Fulton J. Sheen

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Archbishop Fulton John Sheen (May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was television's first preacher of note, hosting Life Is Worth Living in the early 1950s on the DuMont Television Network.

1 Life
2 Trivia
3 Quotations
4 Biography
5 List of Writings by Fulton Sheen
- 5.1 Books
- 5.2 Essays
6 External links

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Life

Sheen was born in El Paso, Illinois, the oldest of four sons of a farmer. Though he was known as Fulton (his mother's maiden name), he was baptized Peter John Sheen, and during his infancy, suffered from tuberculosis. After the family moved to nearby Peoria, Illinois, Sheen began to lay the groundwork for becoming a priest, first serving as an altar boy at St. Mary's Cathedral. Sheen's desire for this vocation stemmed from the family's devotion to its faith, coupled with numerous visits from priests.

After earning high school valedictorian honors at Spalding Insititute in Peoria in 1913, Sheen was educated at St. Viator College, Bourbonnais, Illinois. Making the debating team in his freshman year, his coach called him aside the night before a major debate with the University of Notre Dame, and told him bluntly: "Sheen, you're absolutely the worst speaker I ever heard," an assessment that would prove to be laughable in retrospect.

Sheen also attended St. Paul's Seminary in Minnesota before his ordination on September 20, 1919, then followed that with further studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. His youthful appearance was still evident on one occasion when a local priest who was unable to celebrate mass asked Sheen to substitute for him. Arriving at the parish, the pastor curtly told him, "Get over to the church. The other altar boys are dressed already." However, his performance earned him a return visit the following week.

Sheen later earned a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Louvain in Belgium in 1923. While there, he became the first American ever to win the Cardinal Mercier award for the best philosophical treatise. Two years later, he also earned a doctorate in theology in Rome.

Moving on to teach theology at St. Edmund's College in Ware, England, Sheen was asked in 1926 by the Bishop of his hometown in Peoria to take over a local parish, St. Patrick's. After just eight months, Sheen returned to Catholic University to teach philosophy.

A popular instructor, Sheen began to write the first of 60 books, and in 1930, began a weekly Sunday night radio broadcast, The Catholic Hour. Two decades later, the broadcast still had a weekly listening audience of four million people. During the middle of this era, he conducted the first religious service broadcast on the new medium of television, putting in motion a new avenue for his religious pursuits.

Displaying an ability to disarm his critics, Sheen was also credited with helping convert a number of notable figures to the Catholic faith. One of his first converts was writer Heywood Broun, who had been critical of Sheen's stance on evolution, but after countless discussions with the priest, changed his stance. Others who followed in Broun's footsteps included politician Clare Boothe Luce and automaker Henry Ford II.

Sheen served as Auxiliary Bishop of New York from 1951 to 1965, and that year began a weekly television program on the DuMont network, Life is Worth Living. The show, scheduled for Tuesday nights at 8:00, was not expected to offer much of a challenge against ratings giants Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra, but surprisingly held its own, causing Berle to joke, "He uses old material, too". In 1952, Sheen won an Emmy Award for his efforts, accepting the acknowledgement by saying, "I feel it is time I pay tribute to my four writers. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John."

The program consisted of Sheen simply speaking in front of a live audience, often blasting the evils of communism. One of his best remembered presentations came in February 1953, when he forcefully denounced the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin. Sheen gave a dramatic reading of the burial scene from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, substituting the names of Caesar, Cassius, Marc Antony, and Brutus with those of prominent Soviet leaders: Stalin, Beria, Malenkov, and Vishinsky. From the bishop's lips came the pronouncement, "Stalin must one day meet his judgment." On March 5, 1953, Stalin died.

The show would run until 1957, drawing as many as 30 million people on a weekly basis. In 1958, he became national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, serving for eight years before being appointed Bishop of Rochester on October 26, 1966.

While serving in Rochester, he created the Sheen Ecumenical Housing Foundation, which survives to this day. However, his continuing celebrity status led to travels outside the diocese, preventing him from establishing a close relationship with parishoners. That situation was compounded with his controversial stance on racial issues and his denunciation of the Vietnam War in August 1967. On October 15, 1969, one month after celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest, Sheen resigned from his position and was then appointed Archbishop of the Titular See of Newport (Wales) by Pope Paul VI. The largely ceremonial position allowed Sheen to continue his extensive writing.

On October 2, 1979, 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."

In 2002 Sheen's Cause for Canonization was officially opened, and so he is now referred to as a Servant of God.

Reruns of Sheen's various programs continue to air on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

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Trivia

Actor Martin Sheen has said on several occasions that he took his stage name from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.
Sheen often referred to his "angel" who would erase the blackboard when Sheen stepped away from it. This duty was performed by a never-seen stagehand.
The official repository of Sheen's papers, television programs, and other materials is St. Bernard's Institute in Rochester, New York.

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Quotations

"If you don't behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave."
"Bye now, and God love you!" - Sheen's traditional closing to the program.

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Biography

Sheen, Fulton J. (1980). Treasure in Clay: The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen. Doubleday & Company.
Reeves, Thomas C. (2001). America's Bishop: The Life and Times of Fulton J. Sheen. Encounter Books. ISBN 1-893554-25-2

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