Circular Letter to the Carmelite Family On the Beatification of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

Circular Letter to the Carmelite Family On the Beatification of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

‘I want to cling onto Carmel, for I love its love of Jesus.’

Dear brothers and sisters in Carmel, On 24 September 2026, the Church rejoices in the Beatification of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in St Louis, Missouri. For the Carmelite Family, this is an occasion of particular joy. Fulton Sheen was not simply an admirer of Carmel or a preacher who found inspiration in our saints. He was a professed member of the Third Order of Carmel. On 17 July 1948, in the chapel of Whitefriars Hall in Washington, D.C., he made his profession, which was received by the Prior General of the Order, Fr Kilian Lynch, O. Carm. As we celebrate his beatification, I would like to invite the whole Carmelite Family, friars and nuns, sisters, members of Lay Carmel (Third Order), those associated with our communities, and all who find a spiritual home in our churches, shrines, schools, and centres, to give thanks for this remarkable Christian life and to recognise in it something of the gift of Carmel itself.