Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria

And our guest for the hour is Monsignor Jason Gray.

He's the executive director of the Fulton J. Sheen Foundation and a priest of the Diocese of Peoria.

Monsignor Gray is a canon lawyer, and he worked for the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and led the investigation into the approved miracle for Archbishop Sheen's beatification.

Monsignor Gray, thank you for being here with us.

born in the United States to be beatified.

So I'll ask you about that and many more things about Fulton Sheen when we come back.

Our guest is Monsignor Jason Gray, Executive Director of the Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, and also a priest of the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois.

Right back with more on Fulton Sheen on Catholic Answers Live.

So I am so excited.

very honored to share that today's episode to kick off this new season is Bishop Louis Tilka of the Diocese of Peoria.

So I do not know if you have not heard, but Fulton Sheen, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, and he's actually currently venerable, Archbishop Fulton Sheen, he will be beatified in St. Louis on on September 24th.

And this means he will be a blessed.

And we even got to visit the tomb of Archbishop Fullenstein.

And it was very a moving experience.

And what I loved about talking with Bishop Tilka was, you know, he became the bishop of the Diocese of Peoria.

He's originally from Chicago.

So he was born on May 8th, 1897 in El Paso, Illinois.

And it's this small town in the Diocese of Peoria.

He was born Peter John Sheen, and he was the oldest of four boys born to his mom, Newton and Delia.

So as a young boy, he became known by his mother's maiden name, Fulton, rather than his given name, Peter.

And then when it came time for young Fulton to make his first Holy Communion, he followed in his mother's footsteps and rededicated his own self to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

And he remained very close to her throughout his entire life.

So many years later in 1919, he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria.

And upon ordination, he moved and was sent to Belgium to pursue a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University there.