As Beatification Draws Near, Man Reflects On Train Ride With Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Sean D’Arcy will join tens of thousands of people for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen on Sept. 24. D’Arcy and more than a dozen others from St. Agnes Church, where Sheen preached and evangelized during his final years, traveled from New York City to St. Louis on Sept. 22 for the event.

D’Arcy recalled a 1962 encounter on a train from Buffalo to Syracuse when he was a young child. He said then-Bishop Sheen noticed his siblings fighting for a window seat and offered to help his mother, Mary Lou, manage the children. D’Arcy said Sheen entertained him for an hour by describing the scenery through the window. The family did not realize the man was the well-known radio and television personality until after the trip. D’Arcy noted that his mother's subsequent teachings about Sheen led to a lifelong devotion.