Peoria bishop: Fulton Sheen offers ‘timeless lessons’ for the Church
Fulton J. Sheen’s pioneering media ministry reached millions, but Peoria Bishop Louis Tylka said its lasting purpose was to lead souls to Christ. “If you encounter Fulton Sheen, through him you’re going to encounter Jesus,” he said.
Days before Ven. Fulton J. Sheen’s beatification, the bishop leading his sainthood cause said the renowned evangelist’s enduring relevance lies in the prayer, generosity, and love for others that sustained his public ministry.
Peoria Bishop Louis Tylka, president of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, discussed Sheen’s life and witness during a Sept. 14 presentation at the Catholic Information Center, a Catholic spiritual and intellectual center in Washington, D.C.
Bishop Tylka has led Sheen’s cause since becoming bishop of Peoria in 2020.
“On Dec. 9, 2020, I celebrated Mass for the first time in front of [Sheen’s] tomb, and during the homily I said I was discovering a new friend, and his name was Fulton Sheen,” Bishop Tylka said. “What I discovered in the last six years of getting to know Fulton Sheen is how remarkable of an individual and a witness of faith he is to the Church.”
Through that friendship, Bishop Tylka came to recognize the lasting significance of Sheen’s impact on the world.
“He’s a very significant voice, and I think he’s speaking to the Church today just as much as he spoke to the Church and the world when he was alive and at the height of his ministry,” he added.
Ven. Sheen’s ability to communicate brought that witness to millions. After gaining recognition through “The Catholic Hour” radio program, he was invited to bring his preaching to television.
“The TV was a brand-new kind of medium, and here he was invited and convinced to come to TV instead of radio, and started a program called ‘Life Is Worth Living,’” Bishop Tylka said. “He was set up in what they called the ‘graveyard hour.’ No one expected the show to do anything. It was basically to have something to cover the time slot.”
Despite competing with some of the era’s most popular entertainers, Sheen drew millions of viewers.
“With a set that looked like a library, with a blackboard and him coming out in bishop regalia, he captured the minds and hearts of 30 million viewers every week,” the bishop said. “Not just Catholics, but people of all faiths. And he spoke to America, and he spoke to the world about why life is worth living.”
Behind that reach was a commitment Sheen made on the day of his priestly ordination to spend a daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament, according to Bishop Tylka.
“His relevance is because of who he is as a person,” he said. “When I look at Fulton Sheen, as I have discovered in my friendship with him, I find some attributes of him that I think are timeless lessons for us all. First and foremost, Sheen was a man of prayer, he had a deep devotion to the Lord.”
That practice remained central throughout Sheen’s life.
“No matter where he went in the world, that hour was so important to him,” Bishop Tylka continued. “He attributed the great grace of being so close in communion with the Lord to be the inspiration and ability of all that he was to do.”
Bishop Tylka called grounding one’s life in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament the “greatest lesson” Sheen offered. He also pointed to the archbishop’s generosity, including his decision to direct the proceeds from his television work toward the Church’s missions.
That prayer and generosity accompanied a deep recognition of human dignity, which shaped Sheen’s encounters with people across social and economic lines, the bishop said.
“Sheen looked at everybody as a daughter or son of God,” Bishop Tylka said. “He was able to speak to the rich and the powerful, politicians, Hollywood stars, just as much as he was willing to speak to a person on the street. He valued every human life; he saw its dignity and its sanctity, and he wanted everybody to know that they were loved. That’s why he always signed off his show with a final saying, ‘God love you.’”
Bishop Tylka said Sheen combined that regard for others with a commitment to communicate the truth clearly and charitably.
“Sheen always spoke with a way of clarity and charity, and he always spoke the truth,” the bishop said. “His teachings that he gave in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s are as valid, and if not even more significant, to us today.”
That approach, Bishop Tylka said, remains a modern model for evangelization.
“The lesson we have from him [is to] communicate our faith in Jesus Christ, and to do so with that same sense of humor, charity, and clarity. Speaking to people where they’re at, accepting them where they’re at, but always trying to move them forward into a life with Christ,” he said.
The beatification is scheduled for Sept. 24 at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.
“He will be the first American-born bishop to be beatified, and also canonized, when that happens, I believe,” Bishop Tylka said. “God works on God’s time, not our time. What makes it opportune in 2026? It’s the 250th anniversary of the U.S., and he was known as America’s bishop.”
Comments