The Beatification Ceremony of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will feature both types of Cardinals

By Sally Tippett Rains

Thursday, Sept 24, 2026 is the Beatification of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, with 50,000 people expected to pack the Dome at America’s Center—and along with the Catholic Cardinals who will be in attendance, there is at least one St. Louis Cardinals connection. The Beatification event is a big deal for our Catholic friends because the ceremony declares the Archbishop to be  “Blessed” which marks the final major step before potential sainthood.

How does this apply to Cardinals baseball?

St. Louis native and former archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan recently used a Cardinals baseball reference when speaking to the local media: “Fulton John Sheen was like the Stan Musial of American priests and bishops and preachers.”

It’s possible that Musial’s path could have crossed with the archbishop because we found out that Red Schoendienst, the late Cardinal player and manager’s actually did—and they knew each other.

 The friendship of Red Schoendienst and Archbishop Fulton Sheen comes full circle on Thursday as his daughter Colleen Schoendienst, who spoke exclusively to STLSportsPage.com will be participating in the ceremony

Red and his wife Mary were even invited to New York by Archbishop Sheen back in the 1950’s during the hey-day of the Hall of Famer’s career. The Schoendienst family remembers that their parents knew him.

“I remember watching him on television, with my dad and the whole family,” Colleen Schoendienst told STLSportsPage.com. “We knew about their meeting in New York.”

Archbishop Sheen even gave them the photo, shown below, that he signed.  Years later,  the photo would be considered a “second-class relic.”  and that and some other items are still in the Schoendienst family and mean a lot to them.

“We have a strong faith,” said Colleen Schoendienst. “That’s what got my dad through his tuberculosis and through his long life.”

The archbishop did his radio and television show, at the same time Schoendienst was playing baseball, and as a coincidence, there was an article featuring Schoendienst in the December 1953 Look Magazine—the same issue the archbishop was on the cover.

The issue was highlighting then-Bishop Sheen with the “12 other winners of Look’s fourth Annual TV Awards. “

As a humorous side note, there was also feature on child singer Gayla Peevey, who had just released her famous hit holiday song, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” in that same issue of Look Magazine. That cover is shown at the top of this page.

The Schoendienst article highlighted his spectacular 1953 career-best season with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he batted .342 and narrowly missed winning the National League batting title. He had 15 home runs in 146 games that season. His .342 batting average topped Musial’s .337 for that year with Schoendienst playing in 146 games and Musial 157. It was a magical season for Red Schoendienst, and a magical memory for his family.

As Schoendienst was lauded for his award-winning baseball season in the Look Magazine article, Sheen was spotlighted as one of the most watched television personalities in America at the time. Religious programming was new so there were not a lot of other televangelists to compare him to at the time, but his 30 million weekly viewers put him right up there with Frank Sinatra, Milton Berle, and others.

His television show, “Life is Worth Living” made him a household name to Catholics in that era. The show aired on Tuesday evenings, and his radio show, “The Catholic Hour” ran on Sunday mornings.  His radio show spanned the time from the Great Depression, World War II and even the Cold War.

Sheen’s TV show garnered him an Emmy in 1953 as the “Most Outstanding Television Personality.” Others in the competition that year were Lucille Ball and Edward R. Murrow. In his acceptance speech he joked, that he owed all his success to his four writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

While 1953 was the year that magazine cover came out, he continued broadcasting until 1968, eventually doing another show called “The Bishop Sheen Program.” After the television show ended, he continued his ministry with preaching, writing and serving as archbishop until his death on December 9, 1979.

Since he was still alive in the late 1970’s there are still people living who knew him.

“Yes, there are many people still alive who came into contact with Archbishop Sheen,” said Colleen Schoendienst.

One of the big landmarks in Sheen’s road to sainthood involved a “miracle” which took place  in Washington, Illinois, near Peoria. A baby was born not breathing but through what could only be described as a miracle– he lived, and is alive today.

During the time right after their son was born not breathing—he lay there unresponsive for about an hour– his parents, Bonnie and Travis Engstrom, continuously prayed for the intercession of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who they knew had been from Peoria.

