A special connection with Fulton Sheen

PEORIA, Illinois — September is shaping up to be a big month for James Fulton Engstrom.

He’ll celebrate his 16th birthday on Sept. 16. The following week, he’ll present a relic of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen at Sheen’s beatification Mass in St. Louis.

It’s a fitting role for the young man who was miraculously healed as a baby through Archbishop Sheen’s intercession.

James was born at home in Goodfield, Illinois, on Sept. 16, 2010, without a pulse due to a knot in his umbilical cord. The midwife, then paramedics administered CPR as he was taken by ambulance to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.

At the hospital, the medical team ran out of options and was preparing to declare a time of death when James’ heart started to beat and he took a breath. It had been 61 minutes since his birth.

James’ parents, Bonnie and Travis Engstrom, had chosen then-Servant of God Archbishop Sheen as one of his patrons before he was born and prayed for his intercession throughout pregnancy and after his birth. Later that day, Bonnie posted to her blog describing what had happened and asking for prayers through Archbishop Sheen’s intercession. Two days later, friends organized a Holy Hour at the Cathedral of St. Maryin Peoria to pray for James’ continued healing, again invoking Archbishop Sheen’s help.

After seven weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit, James came home. By the time he celebrated his first birthday, his doctors and specialists saw no lasting effects from the trauma of his birth.

An authentic miracle

The investigation into James’ healing as a possible miracle attributed to Archbishop Sheen began around the same time, and it was a rigorous process.

Msgr. Jason Gray, a priest of the Diocese of Peoria who now serves as executive director of the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation, served as the lead diocesan investigator. Alongside other members of the local tribunal, he interviewed the Engstroms, the medical professionals who treated James and several others who had witnessed parts of his birth and early days.

“The goal in this case is to gather information about whether or not the event could be medically explained, scientifically explained, and then also gathering information about the intercession: How did they pray? When did they invoke Sheen?” Msgr. Gray said. “The job of the investigation is to try to connect those things, to say we have an event that cannot be medically explained; the only other explanation is they prayed at the time. So if we can’t find a natural explanation, then we look for a supernatural explanation.”

The three-month investigation produced about 1,000 pages of documentation that was shared with the Vatican’s Congregation (now Dicastery) of the Causes of Saints, including the complete, detailed medical records from the beginning of pregnancy through James’ birth, treatment at OSF St. Francis and a year’s worth of follow-up appointments showing that he had none of the expected brain damage from his traumatic birth.

The miracle was approved by a team of medical experts who advise the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints on March 6, 2014, and by a panel of theological advisors on June 17 of that year. Pope Francis approved the miracle on July 6, 2019, paving the way for Archbishop Sheen’s beatification.

The Church takes the causes of saints extremely seriously because they are held up as models of faith worthy of imitation, said Msgr. Gray, who later worked on other saints’ causes in the Vatican congregation from 2012-15.

“Plus, they pray for us, so that’s one of the reasons why miracles are a necessary part of the process, because the Church is holding out these people to say, you can pray to them and ask them to pray for us,” he said. “The prayers of a holy person are powerful indeed, so we want to make sure we’re calling upon someone who’s a sure intercessor.”

‘God has a plan’

Today, James “is a very typical teenage boy,” his mother, Bonnie, said. He’s grown taller than her. He works with his father, a freshman football coach at Washington High School, as the team’s manager. He does yard work for a handful of fellow parishioners at Mary Mother of God Parish and loves music, meteorology and the outdoors.

Archbishop Sheen is still very much a part of their family life, Bonnie said. She and her husband have talked about the miracle with James and their other seven children, who range in age from 18-7, right from the beginning. Archbishop Sheen’s birthday, ordination date and death anniversary are celebratory occasions (and a reason to go out for ice cream).

After Archbishop Sheen’s body was moved to Peoria in 2019, the family started making regular trips to pray at his tomb in the Cathedral of St. Mary. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, they would drive by and wave to say hi to Archbishop Sheen and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, Bonnie said.

“I really feel like Fulton Sheen has always kind of been walking with me and helping me to parent James and do what’s best for him,” Bonnie said. “… He’s been advocating for James since day one, right?”

James maintains a special connection with his patron, too, she said.

“(James) will say, just kind of in passing conversation with my husband and I, he’ll mention praying to God, having conversations with Fulton Sheen, Fulton Sheen being present in his prayer life. You know how they talk about childlike faith — but it’s actually really profound and beautiful just how familiar he is when he talks about our Lord and Fulton Sheen in his life,” she said.

“He’s still a punk 15-year-old kid, you know,” she added. “Don’t expect him to be super pious. He’s just a regular boy.”

For Bonnie, experiencing the miracle didn’t actually change much about her relationship with God, she said. Their prayer for James’ healing was answered in a huge, miraculous way. But that’s not the case for all of her prayers, and God continues to amaze her even more in the small ways that He is present and faithful in her life.

“I always believed that God was a God of miracles. I always believed in His perfect will and in His perfect timing,” she said. “I always loved Him and I always sought Him first and foremost, and that didn’t change.”

After the miracle was approved in 2019, Archbishop Sheen’s beatification date was set for December of that year. But just a few weeks before the Mass, the cause was paused when a request for more time was made by a few U.S. bishops.

The years of waiting that followed were “a great exercise in trusting the Lord and trusting in His perfect timing,” Bonnie said. “I never would have expected, OK, actually, the beatification is going to happen in the 150th anniversary of my diocese, in the 250th anniversary of the founding of my nation, when we have our first American pope — that’s a lot of cool things that have lined up quite nicely, so maybe God’s way is better.”

One of her favorite things about Archbishop Sheen — tied with his love for the Eucharist — is that he is a Midwest boy from a small town, something she reminds her children frequently.

“God had a plan for his life, and he trusted in the Lord, and he trusted in the Lord’s goodness, and it allowed him to do all of these things for the glory of God and the good of the Church,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that you’re from flyover country. God has a plan, and He wants to use you to write a beautiful story in your life.”

As for her family? “I hope eventually we just fade into a footnote in the story of Fulton Sheen,” she said.

Read more from Bonnie Engstrom

“61 Minutes to a Miracle” is Bonnie’s firsthand account of the miraculous healing of her son James Fulton. Available in the original 2019 edition or to preorder the updated 2026 edition: stlreview.com/4gzHDhS

“Fulton Sheen and the Very Bad Week” is a children’s book based on true events of Archbishop Sheen’s childhood. https://stlreview.com/4gyY3a2

Follow Bonnie on Instagram: @bonnieengstrom