Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979) will be beatified on September 24^th at a Mass in St. Louis, Missouri. This is the next to final step in the process of canonization. The healing of a newborn infant, James Fulton Engstrom, who gave no sign of life for almost one hour, through Sheen’s intercession was judged by the Vatican to be miraculous. This means that the Catholic Church considers Sheen to be in Heaven, living in the presence of God and obtaining favors from Him for those who pray for Sheen’s intercession on earth. One more miracle is needed in order to confirm beyond any doubt that Sheen is living in the presence of God in Heaven and declare him to be a saint. Sheen will now be publicly recognized by the Church as an intercessor with God for us who seek heavenly favors.

Sheen was undoubtedly the most well-known American Catholic bishop of the twentieth century thanks to his fifty-year career in radio and television. He explained and defended the Catholic Faith on America’s airwaves with brilliance and humor. He authored seventy-three books, many of which were runaway best sellers that are still read today.

Sheen challenged the American people to examine the truths of philosophy and religion embedded in the founding of the United States, and to beware of falsehoods that threatened to lead people astray into destructive nightmares. He was a vigorous critic of intellectual fads and the totalitarian disasters they spawned. These destructive fantasies persist in our day.

In his book Communism and the Conscience of the West Sheen warned of the threat of relativism:

In the domain of morality, is it not an accepted principle of our Western bourgeois world that there is no absolute distinction between right and wrong rooted in the eternal order of God, but that they are relative and dependent entirely upon one’s point of view? Hence when the Western world wishes to decide what is right and wrong even in certain moral matters, it takes a poll – forgetful that the majority never makes a thing right . . . The first poll of public opinion taken in history of Christianity was on Pilate’s front porch, and it was wrong.

The defense of innocent human lives from the legalized crimes of abortion and euthanasia, and now medically curated suicide, is a counter-cultural affirmation that morality is not determined by man but by God. Taking a poll to see if one should be allowed to kill one’s neighbor may appear to be respectful of the rights of people to collectively govern themselves, but it is plainly a crime to deprive someone of his life because a majority has decided he should be killed. Yet that is what the Western world has descended into in the name of personal freedom, which is in reality the rejection of any unchosen limits on behavior, enslaving one to his base desire for complete autonomy.

The beatification of Archbishop Sheen is a joyous reminder that God sends us prophets of truth to rebuke and redirect erring mankind. Sheen’s first television show was called Life is Worth Living. Nothing could be truer. Life is a beautiful gift which we rejoice to embrace and fight to defend. Blessed Fulton Sheen, pray for us!

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For more, on Archbishop Fulton Sheen, see our special web feature:

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Malcolm Muggeridge:
A Conversation May 1979