The website Catholic.com describes intersession as, “To go or come between two parties to plead before one of them on behalf of the other” and that is what they did by praying to the archbishop to intercede. Even though it was 2010 and he had passed away in 1979 they prayed that he would intercede and save their child.  Just as the medical personnel were about to call the time of death, little James’ heart started beating.

There was no medical explanation for it. Oddly enough, Bonnie and Travis had felt a strong connection to Sheen during her pregnancy and even chose “Fulton” as his middle name.

James Fulton Engstrom is expected to be at the Beatification Ceremony.

Local television stations FOX 2 an KSDK, along with national outlet NewsNation reported that the Engstrom family would be there.  They plan to present a relic, which in the Catholic religion is a physical object or the bodily remains of a saint or holy person, preserved for veneration, the profound respect, honor, and reverence shown to Mary, the saints, angels, and sacred objects.

While a first-class relic is something significant to the person’s body, a second-class relic, like the Schoendienst’s photo is something from their everyday life; something a saint actually held, touched or owned. A relic establishes a tangible, personal connection to a holy person and draws the owner closer to God.

Red Schoendienst had no way of knowing that one day Sheen would be only one step away from sainthood, and his own family members could possibly own a second-class relic from a saint. That is what an autographed item would be.  The magazine was owned and held by a possible future saint and given to Mary and Red Schoendienst, as was another photo the family owns.

Fulton Sheen and Red Schoendienst grew up in Illinois; the archbishop in Peoria and the baseball player in Germantown.

Peoria, Illinois is about three hours from Chicago and three hours from St. Louis, so baseball fans are split down the middle. The archbishop was undoubtably a Cardinals fan as he was the one who reached out to Schoendienst.

Sheen and Schoendienst were excelling in their careers at the same time and in 1953 Archbishop Sheen won the Emmy and Red Schoendienst was selected for the All-Star Team.

“Archbishop Sheen was a Cardinals fan living in New York at the time and that’s why he reached out to Dad,” said Colleen.

Because of his connection with Peoria, there will be many events in Peoria coinciding with the St. Louis events on Thursday. There are many ways people can participate, both in person and by watching at home. One highlight will be an exhibition at the Dome featuring more than 100 Catholic exhibits from all over the United States.

More than 80 Bishops and Cardinals will be in attendance at the Beatification Ceremony, with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle serving as the official Papal representative and principal celebrant of mass on behalf of Pope Leo XIV. Cardinal Timothy Dolan will also be in attendance.

There will be so many Catholic Cardinals and even more St. Louis Cardinals fans as the general public is welcome to attend the ceremony that starts at 2 p.m.

Colleen Schoendienst will be participating in the ceremony as she is a member of the St. Louis chapter of the Order of Malta,  a lay religious chapter of the Catholic Church which includes 85 Knights and Dames. They are dedicated to serving the poor and the sick while witnessing the Catholic faith. They will wear their robes and join in the processional as the Knights and Dames of Malta typically walk in the opening processionals for Beatifications Ceremonies.

The Beatification Ceremony will be personal for Colleen and her family as they remember the stories they heard from their parents about knowing Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and the times they gathered as a family on Tuesday nights to watch him on his television show from their home in St. Louis. These are treasured memories which Colleen has passed down to her children.

Many other St. Louisans and Catholics around the world will remember watching him on TV as he makes this posthumous transition.

“Our family still has the darling picture of my parents with Archbishop Sheen,” said Colleen Schoendienst. “It hung on the living room wall of our house throughout my childhood and went with my parents as they moved later in life.”

All those years ago the archbishop knew Red Schoendienst and his family were Catholic and the fact that he made the effort to invite him to New York, makes the Beatification Ceremony feel personal to Colleen and her family.

“I’m very proud of my dad’s connection to the archbishop,” she said. “And I’m very proud of that picture.”

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The Beatification Mass of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen will take place Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026 central time at the Dome of America in St. Louis.

For more information and frequently asked questions from the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundatiion: https://www.celebratesheen.com/faq

For information on tickets through the Archdioces of St. Louis: https://resources.archstl.org/article/130408/sheen-beatification-ticketing-information

For general information from the Archdioces: https://www.archstl.org/fulton-sheen-beatification-event-ticketing/