The workshop titles at the Catholic Media Convocation in late June would have made no sense to anyone in Catholic journalism even a decade ago.
“Should I Do An App?” “Bloggers and Catholic Journalism.” “The 7 Deadly Sins of Facebook and Twitter.” “Pinterest — More than Just Recipes.”

And my favorite:

“Mobile Journalism: Turning Your iPhones and Droids into a Newsroom.”

So when word spread via all kinds of electronic media early last Thursday that Pope Benedict XVI had signed a decree advancing the sainthood cause of Diocese of Peoria native Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, I wanted to tweet “Hallelujah!” for a reason more personal than immense diocesan pride.

We’re a step closer, it seems, to having a patron saint for new media and maybe even the new evangelization. And I need the help.

There are certainly many reasons the church may one day beatify and canonize Archbishop Sheen. His life of holiness and virtue. His missionary zeal. His timeless teaching. His impact worldwide.

But with Facebook, Twitter, and the like impacting homes and changing lives the way that radio and then television did in Archbishop Sheen’s pioneering days, sainthood can’t come fast enough to the instantaneous digital age.

Father Robert Barron, producer of the “Catholicism” video documentary and who some have called a modern-day Sheen, already dubbed Archbishop Sheen “the patron saint of media and evangelization” in a quote appearing in the New York Times after last Thursday’s announcement.

Msgr. Stanley Deptula, executive director of the Sheen Foundation, told reporters on a national teleconference June 29 that the designation of Archbishop Sheen as “venerable” is “an encouragement for all of us to use whatever media, whatever tools, blogspots, Facebook, Twitter, whatever we can to give witness to Christ.”

Archbishop Sheen may have famously used a chalkboard in his television broadcasts, but he has much to say to those using more modern means to communicate today. Last Thursday’s wonderful news is another invitation to listen, learn, and imitate. — Thomas J. Dermody