The Inimitable Legacy of Fulton Sheen and the Case for His Canonization

One thing Dr Ventureyra doesn't mention is that when his thesis from the Catholic University of Leuven was published as a book, he asked G.K. Chesterton to write the foreword. GKC thought he was a bad choice, but the Ven. Fulton assured him that he was as much a philosopher as he was himself.

From Crisis

By Scott Ventureyra, PhD

Fulton Sheen was a timeless Catholic evangelist whose clear, unflinching preaching on sin, salvation, eternity, and the cosmic battle for souls deeply impacted countless millions.

Neo-atheist Sam Harris once remarked that William Lane Craig, Christian philosopher and acclaimed debater against deniers of God, had “put the fear of God” into his fellow atheists. For me, it was Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who instilled the fear of God in my own soul. Beyond his powerful voice and dramatic delivery, it was the content of his message that left an enduring impression. Sheen’s work often focused on the eternal destination of human souls, that is, how human lives unfold within a cosmic drama of salvation or damnation.

His haunting voice coupled with his piercing logic left little to no room for misunderstanding his message. In essence, he made clear, when it came to the battle for our souls, that there was no middle ground: either one stands as a child of God or becomes an imitator of the liar of all liars.

Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft, in his 2002 book How to Win the Culture War, reminds us that every Christian must confront two spiritual enemies: the devil and the corruption of one’s own soul:

I said there were two enemies. The second is even more horrible than the first. There is one nightmare even more terrifying than being chased by the devil, even being caught by the devil, even being tortured by the devil. That is the nightmare of becoming a devil. The horror outside your soul is terrifiable enough, but it is not as terrible as the horror inside your soul.

Bishop Sheen, in his talk titled “The Demonic Today,” focused his attention on the same truth with even more alarming urgency:

Now there are one thousand times ten thousand roads down which any one of us may travel for a lifetime. But all of those roads are going to end in front of two faces. One, the merciful face of Christ, and the other, the miserific face of Satan. And either one of those faces will speak to us and say, “Mine.”

We live in an age where Christianity is often reduced to feelings, therapy, and obscurity, as opposed to clarity and truth. In many ways, the Church has lost its way in its appeasement of modern culture. Archbishop Sheen always preached lucidly on the most important message of Christ, that regarding eternity and the eternal destination of souls.

Sheen’s Legacy and Cultural Influence

In order to comprehend the enduring legacy of Bishop Sheen, one has to appreciate the remarkable nature of his ministry. Sheen preached in an era long before YouTube, podcasts, livestreams, and the phenomenon of “influencers.” Even though his preaching was way before my time, I have marvelled at how he was able to master the most powerful medium of his time: the television. Throughout the 1950s, his program, Life is Worth Living, reached an estimated audience of over 30 million viewers each week!

Looking back at old YouTube videos of his talks and even short clips, you see his powerful delivery. Sheen’s penetrating gaze coupled with his deep theological reflections on sin, suffering, eternal salvation, and the unending love of God for humanity was what captivated countless Catholics and non-Catholics.

Unlike many of the Protestant televangelists of later years, Sheen possessed impressive academic credentials. After his ordination for the Diocese of Peoria in 1919, he continued further studies in theology and philosophy at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Over the years, Sheen distinguished himself as a noteworthy scholar, earning a Doctor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven in 1923, where his thesis, “The Spirit of Contemporary Philosophy and the Finite God,” won the prestigious Cardinal Mercier Prize (the first time for an American). 

Subsequently, he completed a Doctor of Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, after which he finally returned to The Catholic University of America in 1928, where he taught philosophy for over two decades. He authored over 70 works in philosophy, theology, and spirituality. His work was instrumental in shaping intellectual aspects of American Catholicism. His rhetorical abilities were unparalleled for a priest and academic of his time. 

What made Sheen stand above his contemporary popular religious figures was his undying devotion to preaching the seriousness and authenticity of the Christian message. He constantly emphasized that it was a misconception that Christianity was about becoming a “better person”; rather, it is about the destination of our souls. 

In 1953, he won the Emmy Award for “Most Outstanding Television Personality,” a remarkable feat for anyone, let alone a bishop discussing traditional Catholic theology in a way that never sugar-coated the Gospel. If anything, this showed the world that there remained a deep yearning for a message of theological hope.

