Fulton J. Sheen

Fulton John Sheen was an American Catholic prelate whose life stretched from the small-town Catholic world of Illinois into the age of national radio and television. He was born Peter John Sheen on May 8, 1895, in El Paso, Illinois, the oldest of four sons of Newton and Delia Sheen, parents of Irish descent. As a boy he was called “P.J.,” but he came to prefer “Fulton,” his mother’s maiden name. After his family moved to Peoria, his first role in the Catholic Church was as an altar boy at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception.

Sheen’s education was marked by early achievement and a strong turn toward philosophy and theology. He graduated from Spalding Institute in Peoria in 1913 as valedictorian, then attended St. Viator College in Bourbonnais, Illinois, before entering Saint Paul Seminary in Minnesota. Ordained a priest for the Diocese of Peoria on September 20, 1919, he continued his studies at the Catholic University of America. He later earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 1923, with a thesis titled “The Spirit of Contemporary Philosophy and the Finite God.” At Leuven, he became the first American to win the Cardinal Mercier Prize for the best philosophical treatise.

Before he became a familiar voice and face to millions, Sheen served in parish and academic life. In 1926, after returning to Peoria, he was assigned as curate at St. Patrick’s, a poor parish, even though Columbia University and Oxford University had shown interest in having him teach philosophy. He accepted the assignment without complaint and later said he enjoyed his time there. He also taught theology at St. Edmund’s College in Ware, England, where he met Reverend Ronald Knox, and assisted at St. Patrick’s Parish in Soho, London. In 1928 he returned to the Catholic University of America, where he taught philosophy until 1950.

Sheen became best known for preaching through the mass media of his day. For 20 years, from 1930 to 1950, he hosted the night-time radio program The Catholic Hour on NBC. He then moved to television with Life Is Worth Living, which aired from 1952 to 1957, and later presented The Fulton Sheen Program from 1961 to 1968. His television work brought him an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality and a cover feature in Time magazine. His shows began to be re-broadcast in 2009 on EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Church Channel, and his work in televised preaching led many to call him one of the first televangelists.

His church offices also placed him in public view. In 1950 he became national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, raising millions of dollars for missionary efforts worldwide over 16 years and donating $10 million earned from his later television programs. Pope Pius XII appointed him auxiliary bishop of New York in 1951, a role he held until 1966, when Pope Paul VI named him Bishop of Rochester. He resigned in 1969 as his 75th birthday approached and was made archbishop of the titular see of Newport. Sheen died on December 9, 1979. His cause for canonization opened in 2002, and he is referred to as venerable after Pope Benedict XVI recognized that he lived a life of “heroic virtue.”

Sheen’s words still speak because they were formed at the meeting point of study, parish service, preaching, and public communication. He believed Catholics should “integrate” their faith into daily life, and his own career did that across classrooms, parishes, radio studios, and television sets. A short line like “Patience is power” fits the tone of his public work: direct, memorable, and meant to be carried into ordinary decisions.