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This comic has a story behind it. The third panel originally said, “except Fulton Sheen.”

Last night, I was discussing with a friend my dismay over the +Fulton Sheen debacle, by which I mean that the Bishop of Rochester has, for so far unknown — but some suspected — reasons, requested and received a postponement of the beatification of +Fulton Sheen. I will not speculate myself on the specific matters surrounding this — now is a time for prayer; I’m tired of the anguish we suffer when we get stirred up by these events, so I try to pray instead — but it is certainly upsetting regardless.

It struck me that so many who hate +Sheen are modernists, so many of them strongly against everything he preached. Many of the same people against his beatification — a second-degree nod to his being in heaven — would probably say that just about everyone gets to heaven. Yet, this bishop renowned for his wisdom and holiness, they deny. Remarkable. Hypocritical.

Nevertheless, I would be beside myself if someone abused my comic and spun it into a statement that Pope Francis, the Bishop of Rochester, and any number of others were heretics. I simply am not willing to sit on that judgment seat. I renounce any such interpretation of my comic. My comic was about the irony of opposition to +Sheen’s beatification in general, not about the quality of those specific individuals in the most recent news. But, knowing how people would share it with spin, I changed it to make it less charged.

I desperately hope that +Fulton Sheen will soon be beatified and canonized. We lay faithful need our faith in good American bishops restored. Especially in light of the forces at work now.