A miracle for Fulton Sheen?

An investigation has begun, according to CNS:

That James Fulton Engstrom celebrated his first birthday Sept. 16 is amazing. In fact, some would call his life a miracle.

Considered stillborn one year ago after his mother’s healthy pregnancy and “a beautiful, short labor,” James was without a pulse for the first 61 minutes of his life. It was only when doctors at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria were ready to call the time of death that his little heart started beating.

His parents, Travis and Bonnie Engstrom, believe James is alive because of the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, a candidate for sainthood.

On Sept. 7, a tribunal of inquiry was sworn in to investigate the tot’s alleged miraculous healing. Joining James and his family at the ceremony in Peoria were Bishop Daniel R. Jenky; Andrea Ambrosi, postulator for the cause; and members of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation board, some of whom are relatives of the late archbishop.

Peoria is the late archbishop’s home diocese. His cause was officially opened in 2002. The Sheen Foundation centralized its operations in the diocese in 2007.

In addition to Bishop Jenky and Ambrosi, others sworn in included Msgr. Jason Gray, a pastor and judicial vicar of the diocesan marriage tribunal, who as episcopal delegate to the Sheen tribunal is responsible for guiding the process; and Dr. Louis Varela, a Houston family physician, who chairs the Sheen Foundation board and is the Sheen tribunal’s medical expert.

The tribunal’s work takes place in secret, so there is much that Msgr. Gray cannot say. But since the Engstroms have shared their story widely, he said the general details could be made public.

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