Before he led the Church, Pope Leo watched the man who brought it into America's living rooms.
Earlier this week the Holy Father told a gathering of the Pontifical Mission Societies that now Venerable Fulton Sheen, a former head of said societies, influenced him as a child.
Of Venerable Sheen, who once ran the Pontifical Mission Societies himself, Pope Leo said, “Archbishop Sheen was a light of faith, hope, and love that shone through radio and television media for decades.” He then smiled, looked up from his formal remarks, and said with a nostalgic twinge, “I myself am a witness of his evangelization when I was growing up.” He continued, “His broadcasts touched millions with the hope of the Gospel and his initiatives and efforts resulted in enormous spiritual and material aid to the Churches in areas of first evangelization.”
That they did.
It’s hard to overstate Venerable Sheen’s media influence. He earned his nickname as the “Bishop of Television” with the nearly 30 million viewers that tuned in for his show “Life is Worth Living” in its heyday, rivaling sitcoms like the likes of “I Love Lucy” and scoring him an Emmy for “Most Outstanding Television Personality.” At one point, Gallup named him the world’s third-most admired man. He was already a household name when he began his television show, as his radio program “The Catholic Hour” was broadcast nationally for decades and drew millions of listeners in its own right. And never mind the more than 60 books he wrote over the course of his life.
But he didn’t just attract eyes and ears, he attracted – and shaped – hearts. In one of my favorites of the many Sheen clips that have flooded the internet and social media since his beautification -- set for September 24 in St. Louis -- was announced by Pope Leo earlier this year, he appeared on the game show, “What’s My Line.” In the show, celebrity guests wore blindfolds and had to figure out the mystery guest.
When Sheen appears on set as the mystery guest, he receives uproarious applause as he signs his name to the chalkboard, his signature move. “Well, that was the most solid round of applause I’ve heard in a long time,” the first blindfolded panelist states. He cheekily answers their yes or no questions in French, but it doesn’t take them long to make out his unmistakable voice.
There is some playful back and forth, and when they correctly guess his identity, squeals and more uproarious applause from the audience.
“Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, and if I may, breaking some of the rules sir,” host John Daly says as he becomes more solemn, “may I say that we’re very proud that you’re on my home network, ABC. It’s nice to have you with us.”
Sheen asks that the profits from this particular program be donated to the many leper colonies run by the Propagation of the Faith. He leaves jovially, shaking the panelists hands, one of whom kisses his ring -- a gesture of respect and a sign of the admiration he commanded from even the celebrity class, one Sheen welcomed with a firm and manly posture.
That clip sums up the pride and esteem Sheen brought to American Catholicism in a media venue, increasingly the primary mode of communication. He wasn't just respected, he was loved. Beloved.
But I can’t shake the image of his influence on a little boy on the South Side of Chicago, a far cry from the glitzy halls of Hollywood and snazzy sets of television shows. From what we know of Pope Leo’s childhood, it was a warm one where the faith was inculcated both in learning and by example, in particular that of his humble but loving and devout parents. His father was a catechist, his mother sang in the church choir, and he has recounted that they prayed the rosary daily together. Of course their television would be tuned to Fulton Sheen. Perhaps Pope Leo would watch Venerable Sheen’s program while he “played priest,” something his brother has said he did often enough that his brothers would tease him that he “would be Pope one day.”
It’s also a reminder, one that hits home as a mother, that the media content we feed our children shapes them, and they in turn will go on to shape the Church. And the Church in turn, continues to shape the media. The news this week that Montse Alvarado, the current head of the largest religious media outlet in the world, will soon lead the Dicastery of Communications for the Vatican is a reminder of the continual interplay between the media and our Church and our responsibility to use media as a means to evangelize and spread the truth.
We should all become students of Venerable Fulton Sheen in this endeavor.
Ashley McGuire is a Senior Fellow at the Catholic Association.
