{"id":64109,"date":"2026-09-26T20:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/news\/illinois-bishop-announces-first-ever-parish-to-be-named-after-blessed-fulton-sheen\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T20:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T18:10:00","slug":"illinois-bishop-announces-first-ever-parish-to-be-named-after-blessed-fulton-sheen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/news\/illinois-bishop-announces-first-ever-parish-to-be-named-after-blessed-fulton-sheen\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois bishop announces first-ever parish to be named after Blessed Fulton Sheen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bishop Louis Tylka of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, announced at the end of a Mass celebrated on Saturday the first-ever parish named for Blessed Fulton Sheen.<\/p>\n

The combined parish of St. Mary in El Paso, Illinois \u2014 where Sheen was baptized \u2014 and St. John in Benson, Illinois, will be the first parish in the world to be named after the new blessed. While the buildings themselves will retain their original names, the new parish name will take effect on Dec. 9, Sheen\u2019s feast day, Tylka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a remarkable week of firsts for the Diocese of Peoria and the universal Catholic Church,\u201d Tylka said in a statement released later on Sept. 26. \u201cWe have celebrated Archbishop Fulton Sheen becoming the first American-born bishop to be declared Blessed. For the first time, we have heard his name invoked as a Blessed in the Eucharistic Prayer. For the first time, we have prayed the Collect given to the Church for his feast. And today, I have the great joy of announcing another first: the establishment of the first parish in the world named Blessed Fulton Sheen Parish.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sept. 26 Mass \u2014 celebrated by Bishop John Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York, who was baptized as a baby by Sheen<\/a> \u2014 was one of many celebrated in thanksgiving for the beatification of Sheen, who was declared \u201cblessed\u201d on Sept. 24 in St. Louis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something profoundly fitting about this new parish carrying his name,\u201d Tylka continued in the statement. \u201cIt was at St. Mary Church in El Paso that Fulton John Sheen was baptized. There, his life in Christ began. From those waters of Baptism flowed a remarkable life of faith, priesthood, preaching, teaching, missionary discipleship and evangelization that eventually touched millions of people around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

A person must be proclaimed \u201cblessed\u201d by the Church before a parish can be named after him or her, Tylka explained to EWTN News\u2019 Mark Irons on Saturday outside of St. Mary\u2019s Church. Tylka said he signed the decree to name the parish after Sheen on Friday morning, less than 24 hours after Sheen\u2019s beatification.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d Tylka said when asked by Irons what he thought about having the parish named after Sheen. \u201cThis is where he was baptized, this parish church \u2014 which will still be St. Mary\u2019s Church, but it is St. Mary\u2019s Church of Blessed Fulton Sheen Parish \u2014 to know that connection, that we\u2019re continuing on that faith that God has given to us that he witnessed so well, just immense pride and certainly for the folks here \u2026 to be able to know that theirs is the first parish to ever honor the blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n