"Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right."
The Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is perhaps best know for his syndicated television program "Life is Worth Living" and his regular radio appearances. Not only was he a renowned preacher but is held today as one of the most widely recognised Catholic figures of the twentieth century.
The oldest of four sons of Newt and Delia Sheen, Peter John Sheen was born on May 8th, 1895, in El Paso, Illinois. Educated in the Catholic faith, Sheen earned valedictorian honours at Spalding Institute in Peoria, and then, in 1913, he studied at St. Viator College - where he completed a pair of doctoral degrees. He then continued his studies at St. Paul's Seminary before he was ordained into the Priesthood on September 20th, 1919, in St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria. In 1920, Sheen attended The Catholic University of America in order to continue his studies. He stayed for only a year, however, before he travelled to pursue more advanced studies in theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, earning a Doctor of Philosophy in 1923. That same year, he was awarded the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy for his outstanding philosophical treaties, becoming the first-ever American to receive this distinction.
When he returned to America after a range of varied and extensive work throughout Europe, Father Sheen continued to preach as well as teach at The Catholic University - which he continued to do for the next twenty three years. Here, Sheen perfected his skills as a public speaker, educator, evangelist, and scholar. His many lectures and discourses touched on and combined both theology and philosophy and attracted a multitude of students, teachers, and visitors; "Philosophy of Religion", "God and Society", and "God and Modern Philosophy" are a few examples. In January, 1927, at the age of 32, Father Sheen was selected to give a sermon at the University mass on the patronal feast of St. Thomas Aquinas. Although at this time he was still in his first year of teaching at the University, his talent as a preacher had not gone unnoticed, and then, in 1934, he was made Monsignor Sheen by Pope Pius XI.
An engaging and knowledgeable speaker, Monsignor Sheen's reputation steadily grew, first on campus and then with the aid of the media. In 1926, he was invited for the first time to appear on a New York radio program where he gave a series of Sunday evening Lenten sermons; four years later he was brought on as a two-week substitute on The Catholic Hour, a radio show featuring multiple guests. Sheen drew such a positive response from the public that he became a weekly speaker. From 1930 to 1950, with a regular audience of nearly 4 million, Sheen's weekly talks on The Catholic Hour gave way to a new outlook on Catholicism. Drawing from his deep knowledge and faith, he spoke on topics ranging from the Blessed Mother to the dangers of communism; he called World War II not only a political struggle but also a "theological one", and referred to Hitler as an example of the "Anti-Christ"; with his thorough understanding of the philosophical thoughts of St. Thomas Aquinas, he preached about the gospels and how these affect our moral decisions; and Time referred to him in 1946 as "the golden-voiced Msgr. Fulton J. Sheen, U.S. Catholicism's famed proselytizer".
In 1937, when writing a letter to the University Rector, Monsignor Joseph Corrigan, he said: "During the past years, letters demanding personal attention have run between 75 and 100 a day.... This coupled with classes never given with less than six hours preparation for each lecture has left me physically exhausted. However, the good to be done is such that one dare not shrink from its opportunities for apostolate." Many of the letters he received were invitations to speak. He travelled all over the country giving academic lectures, retreats, homilies, and speaking at meetings of various Catholic organisations. He also wrote and published thirty-four books during the twenty three years that he was at the University, and his lectures and radio talks were published in booklets and pamphlets by The National Council of Catholic Men (the sponsor of The Catholic Hour).
When he left the Catholic University, he was made National Director for the Propaganda of Faith and, for nearly sixteen years, raised millions of dollars for it and other Catholic missions. On June 11th, 1951, Sheen was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, and the same year began his famous television series Life is Worth Living with The DuMont Television Program. With his natural charisma, charming smile, and dramatic delivery, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was a natural on television. It was aired on more stations than any other DuMont Program had ever been and - within less than two months - had jumped from airing on three to fifteen national television stations. It had a weekly flood of up to 8,500 letters, and had four times as many ticket requests for the live audience. Alongside NBC'S The Milton Berle Show, which, for years, had dominated the charts, the Archbishop's weekly series was the only one to challenge it. Sheen and Berle often enjoyed a friendly rivalry, each often cracking jokes about the other on their shows. When Fulton Sheen won an Emmy Award for the "Most Outstanding Television Personality" in 1952, Berle is said to have remarked that: "He's got better writers than me - Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John!". In response to his jokes, Sheen once opened his show with: "Good evening, this is Uncle Fultie", a comical interpretation on Berle's famous TV nickname, Uncle Miltie.
