Fulton Sheen’s Message Shines On

Bishop Fulton Sheen was so good at delivering half-hour homilies on television in the 1950s that even his Jewish stage manager was impressed. “Most Tuesday nights I just stand backstage and let the guy hypnotize me,” confessed Saul Abraham.

Sheen mesmerized a nation from a theater in New York City. His ecumenical show, “Life Is Worth Living,” was so popular and compelling that he won an Emmy for “Most Outstanding Television Personality.” His rivals for the award for the 1952 season included comedian Lucille Ball and journalist Edward R. Murrow. In accepting the honor, Sheen flashed the humor and humility that appealed to millions: “I wish to thank my four writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”

Yet Sheen was more than a quipster in a clerical collar. He was a public intellectual who used his media platform to confront the most vexing problem of the 20th century. “The basic struggle today,” he wrote, “involves above all else whether man shall exist for the state, or the state for man.”