[NYer]

Paul VI granted his wish, and made him an archbishop. Sheen had no business being made a diocesan administrator. There's no shame in that; a very large number of the present occupants of episcopal sees don't belong there either!

THANK YOU for filling in the blanks! You are absolutely right ... there is absolutely NO shame in fulfilling the job that has been assigned. None!

My grandmother, God rest her soul, insisted that we watch Bishop Sheen as children. She grew angry with the church for not elevating him to the rank of cardinal. Your post explains why ... thanks, Sink!

[sinkspur]

There's no episcopal figure in the Church today who is able to inspire the way Sheen did. None.

Of course, he was extremely intelligent, but he always ascribed his preaching power to making the Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament every day of his priestly life.

HE NEVER MISSED A DAY, even if it meant waking up sleeping pastors to open a Church he was passing so that he could make the Hour or (as he told us in a retreat he preached in 1973), climbing through an open window at the Basilica de Sacre Couer in Paris in the middle of the night.

When Sheen came to Holy Trinity Seminary for that retreat, he asked for only two things for his room: a dozen oranges and two boxes of Fig Newtons.