Late Archbishop Sheen 'saintly' but also a 'good uncle,' says niece

Published: 2004-11-18

NEW YORK (CNS) -- One person who is following the sainthood cause of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen with special interest and extraordinary personal knowledge about his life is a niece, Joan Sheen Cunningham of Yonkers. "I always thought of him as a saintly man," she said in an interview Nov. 16. In this case, "always" includes from age 6, when she received her first Communion from him, until a visit the Friday before he died on Sunday, Dec. 9, 1979. In between, their lives were interwoven through visits, travel together and his help with everything from choosing her schools and clothes to finding her places to live, she reported. "I didn't feel he was running my life, but he was picking out the things he knew I needed," she said. Today, while she believes Archbishop Sheen was a saint, she thinks of him primarily as "a good, good priest" and "a good uncle," she said.

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