During the lockdown, I was looking for something to stimulate my mind and soul. I wanted something or someone who saw the world as something that wasn't a crumbly mess. I need some food for thought, some words higher than what I was getting on the news or social. It was by accident that I stumbled upon Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Every word this man says is like hearing God for the first. It is as if a mirror is being held up for anyone who listens to say "We are dealing with the same thing today as it the 1950s all over again." I say the statement every time I listen, "We haven't come far. We've changed at all." He touches bases on almost everything you can think of sex, marriage, war, economics, family, and even the devil. I could almost see Jesus telling us everything that has happened in history. Jesus didn't come to earth to die for a medal of honor. No, he came to reveal the law of God, to redemption and mercy to all mankind. We, in our free will, can accept it or reject it. I will not preach to you, I can only give you information. It's by your free will to do what you want with it, but I will give a brief history of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen.
Fulton J. Sheen was born Peter John Sheen on May 8, 1895, in El Paso, Illinois. The oldest of four children, as a baby he developed a case of tuberculosis. Eventually, his parents move them to Peoria, Illinois. Growing up Peter J. Sheen was a smart boy holding the title of valedictorian in his school. His first interaction in the church was as an altar boy at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, Illinois. He must have had a calling to be a priest because he attended St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Kankakee Illinois then St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota before being ordained on September 20, 1919. He received a bachelor's degree in canon law from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C in 1920. He also holds two doctorate degrees, one in Philosophy from the Catholic Unversity of Leuven in Belgium in 1923 and the other in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in 1924. (Impressive stuff right here.) He spoke French fluently and even taught Philosophy at the Catholic University of America until 1950.
In 1930 he begin to talk on the radio paving the way for his most successful television broadcast program, "Life is Worth Living" which stay on the air from 1952 to 1957. In thirteen episodes of this program, Fulton Sheen talked about everything I mention at the beginning of this writing. If you choose to watch his telecast on Youtube, you will notice that his gift of teaching, his humor, and the wit of someone who is at ease with himself. He used will mention that he doesn't have a teleprompter or even a script, he finds them all very distracting. Everything that he teaches will all lead to God. It is no surprise that he won an Emmy for his program in 1953. He accepted his award by saying "I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John." By 1951, Sheen became a titular bishop, serving as an auxiliary bishop in New York from 1951 to 1966.
Through all these great accomplishments he had some push back in his life. He criticized communism seeing it as it was the " final logic of the dehumanization of man. The industrial civilization of the Western world has no intent to destroy man's freedom or to deny his personality. But Communism does. Denying God, it reduces man to a robot." This was all during WWII (1939-1945) where Communism was running ramped through Europe. Among this, he had a falling out with Cardinal Spellman of New York which I chose not to write about. Like all great speakers of the truth, not all welcome them to the table, even if they are from inside their own community.
Fulton J. Sheen is an author of twenty-two books. His most noted works are Life of Christ, Your Life is Worth Living: 50 Lessons to Deepen you Faith and Treasure in Clay: The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen. I would highly recommend finding any one of his works at your local library, check them out for a month. They are all worth your time.
On December 9, 1979, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen went to Lord after open-heart surgery in his private chapel in the presence of the Bless Sacrament. His remains are in the crypt of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. In his home state of Peoria, Illinois there is a Museum dedicated to him and his works for God, another in El Paso, Illinois of his birth. In 2002, Sheen was the canonization began. June of 2012, Pope Benedict XVI recognized him as "Venerable" and in July of 2019, Pope Francis approved a miracle that occurred through the intercession of Archbishop Sheen. As of December 21, 2019, his beatification was postponed due to concerns of a 1963 sexual misconduct against a priest due to Sheen's time as Archbishop. I can not see why after all these years something like this would come up only to prolong the sainthood of a great advocate of Christ. Evil will try to block goodness but as Sheen said in the Life of Christ "Evil will have its hour while God will have his day."
