Rochester Bishop Matano pushed Vatican to delay Fulton Sheen beatification says Peoria diocese

By Phil Luciano, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, December 5, 2019

The planned beatification of former Rochester bishop Fulton J. Sheen was delayed at the request of Bishop Salvatore Matano, the Peoria Diocese told reporters for the Journal Star Wednesday night.

Until Wednesday night, the Peoria Diocese had been circumspect in discussing Monday’s decision by the Vatican to indefinitely postpone the Dec. 21 ceremony — a rare balk at this stage of the process of beatification, one step short of sainthood. However, Monsignor James Kruse, a key cog in Peoria Diocese’s sainthood campaign for Sheen, decided to speak out after another report by the Catholic News Agency that Kruse said suggested Sheen did not act appropriately regarding a clergyman accused of sexual wrongdoing.

Further, Peoria and Rome exhaustively pored over Church documents regarding Guli. Both found no wrongdoing by Sheen, Kruse said. “Sheen was exonerated, so the Vatican said, ‘Go ahead with the beatification,’” Kruse said.

The Wednesday report — which the CNA later revised to include Kruse’s defense of Sheen — alleged that Sheen, bishop in Rochester from 1966 to 1969, allowed a priest accused of sexual abuse to head a Rochester parish. Kruse said that “months and months and months ago,” the Rochester Diocese had reported that allegation to the Peoria Diocese and the Vatican — both of which cleared Sheen after lengthy and separate investigations.

“Sheen in no way acted inappropriately,” Kruse told the Journal Star.

The Rochester development adds a new layer of drama to a spiritual matter that already has been besmirched by a remarkable political battle. For years, the Archdiocese of New York tried stop the Peoria Diocese from moving Sheen’s remains from New York to Peoria, a necessary step in the sainthood process. The Archdiocese claimed it was defending Sheen’s burial wishes, but the Diocese accused New York of sour grapes.

Last summer, after a New York court order, the remains were moved to Peoria. Days later, the Vatican approved a miracle by Sheen, paving the way for beatification. In November, the Peoria Diocese announced the Vatican had set the beatification for Dec. 21.

But apparently right after the November announcement, Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester sent a letter to the Vatican warning that Sheen might be somehow named amid investigations stemming from 70-plus sex-abuse lawsuits filed against the Rochester Diocese. The Vatican, without comment, this week issued the postponement.

Bishop Salvatore Matano

Kruse says the core of the Rochester letter involves a priest, Gerald Guli, who served in Rochester in the early 1960s. Before Sheen’s arrival there, Guli was accused of sex abuse, then reassigned to a parish in West Virginia.

Accusation of political snipe

In 1967, while Sheen headed the Rochester Diocese, Guli returned to Rochester to take care of ailing parents, Kruse said. Guli asked for a parish assignment, but Sheen said no, Kruse said. Moreover, Guli — who is 95 and still living in Rochester — spoke to Kruse directly months ago and confirmed that Sheen never assigned him to Rochester parish. However, in 1969, soon after Sheen departed Rochester, his successor assigned Guli to a Rochester parish, during which time Guli was accused of another instance of sex abuse, Kruse said.

“All of that was after Sheen served in Rochester,” Kruse said.

Further, Peoria and Rome exhaustively pored over Church documents regarding Guli. Both found no wrongdoing by Sheen, Kruse said.

“Sheen was exonerated, so the Vatican said, ‘Go ahead with the beatification,’” Kruse said.

In Rochester, Bishop Matano was well aware of Peoria and Rome clearing Sheen’s name in the matter, Kruse said. Asked if the Matano protested the beatification as a political snipe, Kruse declined to comment.

‘Rochester hates Sheen’

However, sources tell the Journal Star in Peoria that Rochester does not want Sheen to be beatified — “Rochester hates Sheen,” as one source put it — for two reasons. One is a 50-year grudge against Sheen for moves as bishop that detractors there derided as overly bold, such as trying to give a parish building to the federal government to house impoverished African Americans.

But the biggest reason reflects the New York Archdiocese’s lingering irritation over losing the Sheen tug-of-war to Peoria, sources said. Though Bishop Matano’s signature as on the protest letter to the Vatican, he would not have signed it without first consulting Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who heads the Archdiocse.

“A local bishop would not do something of this magnitude without Dolan’s approval,” a source told the Journal Star.

“A local bishop would not do something of this magnitude without Dolan’s approval,” a source told the Journal Star.

To the Journal Star, the Archdiocese has laid the postponement entirely at feet of the Vatican.

Reached after business hours Wednesday, the Rochester Diocese did not immediately return a Journal Star voice mail. However, to the Catholic News Agency, the Rochester Diocese issued this statement: “The decision to postpone the beatification of Archbishop Sheen was solely the decision of the Holy See. Respecting the competency of the Holy See in this matter, the Diocese will decline further comment.”

This article first appeared HERE.