to support the beatification of this exemplary Catholic gentleman. Perhaps this letter will some day be unfurled at St. Peter’s Square in honor of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen of happy and holy memory.

May God bless you, Fr. Apostoli, in all your endeavors on Archbishop Sheen’s behalf.

Sincerely,

Mrs. R. G,
Mattawan, MI