His wide reach was an extraordinary accomplishment during a time when religion in the 1950s was considered a private matter and belief in God was often viewed in academia and popular culture as either irrational, irrelevant, or at best, suprarational (which should not be confused with irrational but rather understood as beyond the rational). Sheen demonstrated, particularly to a lay audience often untrained in philosophy and theology, the deep interconnectivity of faith and reason, faithfully following the Church’s history and the teachings of St. Thomas. This was all throughout the dominant period of atheism, prior to the burgeoning of Christian philosophy throughout universities in the West, commencing in the 1960s and persisting to our present day.

The Case for Canonization

Beyond the effectiveness of his public ministry and strong academic credentials, Sheen was a deeply spiritual man. For instance, he often recognized that the fruitfulness of his preaching was attributable to his devotion and discipline for a daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament. He spent an hour daily in Eucharistic adoration for decades.

His unparalleled spiritual discipline was only matched by his pastoral zeal. His work and preaching influenced many conversions, including multiple prominent public figures such as playwright and diplomat Clare Boothe Luce, violin virtuoso Fritz Kreisler, Hollywood actress Virginia Mayo, and writer, activist, and former communist supporter Louis Budenz.

Alongside Blessed Pius XI, Leo XIII, and St. John Paul II, Sheen was a prominent and rational voice against the woes of communism, which tragically has gained prominence in different forms in the ensuing years throughout university campuses, particularly through the rise of socialist ideologies and movements that challenge traditional values (most commonly in the form of cultural Marxism and postmodernism).

The case for Bishop Sheen’s canonization started in 2002. Pope Benedict XVI recognized his heroic virtue in 2012, and Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to his intercession in 2019. His beatification was postponed (amid controversy over the alleged assignment of a priest previously accused of sexual misconduct, a decision later determined not to have been Sheen’s) but has recently been revived, with expectations that it may proceed this year.

The Church’s investigation into the canonization cause of Bishop Sheen includes the recognition of an astonishing miracle attributed to his intercession. In 2010, an infant named James Fulton Engstrom was born without a pulse after his oxygen supply was cut off during labor due to a knotted umbilical cord. The infant showed no signs of life for 61 minutes as doctors exhausted all medical options. Afterward, the child’s parents prayed for Sheen’s intercession. Subsequently, the child’s heart suddenly began beating again. The child eventually recovered without severe neurological damage. This led the Church to recognize the event as miraculous.

Once Sheen is finally beatified, the Church will require an additional verified miracle through his intercession before canonization can proceed. Given Sheen’s legacy, it seems it will only be a matter of time. 

Concluding Reflection

Indeed, Sheen’s public life and work serve as a testament to the significance of modern media. Today, we can also extend this to artificial intelligence, which, with the right guidance, can serve as a potent tool for proclaiming and making eternal truths accessible to the masses.

Modern culture often prefers ambiguity. It promotes moral relativism. Moreover, we have fostered a society that elevates depravity, vice, and disorderly living. Our cultural milieu either ridicules or avoids conversations regarding sin, judgment, salvation, and damnation. 

Nonetheless, the human heart across space and time, in our fallen world, wrestles with the same fundamental questions that Sheen so eloquently addressed, questions such as: What is the purpose of life? Is there an afterlife? What does it mean to live a holy life?

Sheen, better than anyone, knew that these questions could not be avoided. The avoidance of such questions is to the detriment of the Church and countless souls, since it prevents individuals from deepening their faith and drawing nearer to God. He assisted countless people in confronting the anxieties of the human soul while pointing to the one and only true hope: Christ.

Sheen’s legacy ultimately lies in his witness to the truth that life remains under the horizon of eternity. In an age that promotes falsehoods such as “you only live once” and the glorification of Dionysian pleasures over virtue, much to its own peril, humanity has forgotten its spiritual fragility and earthly finitude.

Sheen urged Christians to remember the ancient admonition: memento mori—remember death.

Remembering death is not a call to dwell in despair but rather to recognize the spiritual dimension beyond this physical world. As Sheen proclaimed, without fail, every human soul will stand before Christ. And that true faith, coupled with the way we live—that is, the day-to-day choices we make and our repentance of the wrong ones—is what will determine whether we are greeted with a face of mercy or judgment.