One day, one Church: Sept. 24 connects Erie to a remarkable moment in Catholic history

By Allison Mosier

09/15/2026

Sept. 24, 2026, will be an extraordinary day for the Catholic Church in the United States. For the Diocese of Erie, the date carries even greater significance as three stories of faith, education and mission converge on the same day. 

In St. Louis, Missouri, Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, one of the most influential American Catholics of the 20th century, will be beatified and receive the title “Blessed.” In Erie, Mercyhurst University will celebrate its Centennial Mass of the Holy Spirit on Mercy Day, part of a yearlong celebration of 100 years of Catholic education. And Sept. 24 marks exactly 55 years since the Diocese of Erie and the Archdiocese of Yucatán in Mexico formally established the Mission of Friendship in 1971. 

The connections extend even further. In 1936, Sheen stood in Mercyhurst's Christ the King Chapel and addressed its students — a connection preserved in the pages of the college's student newspaper. His groundbreaking work in radio and television transformed Catholic communications, a legacy that remains relevant to the Church's work of evangelization today. His leadership of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith helped Americans understand their responsibility to the worldwide Church. And as Catholics prepare to call Sheen “Blessed,” the Diocese of Erie is participating in a journey toward sainthood much closer to home through the cause of Servant of God Dr. Gertrude A. Barber.

Taken together, the events of Sept. 24 offer a remarkable glimpse of the universal Church through the life of the Diocese of Erie. 

Sheen's footsteps reached Erie

Long before Sheen became familiar to millions of Americans through radio and television, he was an educator. He taught philosophy at The Catholic University of America for more than two decades and became known for his ability to make complicated questions of theology, philosophy and morality accessible to ordinary people. 

His work as an educator also brought him to Erie. 

On March 30, 1936, then-Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen visited Mercyhurst College, where he addressed faculty, students and friends in Christ the King Chapel. Afterward, he joined the college community for an informal gathering in the Bishop's Parlor. The visit was significant enough to earn front-page coverage in the April 1936 edition of The Merciad, Mercyhurst's student newspaper, under the headline, “Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen Visits Mercyhurst.” 

By then, Sheen was already known as an author and prominent voice in philosophy and religion. The student account noted the “simple, direct style of speech” that would later become familiar to millions through his broadcasts. 

His message that afternoon centered on what he called a “Divine sense of humor” — an ability to see God through the things of the world. “The world is taking itself too seriously,” he told his Mercyhurst audience. “What we need is a Divine sense of humor — to be able to see God through the things of this world.” 

The account describes Sheen speaking informally, weaving together stories from his experiences at home and abroad and sharing his love of poetry. He reminded his listeners that amid work, play and the concerns of everyday life, one thing ultimately deserved complete seriousness: the salvation of the soul. 

Sheen's Erie visit did not end at Mercyhurst. That evening, he addressed a larger audience at Erie's Public Auditorium in a program presented by the Erie Council of Catholic Women. His address, titled “The Catholic Church and Our Times,” examined the condition of the Church in the world, the opposition it faced and how Catholics should respond, with communism occupying much of his attention. 

Mercyhurst's later institutional history remembered Sheen among the prominent speakers brought to campus as part of the college's effort to educate the “whole woman,” placing him alongside figures such as Fiorello LaGuardia and Mortimer Adler. The history also lists him among the notable visitors received at Mercyhurst, together with Eleanor Roosevelt and the Trapp family. 

That connection takes on new meaning in 2026 as Mercyhurst University celebrates its centennial. 

Founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1926, Mercyhurst began with 23 students and 17 Sisters of Mercy serving as faculty. The college was only a decade old when Sheen stood in Christ the King Chapel in 1936. Now, 90 years after his visit and 100 years after Mercyhurst's founding, those two histories will intersect again.

On Sept. 24, the same day Sheen is beatified, the Mercyhurst community will gather for its Centennial Mass of the Holy Spirit. The celebration falls on Mercy Day, commemorating Catherine McAuley's opening of the first House of Mercy on Baggot Street in Dublin in 1827.

The Archbishop of Dublin will join Mercyhurst for the centennial celebration, creating a direct connection between Erie and the city where the Sisters of Mercy began. A mission born in Ireland crossed the Atlantic and took root in northwest Pennsylvania. One hundred years after the Sisters of Mercy founded Mercyhurst, that relationship will be represented again in Erie. 

And on that same day, the Church will beatify a Catholic educator and communicator who stood in Mercyhurst's chapel 90 years earlier and spoke directly to its students.

Communicating the faith in a changing world

Education was only one of the classrooms Sheen used. 

Beginning with The Catholic Hour on radio in 1930 and later through the television program Life Is Worth Living, Sheen recognized that new forms of media could carry the Gospel beyond church walls. His television audience eventually reached tens of millions of people, including many who were not Catholic. 

Sheen's success came not simply from using new technology, but from understanding communication. He knew how to translate complicated ideas into language people could understand and how to connect faith with the questions people were already asking.

Nearly a century later, his approach remains remarkably relevant. 

“Archbishop Sheen understood that communication was about more than distributing information; it was about creating an opportunity for encounter,” said Kristine Rilling, executive director of Communications and Advancement for the Diocese of Erie. “He used the most effective communication tools available to meet people where they were and speak about faith in a way they could understand. The platforms may be different today, but the mission remains the same: to communicate in ways that ultimately help people encounter Christ.” 

For a diocese spanning 13 counties and more than 10,000 square miles, that challenge is familiar. Websites, email, video and social media now provide opportunities to connect Catholics across a large geographic area in ways Sheen could not have imagined. Yet the principle that drove his ministry remains unchanged: the Church must be willing to go where people are. 

