Posted on 08/30/2006 10:38:34 AM PDT by NYer
In case you're keen for my $.02, I've previously stated that Fulton Sheen stands as the greatest American Catholic of all time. In terms of impact, none other before or since comes close.
First on radio and then on television, over many Sunday and Tuesday nights, Sheen's panache, wit and humanity singlehandedly dismantled what remained of the Establishment myths of Catholic immigrants keen to establish Roman domination of the halls of power. Having captivated the popular imagination, he moved the church into the vanguard of the American mainstream. Barely three decades after Al Smith's faith kept him from the Oval Office, Sheen paved the way for another of the faithful to take it.
As you know, that hasn't happened since. And such is the state of things that, even if one came close in our own time, a Catholic presidential nominee would be eaten alive -- by Catholics.
Wait, that already happened.
The move to canonize the son of Peoria with the Louvain agrege who lived in Manhattan, served as bishop of Rochester and was assigned a titular see in Wales is quickening in its pace. Two alleged miracles have been presented to the Holy See, with all their local documentation completed.
With a nod to TV's awardfest, Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tracks the progress toward the altars of he who would become "the first saint to have won an Emmy."
A tribunal for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh spent six months gathering evidence from family members and medical personnel concerning a critically ill baby who recovered after relatives prayed to Archbishop Sheen for intervention. The documents were sent to Rome last month, where Archbishop Sheen is a candidate for beatification, the second step toward canonization or sainthood....There's a tie to the next post. One of Sheen's most prominent conversions was that of Clare Booth Luce, the playright, sometime politician and wife of the publishing magnate Henry R. Luce.
"A series of complications occurred at the time of birth, and the manner in which the complications and problems converged at one time, and the way they were relieved, were considered by many people to be extraordinary," said the Rev. Brian Welding, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, who was in charge of the investigation.
Andrea Ambrosi, a canon lawyer from Rome who is the official advocate for the beatification, said at the conclusion of the hearing that all of the medical witnesses "recognized that a force superior to their medical science intervened for his recovery."...
The members of the tribunal had to interview the witnesses, transcribe the interviews and have the witnesses review the transcriptions for accuracy. In a few cases, the interviewers went to the homes of witnesses to take testimony, Father Welding said. The tribunal was required to have its own medical expert to review the testimony and give an opinion. Father Welding drafted Dr. Thomas Gillespie, a physician and Pittsburgh seminarian, whose opinion remains secret.
When all 1,000 pages had been completed, Vatican procedure required them to be closed with a wax seal of the diocese. No such seal existed, and the diocese had to have one made for the occasion. One copy of the documents will remain here.
LOL!!!!
I really hope he throws his hat in the ring in 2008. Last time around was really fun. As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon!"
IMO the greatest American Catholic is Christopher Columbus. I consider him to be the proto-evangelist of the New World! It all began with him!
I have seen those recently from time to time, and he's very good, isn't he? I have only very dim memories of his show from when I was a small child, and all I remember is that he frightened me - probably the dark eyebrows, his waving arms, and the "funny clothes".
I believe that the Rep. VP candidate who ran with Goldwater in 1964 was RC. Last name was Miller but I can't remember the first name. Getting old.
I too am grateful for ETWN for rerunning the good Bishop's programs. Humble or exurberant, B&W or color, I don't care, I watch them all. Sure the Bishop gets a tad flamboyant, but that is often the full fun of watching. Seriously, is Fulton Sheen's showmanship any worse than the maudlin Beg-a-thons on TBN? His cape, cross, and cassock are a cut above the shiny pretty preachers with the polyester suits, smary smiles, and three-hundred dollar haircuts. You put Bishop Sheen's words in the mouth of any of these others and the effect is just not the same. His sign-off, "God love you!" is a much-needed blessing on the dial.
My grandmother doted on Bishop Sheen, and she was Presbyterian. When my parents were courting, and my father came to pick up my mother, he'd spot the Bishop florishing that red cape and quip, "Well, there's Batman!" I am just grateful to have the chance to see him for myself.
Entertainmentearth.com said it would make a Bishop Sheen doll, or figure or whatever it is called if there was enough demand. Any takers?
I had never even heard of Bishop Sheen until a few years ago, when I flipped to EWTN late one night, just to see if it was airing anything interesting, and there was this tall, striking man in archbishop's garb, in old-fashioned black-and-white. He was THE most skillful orator I had ever heard! I was amazed! It was only the next day, after googling around on the internet, that I discovered who he was. Later, I asked my grandmother about him, only to discover that she had adored his program fifty years ago. She was surprised to find out that reruns of him were airing anywhere. I don't think she'd heard anyone even mention him in decades until I came to her and asked her "Grandma, did you ever heard of Bishop Fulton Sheen?"
Fulton Sheen had higher ratings than Milton Berle at one point and yet he is now all but forgotten. In a more just world he'd be as much a household name as Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason still are. Thank God Catholics are now able to re-discover him on EWTN, if they are willing to look.
He was powerful, brilliant, truthful, holy, and inspiring. I first saw his program several years ago and couldn't walk away from the TV for a moment.
Hard to imagine today that only 50 years ago (yes ... only), a Catholic Bishop appeared weekly on prime television and spiritually fed an American audience.
2/12/52: Bishop Fulton J. Sheen came to TV with "Life Is Worth Living," which will ran until 1957 on the DuMont network and then ABC. In early 1953, Sheen intoned that Russian leader Joseph Stalin "must one day meet his judgment," and within a week Stalin was dead.
I asked my grandmother about him, only to discover that she had adored his program fifty years ago. She was surprised to find out that reruns of him were airing anywhere.
As a child back then, it was my grandmother who insisted that we kids watch Bishop Sheen's program each week. He was the first American "televangelist". If anything, we have Mother Angelica and her EWTN network to thank for restoring Sheen's programs to the American airwaves. Both deserve sainthood!
You are correct. Sadly, his daughter is now a pro-abort radio talk show host - Stephanie Miller.
William E. Miller, from New York.
Now that you mention it, I remember that about his daughter. It is sad. I have a very clear memory of voting for the Goldwater/Miller ticket in 1964.
Good for you. Too bad Goldwater became such a degenerate later in life.
I got into the booth tempted to vote for Johnson but my arm just couldn't push a Dem lever. I haven't been tempted since. I pray that my fellow Evangelicals will be as supportive of a Catholic conservative in the future as real Catholics have supported George Bush.
This thread has more drifts than a Minnesota blizzard
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