On the day I was baptized into the Church in 2022, a close friend of mine gifted me a book that she thought might offer me some counsel for my journey ahead as a Catholic. On the cover of the book was a man dressed in a red robe; he had a large crucifix around his neck and wore a little hat that sat atop some finely combed graying hair. The title of the book was “Treasure in Clay,” and the author was a man named Bishop Fulton Sheen. After taking a little while to examine it, I turned to my friend and said:
“I think I’ve seen this man before.”
“Really? From where?”
“I remember watching a video he was in.”
“Oh yeah, there are lots of videos of Bishop Sheen on YouTube. He used to be quite a famous priest when he was still alive.”
“A famous priest?” I retorted.
“Yeah, he used to have his own television show where he’d speak about God and the Church.”
“His own television show?”
“Yeah, it was really popular.”
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In that moment I remember feeling somewhat disappointed that I had not chosen Bishop Sheen as my confirmation saint, not knowing at the time that his beatification was still ongoing. From what my friend told me about him, Bishop Sheen seemed different from the saints I had been advised to research, not only because he was American (unlike many Italian and European Saints), but also because he had lived in the modern age. Though he has not yet been canonized, his life is one of the most accessible examples modern Catholics can follow in a time full of new technologies and social agendas. And the more I learn about him, the more I can see what venerable Bishop Sheen’s life can teach me and others about living a life of holiness in the 21st century.
There is a time for everything
It is written in Ecclesiastes that “there is a time for everything under the sun,” “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Bishop Fulton Sheen lived out this wisdom and judged the needs of his own time, deciding not to keep silent but to speak. Rather than advocating for the rejection of new technology, he believed that there was great potential within television to advance the message of the Church. That is why, after his career as a radio broadcaster, he hosted his own television show, “Life is Worth Living.” In his book, “Treasure in Clay,” the bishop mentions that at the height of his television career, 30 million viewers would tune in each week just to see him speak about the faith.
If Bishop Sheen had chosen to treat television and the advancing world with suspicion, it would not have been possible for his voice to be heard across all nations to people searching for God. That is why the presence of Catholics in online spaces like YouTube and other social media is so important.
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Become everything for the sake of the Gospel
Bishop Sheen’s experience as a television host is unique to the history of those under consideration for beatification. As a convert, I struggled to understand how a Catholic priest could be so beloved and popular within the world, since Christ warns of the evils of worldly fame.
Given that Bishop Sheen received the Emmy Award for “Most Outstanding Television Personality” in 1952, it would be easy to assume that he was reaping the benefits that come with celebrity status. But when you consider that he raised over $100 million dollars for The Society of the Propagation of the Faith during his lifetime and took not one cent for himself, it becomes clear that his dedication to the Gospel exceeded the things the world offered him — he did as St. Paul did. He “became everything for the sake of the Gospel.”
This is encouraging, especially when one considers the lives of the saints. After my baptism, I initially reflected on the lives of the great martyrs who literally gave up their lives for the sake of our Lord. Bishop Sheen’s example and St. Paul’s quote served as a great reminder that there is not just one way to become holy, but many.
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The speed of God is different than the speed of the world
One of Bishop Fulton Sheen’s actions that particularly inspires me is his practice of the “Holy Hour,” which was a resolution made at the very beginning of his priesthood in the year 1919. He spent one hour with the Lord in front of the Blessed Sacrament each day for the rest of his life, and kept this resolution until his death at 84 years of age. Rather than advocating for continuous prayer during Adoration, Bishop Sheen explains that in the Gospel of John, when Christ returns and finds his disciples sleeping and says “You could not spend one hour awake with me?,” Christ was not pleading for wakeful activity, but for one hour of companionship. In our world of constant activity and distraction, it has become essential for us to remember that companionship and relationship is at the heart of the Gospel, which is something Bishop Sheen practiced throughout the entirety of his life — both personally, and through the small screen.