Sheen's communications legacy was also closely connected to another priority that remains visible in Erie — mission. 

Fifty-five years of friendship

From 1950 to 1966, Sheen served as national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the United States, now part of The Pontifical Mission Societies. He used his national platform to encourage American Catholics to pray for missionaries, support their work and recognize that they belonged to a Church extending far beyond their own communities. 

The Diocese of Erie has spent more than half a century living that international relationship in a very personal way. 

On Sept. 24, 1971, Bishop Alfred M. Watson of Erie and Archbishop Manuel Castro Ruiz of Yucatán formally established the Mission of Friendship, or Misión de Amistad. 

The relationship grew from connections that began earlier through Msgr. James Peterson and students from Gannon's St. Thomas More Club, who traveled to Mérida. What developed was intentionally understood as friendship rather than simply charity. 

For 55 years, Catholics in Erie and Yucatán have shared prayer, visits, educational initiatives, parish relationships, sponsorships and friendships. Generations have participated, allowing a relationship that began in 1971 to continue into 2026. 

Its 55th anniversary falls precisely on the day Sheen is beatified. 

That coincidence gives particular meaning to Sheen's missionary legacy in Erie. He spent years asking American Catholics to recognize their relationship with Catholics beyond the borders of the United States. The Mission of Friendship became one way the Diocese of Erie put that vision into practice. 

The anniversary also arrives just weeks before another significant missionary milestone. On Oct. 18, Catholics around the world will celebrate the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday. Sheen's long leadership of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith makes his beatification during its centennial year especially meaningful. 

World Mission Sunday will receive its own attention throughout the diocese this fall, but its anniversary adds another layer to what is already an extraordinary year: 100 years of Mercyhurst, 100 years of World Mission Sunday and 55 years of the Mission of Friendship, all as the Church recognizes Sheen's life and missionary legacy through beatification. 

A cause for sainthood close to home

The events of Sept. 24 also give Erie Catholics an opportunity to better understand another story unfolding within the diocese. 

As Sheen reaches the milestone of beatification, the cause for canonization of Servant of God Dr. Gertrude A. Barber continues in Erie. 

Born in Erie in 1911, Barber was an educator, school psychologist and administrator who dedicated her life to expanding opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities. In 1952, she opened a classroom for children with intellectual disabilities at a time when educational opportunities for them were extremely limited. Her work eventually grew into what is now the Barber National Institute. 

Her Catholic faith shaped her belief in the dignity and potential of every person. Bishop Lawrence T. Persico formally opened her cause for beatification and canonization in December 2019. 

In November 2024, the bishops of the United States voted to affirm the advancement of Barber's cause at the diocesan level. She remains a Servant of God, and her cause is at an earlier stage than Sheen's, but his beatification provides a timely example of how carefully and patiently the Church approaches the process. 

Sheen was declared Venerable in 2012 after the Church recognized his heroic virtue. In 2019, Pope Francis authorized recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession, clearing the way for beatification. On Sept. 24, the Church will formally begin referring to him as Blessed Fulton J. Sheen. 

“The beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen is a joyful and significant moment for the Church in the United States, and his connections to Erie make it especially meaningful for our diocese,” said Bishop Lawrence T. Persico. “His life shows how the gifts God gives each of us can be placed at the service of the Church, whether through education, communication or missionary work. As we continue the cause of Servant of God Gertrude Barber here in Erie, Sheen's beatification also reminds us that holiness is not something belonging only to another time or place. The call to holiness can be lived wherever God places us.” 

Erie and the universal Church

It would be easy to view the events of Sept. 24 as separate celebrations. Instead, their convergence reveals something about the Diocese of Erie and its place within the universal Church. 

Ninety years ago, Fulton Sheen stood in Mercyhurst's Christ the King Chapel and spoke to its students. This Sept. 24, Mercyhurst will celebrate a century of Catholic education on the same day the Church formally recognizes that former campus visitor as Blessed.

This Sept. 24, the Archbishop of Dublin will be in Erie as Mercyhurst celebrates a mission whose roots began in his city nearly two centuries ago. 

That same day, a relationship between Catholics in Erie and Yucatán will turn 55 years old, reflecting the missionary spirit Sheen championed throughout his ministry. 

The Church will also recognize the holiness of an American communicator who understood that the Gospel could travel through the newest technology of his generation. His example continues to challenge Catholic communicators, including those serving the Diocese of Erie today, to find effective ways to bring the life of the Church to people wherever they are. 

And while Catholics celebrate Sheen's advancement toward sainthood, Erie has its own Servant of God whose life and work are being examined by the Church. 

These connections span different countries, generations and ministries, but they are all part of the same Catholic story.

For the Diocese of Erie, Sept. 24, 2026, provides an unusual opportunity to see that story come together. The beatification of Fulton Sheen is a major moment for the U.S. Church, but in Erie it also intersects with the diocese's own history of education, mission and communication. 

When Catholics begin calling him Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, they will celebrate a man whose voice reached millions around the world. Here in northwest Pennsylvania, they can also remember something much more tangible: 90 years ago, that voice was heard inside Mercyhurst's Christ the King Chapel. 

The young college Sheen visited in 1936 is celebrating its centennial. The missionary Church he spent years championing is marking 100 years of World Mission Sunday. A friendship between Erie and Catholics in Yucatán is celebrating 55 years. And the Diocese of Erie continues its own journey toward sainthood through the cause of Servant of God Gertrude Barber.

On Sept. 24, the universal Church will not feel quite so far away. In many ways, its stories will be unfolding right here at home. 

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