Today, besides being the official feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, is the unofficial feast day of Servant of God Fulton Sheen, who died 31 years ago today. Sheen is one of my greatest heroes whose wisdom and preaching style I emulate anytime I give a talk. He was a masterful orator, but beyond that was renowned as a philosopher and thelogian during his time.
Sheen was arguably the most influential American Catholic of the twentieth century. He dominated the medium of television and still remains the only religious figure ever to win an Emmy for being TV’s Most Outstanding Personality.
Here are some good ways to learn more about this holy priest:
– A couple months ago I hosted a “Celebration of Fulton Sheen” at my parish, which included an advanced screening of the fantastic documentary A Servant of All as well as a talk by my spiritual director, Monsignor Ed Thompson. Monsignor Ed is lifetime disciple of Sheen, meeting with and talking to him on numerous occasions. He’s also read every single one of Sheen’s books cover to cover (!).
His talk was so good that we later recorded it. In it he describes some of his interactions with Bishop Sheen (including the time he held the hands of both Fulton Sheen and Mother Teresa–at the same time–while praying for vocations.)
(Beautiful side note: In his talk, Monsignor Ed neglected to mention an amazing fact. Bishop Sheen prayed that he would die on a feast day of Our Blessed Mother, but he died while praying in front of the Eucharist on December 9, 1979, one day after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
While many believe Sheen’s prayer went unanswered by a day, Monsignor Ed disagrees. As a clear symbol of the divine connection shared by these two holy men, Sheen died not on the feast day of Our Blessed Mother, but on the feast day of Monsignor Ed’s blessed mother, who shared her earthly birthday with the heavenly birthday of her son’s hero.)
(After hitting ‘play’, the video may take a few seconds to load.)
– The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Audio Library has a ton of archived content from Bishop Sheen. You can read many of Sheen’s writings, listen to many MP3 talks for free online, and also view many free YouTube videos.
– Learn more about Sheen’s cause for canonization (which has had some recent hiccups). Also be sure to ‘Like’ the Fulton Sheen fan page on Facbebook.
– Finally, keep looking to Fr. Robert Barron, whom I believe is the closest the Catholic Church has come to Sheen since the Archbishop’s death. He’s as sharp and cultured as Sheen, and he also shares the same gifts of articulation and preaching. Though Fr. Barron does have his own weekly television slot like Sheen did, his greater focus is the internet, which he is harnessing as Sheen did TV.