Churches opened their doors to travelers from the Midwest to Poland who were in town for beatification
Several parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Louis opened their doors to pilgrims who traveled from far and wide to attend the beatification Mass of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen.
When several staff at St. Teresa School and St. Joseph School in Lincoln, Nebraska, brought up the idea to take students on a pilgrimage to St. Louis for the beatification Mass, Sister Mary Agnes quickly launched into action.
The School Sister of Christ the King and assistant principal at St. Teresa School began emailing parishes in St. Louis to see if they’d be willing to host their group of 70, which included almost 50 middle school students in grades six through eight.
Deacon Bill Twellman at St. Norbert Parish in Florissant enthusiastically answered the call. Students and their chaperones camped out in the parish hall for two nights, with parishioners feeding the hungry pilgrims after they returned after a long day of activities at The Dome at America’s Center. Students had Mass with St. Norbert pastor Father Peter Faimega and breakfast before the 7-hour drive back to Lincoln.
“I was gratified seeing how alive the students were in their faith,” Deacon Twellman said. At adoration Wednesday night, “they were very reverent, and they knew all of the prayers in Latin, sung. These children got to experience something that’s once in a lifetime.”
Students from St. Teresa School and St. Joseph School in Lincoln, Nebraska, are shown after Mass Sept. 25 at St. Norbert Church in Florissant. Seventy students and chaperones from the two schools were among pilgrims who stayed at parishes in the archdiocese while in town for the beatification of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen.
At Mass before their departure, Deacon Twellman noted in his homily Blessed Sheen’s signature greeting and farewell that he used throughout his broadcasting career: “God love you.”
“I told them, ‘God love you — now go forth today and share that with others; our world desperately needs it,’” Deacon Twellman said.
Sister Mary Agnes said she hoped students would have an experience of the universal Church and see the unity of the Body of Christ from within that experience. “I pray that they will hear Jesus speaking in their hearts their mission in life — whether that’s their vocation or their mission to serve the Church,” she said.
Polish visitors
St. Agatha Parish in St. Louis opened their doors to several religious brothers and priests who traveled nearly 5,000 miles from Poland to attend the beatification.
Among their visitors were Brother James Gajewski and Brother Timothy Filipiak of the Brothers of the Merciful Lord in the Diocese of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg, located in northwestern Poland, who stayed in a former convent on the parish grounds.
Br. Timothy Filipiak of the Brothers of the Merciful Lord played guitar during Mass on Sept. 22 at St. Agatha Parish in St. Louis, Missouri. Br. Filipiak is from the Diocese of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg in Poland and was hosted at St. Agatha while visiting St. Louis.
The two searched online for Polish Catholic parishes in St. Louis and came across St. Agatha. They reached out to pastor Father Stanislaw Poszwa, who readily agreed to take them in.
The religious brothers said that while neither of them lived during Blessed Sheen’s lifetime, they came to know about him mostly through his writings. His teachings had an effect on their spiritual lives and have influenced their religious community, which was founded in 2018 to serve the poor and homeless in Poland and to share Jesus’ Divine Mercy, as espoused by another Polish native in heaven: St. Faustina Kowalska.
Blessed Sheen remained rooted in the Church’s tradition, especially in his emphasis on the two great “pillars” — devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist, Brother James said. His lifelong commitment to a daily Holy Hour of adoration resonates with their community’s practice of perpetual adoration in their chapel, he added.
Franciscan friars
Eleven Franciscan Friars of the Renewal from the Bronx and Harlem, New York, traveled to St. Louis for the beatification and were looking for a place to stay overnight not far from Downtown St. Louis. Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Soulard welcomed them in to sleep in the church basement, which has undergone renovation to be opened as a transitional housing shelter in the coming months.
The friars got into town on Sept. 23 and hosted a young adult Holy Hour at the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France (Old Cathedral) that evening. Between the Holy Hour and all-day beatification events on Sept. 24, they didn’t have much time to spend with the Sts. Peter and Paul Church community, but senior priest Father Bruce Forman was gracious in welcoming them, Father John Anthony Boughton, CFR, said.
“It’s apropos because we work with the homeless, and they’re breaking in the homeless shelter in the bottom (of the church), so we’re the first to stay in it,” he said.
