Blessed Fulton Sheen Canonizations and beatifications are always moments of immense joy for the church. Why? Because when a person is either beatified (or declared "Blessed" by the church) or canonized (declared a "Saint"), it means that more people will come to know their lives, be inspired by their example and ask for their prayers. Technically, beatification means that the person may have Masses said in their honor (Feast Days, etc.) in certain locales (usually the locale or country in which they were born or carried out their ministry). Once a person is declared a Saint, the universal church has that privilege. And just to clarify: the church does not "make" saints and blesseds. God does that. The church recognizes what God has done, in God's goodness for us. As most American Catholics know, tomorrow Archbishop Fulton Sheen will be beatified at a ceremony in St. Louis. His remains had been for many years at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, where he worked; but are now in Peoria, Ill., where he grew up. In the middle part of the last century, there were few more well-known Catholics in the world, thanks to Fulton Sheen's wildly popular TV show "Life is Worth Living." The success of the show (and its lack of props other than, for a time, a blackboard) was a surprise for many hard-bitten TV executives. The comedian Milton Berle's show, which ran in that same era, was sponsored by Texaco, whose premium gasoline was called "Sky Chief," so "Uncle Miltie" used to joke that he and Bishop Sheen worked for the same person. Eventually made Bishop of Rochester and finally Archbishop, Fulton Sheen's life was one of constant evangelization, embracing a new Ministry of the Word, on television, as well as pretty much every other form of media available at the time. (He was also extremely well educated.) For a time, Sheen suffered for that at the hands of some in the church who were jealous of his success, but he always kept his good humor and continued his ministry with zeal. I know that because America's longtime literary editor, Patricia Kossmann, who retired a few years ago, knew Fulton Sheen well: she was for many years his publisher and then became his literary executor. Pat would often recount stories about their friendly interactions and would herself repeat Fulton Sheen's famous sign off: "God love you!" In our Catholic tradition, the saints and blesseds are our "patrons" and "companions." They are our patrons, who pray for us from their posts in heaven; and also our companions, whose lives offer us examples of faith. As the Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner once wrote, "The saint shows us what is means to be Christian in this particular way." Few of us will ever be bishops or archbishops; few of us will have hit TV shows; but we can all take inspiration from Blessed Fulton Sheen's tireless evangelization. And we can all ask for his prayers. (For us in the Catholic media, he is also a powerful intercessor.) And for those of us in the US we will soon be able to celebrate his Feast Day. How wonderful that tomorrow we can say, "Blessed Fulton Sheen, pray for us!"