On Life is Worth Living, Archbishop Fulton Sheen spoke about and discussed moral issues of the day. With no script or cue cards, he would simply speak to the audience and camera, often using a blackboard and lists to explain his topics - when his board was filled, he would request one of his "angels" (a TV crew member) to clean it for him. A common theme in Sheen's talks was communism and about the evil and destruction of this ideology. One of his best remembered speeches was when he vehemently denounced the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin - he gave a performance of Shakespeare's famous burial of Julius Caesar, inserting the names of communist leaders Stalin, Lavrenty Beria, Georgy Malenkov, and Andrey Vyshinsky in place of the original Caesar, Cassius, Marc Anthony, and Brutus. He concluded this stirring speech by saying: "Stalin must one day meet his judgment". A few days later, the dictator suffered a stroke and died within the week.
Indeed, Sheen was often quick to admonish what he and the church believed to be wrongful conduct. He eloquently showed this in one of his televised sermons, "False Compassion", when he shouted: "There are sob sisters; there are the social slobbers who insist on compassion being shown to the muggers, to the dope fiends, to the throat slashers, to the beatniks, to the prostitutes, to the homosexuals, to the punks, so that today the decent man is practically off the reservation" - before concluding that his viewers should, "hate the sin... and love the sinner".
Sheen was also known to have converted many famous people to Catholicism, notably: the agnostic writer Heywood Broun, politician Clare Boothe Luce, automaker Henry Ford II, communist writer Louis F. Budenz, communist organiser Bella Dodd, theatrical designer Jo Mielziner, violinist composer Fritz Kreisler, and actress Virginia Mayo.
Life is Worth Living ended in 1957 and after, from 1961 - 1968, he had a similar show named The Fulton Sheen Program. Between 1962 and 1965, he attended all of the Second Vatican Council sessions, and, in the fall of 1966, when he moved to New York's upstate, he was named Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester. He resigned from this post after three years - in his resignation letter, he wrote, "I'm not retiring, only re-treading." - and then Pope Pius VI made him Archbishop of the Titular See of Newport, Wales. Archbishop Sheen remained active for his last years, dedicating his time to preaching and writing a further thirty-two books. Two months before his death, Bishop Sheen received the greatest recognition when, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, he was embraced by Pope John Paul II. The Holy Father said to him, "You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus. You are a loyal son of the church!".
Following open-heart surgery, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen died on December 9th, 1979, on the floor of his private chapel whilst in prayer in Our Lord's presence. Many people who had worked with him over the years said that from the day of his ordination to the day of his death, Sheen had always dedicated an hour of his day to prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
In 2002, his cause for canonisation was officially opened under the leadership of the Diocese of Peoria and, from then on, Archbishop Sheen was referred to as "A Servant of God". On June 28th, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints had unanimously recognised Sheen's life as one of "heroic virtue" and had therefore proclaimed him "Venerable Servant of God". On March 6th, 2014, the Board of Medical Experts, who had advised the Causes of Saints, unanimously confirmed a reported miracle attributed to Fulton Sheen - a stillborn baby who had had no heartbeat or sign of life for sixty one minutes after birth (thus proclaimed stillborn) came back to life after his parents continuously prayed to Archbishop Sheen - and, on June 17th, 2014, the Theological Commission also agreed. On November 8th, 2019, Pope Francis called for Sheen's beatification on December 21st of that year but, on December 3rd, Peoria Bishop Danial Jenky announced that the Vatican had indefinitely postponed the ceremony.
To buy his many books, click here.
And, here a few of my favourite episodes, as well as a few of his best moments:
"Evil may have its hour, but God will have His day."
- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
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