September 24, 2026 – Pastor’s Note

Listen to this note instead: https://morefrmoore.podbean.com/e/september-24-2026-pastors-note/

Listening Session Video

I have recorded my introductory video to our upcoming round of listening sessions. I encourage everyone to watch it ahead of time, so that you will be prepared for the questions that we are addressing. We will show it again at the beginning of the listening sessions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wao1xBYeiQM

Unfortunately, I misspoke at one point in the video and mentioned the bell tower at St. Joseph in Lynden, when I meant the bell tower at St. Joseph in Ferndale. That’s the trouble with a tight schedule, and trying to do these in only one or two takes!

Beatification of Fulton Sheen

As I am writing this, Venerable Fulton Sheen is being beatified in St. Louis and will become Blessed Fulton Sheen.

• Fulton Sheen Foundation: https://www.celebratesheen.com/
• EWTN Coverage: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/live-updates-beatification-of-fulton-sheen
• Pillar Catholic Reflection: https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/tylka-for-sheen-the-cross-changed

Beatification is the last step before a person is officially declared a saint. A person is named “venerable” after the Vatican analyzes their life and determines that they displayed heroic virtue. Once one miracle is attributed to that person’s intercession, they are named “blessed” (i.e. beatified). After a second miracle, they are named a saint (i.e. canonized).

So at this point, we are pretty sure Archbishop Sheen is in heaven interceding for us, but that is not a 100% guaranteed promise until he is canonized.

Nonetheless, the beatification of an American is a big deal! We should rejoice in every beatification and canonization, because the lives of the saints powerfully display the grace of God operating in a human life. But when a saint comes from our own country, we should be especially proud and inspired.

On top of that, Archbishop Fulton Sheen is a very special kind of saint. Unlikely someone like Fr. Stanley Rother, who was relatively unknown until he died a martyr, Archbishop Sheen was known by nearly every American at the time. It is hard for us in 2026 to imagine that level of celebrity today. He was something like the Bp. Barron and Fr. Mike Schmitz of his era, except that the America of the 1950s and 1960s had relatively few forms of media, so he was known and listened to by a far greater percentage of the citizenry. On top of that, he began his ministry at a time when American Catholics still felt excluded from and persecuted by the majority Protestant society, so Archbishop Sheen’s popularity and success brought incredible pride to American Catholics and respectability in the eyes of their countrymen.

I, personally, have seen very few of Archbishop Sheen’s videos, but members of my generation who have gone back and watched the archives tell me that his clarity and depth is refreshing, and it is hard to imagine that type of content competing in primetime American television.

A few additional recommendations to celebrate this moment:

1. Pray for Blessed Fulton Sheen’s intercession! It never hurts to have someone else in Heaven praying for you.
2. Watch the EWTN documentary on his life: https://youtu.be/FniFCEEX7is
3. Watch some of his TV shows on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQA9nxUtIew

Bishop Barron’s Movie

I went to see Bishop Barron’s new film “Heaven in Stone and Glass” on Sunday (unfortunately in Everett, for scheduling reasons). It was characteristic Bp. Barron, including a 5-minute discursus on Psuedo-Dionysus, but that is exactly what I was hoping for. I found it very helpful, and hope our catechists will find a way to show it once it is streaming.

What was so emotionally moving to me were the images of a burning Notre Dame cathedral, the event which sparked the film. I remember watching the news coverage live and crying at the time, and those feelings are still in me. Yes, the loss of a historical building was an incredible tragedy, but for me and many that I spoke with, it was a powerful image of how we experienced our wider society and the Church – something once great and beautiful going down in flames. Something incredibly powerful, now lost forever.

Blessedly, those are only my feelings on my bad days. The Lord regularly reminds me of his grace and power in the course of ministry here in Whatcom County. And Bishop Barron’s film was a nice reminder that the power of humanity, purified by the grace of the Lord, will persist.