When Lo Anne Mayer of Convent Station met the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen at The Church of Christ the King in New Vernon in the 1970s, it was not under the best circumstances.She had driven her mother to hear Sheen but was anxious to return home. One of her six children was ill. But when he started speaking, Mayer was gripped by the magnanimous style that had earned Sheen an Emmy and 30 million viewers for "Life Is Worth Living," his weekly 1950s television show.
"He was in his 70s then, and he said he had tried to remove the nails from the crucified Christ for his entire life as a priest," Mayer recalled.
"The thought penetrated my very soul."
Afterward, she sent him a newspaper picture of himself preaching that day.
"He was standing under a cross," Mayer said, "and there were no nails in the feet of Christ on that cross."
The two corresponded for eight years. He came from New York City to Corpus Christi Parish in Chatham Township to baptize her youngest child. It was not until after Sheen died in 1979 that Mayer fully understood how much of a treasure their eight-year relationship had been.
"I had this marvelous teacher in my life," she said.
So it was no surprise that Mayer, all these years later, has immersed herself in the cause for Sheen's canonization, the extensive process through which the Roman Catholic Church selects its saints. If canonized, Sheen will be the first American male saint.
At The Madison Hotel recently, Mayer addressed a few dozen other local supporters of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation. She introduced visiting Bishop Daniel Jenky of the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., where Sheen was raised, and the Rev. Stanley Deptula, also from Peoria and executive director of the foundation. (Often a campaign for a candidate for sainthood originates in the parish in which he or she was born.)
"Especially in the years after Bishop Sheen had retired as Bishop of Rochester, New York, he crisscrossed Morris County often and had a great affection for this part of the country," Mayer said. "He celebrated many Masses here and touched many lives."
Jenky pointed out that Sheen used modern technology to spread the word of God. Deptula called him "an apostle for the modern age" and reported that in April he delivered a huge crate containing 22 volumes of documentation showing Sheen's influence in leading people to Jesus Christ.
The crate, which the foundation has prepared since 2002, included personal testimony and supporting materials on many aspects of Sheen's life -- teaching philosophy at Catholic University; writing 73 books; presenting 35 years of TV and radio shows; speaking against the Vietnam War; serving as bishop of Rochester and, starting in 1969, as archbishop of the Titular See of Newport (Wales). He also nationally headed up the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which supports Catholic missionaries.
Last fall the foundation had sent ahead medical records linking Sheen to two purported miracles, a requirement for canonization.
"The Vatican was impressed with the thorough, organized work of the Sheen Foundation," Deptula said. "In Rome, they like seals, and we had the best wax seals, too. A canonization process can take five years or 500 years, but I am here to tell you there is excitement in the city of Rome for the Fulton Sheen cause."
Because the Vatican has accepted Sheen's cause for canonization as of April 15, he now has achieved Servant of God status in the church.
Other Morris people whose lives were touched by Sheen joined in the celebration and the affirmation to support the cause with prayer and money. Jack Washburne of Chatham Township recounted picking up Sheen from Manhattan and driving him to New Jersey.
"I'll never forget what he told me that day," said Washburne, whose children were approaching college age at the time. "He said in a Catholic college, they would dissect their religion, but in a non-Catholic college, they would defend their religion."
Mary Mulholland of Morristown recalled meeting Sheen at her Uncle Max's house in Staten Island, where he would come to dinner. Her uncle, who was Jewish, and her father, who was Catholic, co-owned a Chevrolet business and provided Sheen with transportation whenever he needed it.
"When you looked into his eyes and he talked, you couldn't help but be moved," Mulholland said. "Each of his TV shows addressed a different topic, such as jealousy, kindness, love and devotion."
"Life Is Worth Living," featuring a twinkly-eyed Sheen speaking with command and a hint of a brogue, is still rebroadcast on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). All the shows are steeped in Catholic doctrine and psychology and yet presented clearly and simply and applied to everyday temptations and concerns.
In a show about "Angels," for instance, Sheen talks about angels as beings less powerful than God but more powerful than human beings -- divine messengers with intellect and will but no physical form.
"You've heard the song of the angels," he quipped. "'I ain't got no body!'" Then, switching characteristically to a more serious tone, he lamented a materialistic society that does not acknowledge the spiritual dimension of life.
"Individuals could be much wiser if they prayed to their angels," he told his audience. "Why worry about keeping up with the Joneses? Keep up with the angels."
He always illustrated his points with notes and drawings on a blackboard.
"When Bishop Sheen spoke, people of different intelligences and ages understood him," said Monsignor Patrick Brown of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Stirling. "He wanted the average person to understand there isn't so much mystery as there is an overabundance of God's love. He had a common touch and a special devotion to the children of The New York Foundling, where he would spend an afternoon whenever he could. He would beg them to tell him what their needs were."
After his visit, toys for the children would arrive, often from the best stores in the city. It was Sheen's love of the poor, Brown said, that will make him a saint.
Stories of Sheen's good works and humor poured from everyone at The Madison Hotel. Over hors d'oeuvres, someone remembered a conversation between Sheen and Milton Berle about their television shows, which at one point aired simultaneously.
"I can't believe you beat me in the ratings," Berle said. "Who are your writers?"
Sheen did not miss a beat. "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John," he said.
Jenky said Sheen witnessed to Christ every chance he got. He talked to people in taxicabs, hospitals and orphanages. He helped schoolchildren, troubled priests, and people on the subway and in the suburbs.
None of them seem to have forgotten.
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