Meet a bishop whose radio broadcasts had four million listeners, who received 6000 letters a week from listeners, was watched by thirty million viewers on TV, wrote 73 books—and learnt most on his knees.
When I was in the novitiate I remember scouring the library for his books. Their appeal had to do with his vast learning, fresh insights and the way he communicated them. Therefore I wasn’t surprised when I learnt, years later, that his radio broadcasts had a weekly listening audience of four million people and received 3,000–6,000 letters from his listeners every week.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen later moved to television and, from 1951 till 1957, presented a programme called ‘Life Is Worth Living,’ which drew more than thirty million people every week! Later he hosted ‘The Fulton Sheen Program’ for seven years from 1961. One of his best-remembered presentations was telecast in February 1953, when he forcefully denounced the repressive regime of the Communist dictator, Joseph Stalin. He concluded by saying, “Stalin must one day meet his judgment.” A few days later the Soviet dictator suffered a stroke and died within a week.
Sheen was born on May 8th, 1895, in El Paso, Illinois, U.S. Later his family moved to nearby Peoria, Illinois, where he was educated. After his school and college studies, Sheen joined the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1919. He was sent to study philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and later he earned a doctorate in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. He went to Angelicum in Rome and earned another doctorate. This time it was in theology.
He returned to the Catholic University of America, where he taught theology and philosophy for twenty-three years and honed his skills as a scholar, educator and orator. In 1951 he was appointed the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York. In 1958, he became the national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, serving for eight years. In 1966 he was made the Bishop of Rochester. He resigned after three years and was made the Archbishop of the titular see of Newport, Wales. While this ceremonial position promoted him to the rank of Archbishop, it freed him to focus on writing. Archbishop Sheen wrote seventy-three books and numerous articles and columns.
Time magazine featured him on its cover in 1946 and referred to him as “the golden-voiced Monsignor.” He won an Emmy Award twice for ‘Most Outstanding Television Personality.’ While he was at the height of his popularity he had to stop hosting his TV show, reportedly because of a Cardinal who had a grudge against Sheen and swore revenge. But Sheen never said anything in public about the Cardinal and even went on to praise him in his autobiography, Treasure in Clay. Sheen brought a number of notable figures in the U.S. to the Catholic faith, including agnostic writer Heywood Broun, politician Clare Boothe Luce, automaker Henry Ford II, the famous violinist and composer Freitz Kreisler and actress Virginia Mayo.
Beginning in 1977 Sheen had to undergo a series of surgeries that sapped his strength and made even preaching difficult. On October 2nd, 1979, about two months before Sheen’s death, Pope John Paul II visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and embraced Sheen, saying, “You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church.” Soon after an open-heart surgery, Sheen died on December 9th, 1979 in his private chapel, while he was praying before the Blessed Sacrament. Every single day all through his priestly life he spent an hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. “The greatest love story of all time is contained in a tiny white host,” he said.
The cause for his canonization as a saint was officially opened in 2002. In June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI declared him a ‘Venerable Servant of God.’ We may not be an intellectual giant or a popular communicator as he was, but we can all pray. He said, “It is impossible to lose your footing when you are on your knees.”
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