Readers share how Blessed Fulton Sheen touched their lives, deepened their faith

By Sean Gallagher

Catholics from across the archdiocese reached out to The Criterion in the weeks leading up to the Sept. 24 beatification of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen to share the impact on their lives and faith of the archbishop, who died in 1979 and was well known for his TV shows in which he explained the faith.

‘He touched my life’

Donna Hollingsworth knew in her heart that Archbishop Sheen was blessed long before the beatification Mass.

That was because of his entrance into her life in 1943 when she was only 9 months old. At the time, she was living with her family in Alton, Ill., and was suffering from a life-threatening case of pneumonia.

“The doctors told my mother and father that there was really nothing more they could do,” Hollingsworth said.

At that time, then-Msgr. Fulton Sheen was visiting Hollingsworth’s godmother, who was a neighbor of her family and who was also a relative of then-Msgr. Sheen. The godmother told the priest of Hollingsworth’s illness.

“When he found out, he went to the hospital and blessed me,” Hollingsworth said. “And within three days, the doctors were astounded. I started breathing a little on my own. They couldn’t get over it.

“When he came periodically to visit, he would come over to the house where we lived next door to check on me.”

Hollingsworth’s family later moved to Clinton near Terre Haute, where they became members of Sacred Heart Parish.

Now 84 and experiencing health challenges, Hollingsworth is as convinced as ever of the power of Blessed Fulton’s holiness.

“I’m not able to go over there for the beatification,” she said with great emotion and tears. “But I just know that he touched my life.”

Hollingsworth also sees Archbishop Sheen’s effect on her life in the lifelong love she has had for her Catholic faith.

“My mother always said it was because I was blessed by Fulton Sheen,” she said. “I am so proud and so thrilled about what’s going to happen to him.”

Hollingsworth was a teenager when Blessed Fulton appeared weekly on TV.

“The world stood still when ‘Life Is Worth Living’ was on,” she said of the attention that she and her family gave to the archbishop’s show. “His presence commanded respect. His presence said something. He spoke to people in a way that mesmerized them.”

She would watch him at the start of each show write the letters “JMJ,” for “Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” on a blackboard on the set of the show.

“That was his life—Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” Hollingsworth said. “What more do we need in life? What more do we need?”

‘He was an instrument of God’

Curtis Guynn was 22 in 1963 when Archbishop Sheen visited Indianapolis to speak at a national convention of the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver, a fraternal organization of Black Catholics.

He celebrated a Mass on the grounds of St. Rita Parish in Indianapolis that was attended by the approximately 1,000 people from across the country who were in the city for the convention.

Guynn, a lifelong member of St. Rita, had watched Archbishop Sheen on TV in the 1950s like millions did at the time on a weekly basis.

So, having him come to St. Rita was impressive to him.

“For him to be here in person made a big difference,” Guynn said. “He was very happy to be here. He praised what Peter Claver stood for and what the local organization was doing. The Mass was very meaningful.”

Guynn explained the effect that Archbishop Sheen had on his faith through his TV shows.

“He strengthened what I had,” Guynn said. “Some of his ideas were very deep. You’d listen to him and then in the end understand what he was saying. He meant so much to me. He made my faith even stronger.”

Seeing Archbishop Sheen celebrating Mass at St. Rita gave Guynn a strong impression of who he was as a man of faith.

“It seemed like holiness was wrapped all around him,” Guynn recalled. “You could see it. He was an instrument of God. That’s how I saw it.”

Memories of a father’s faith

Sharon Cozart was in the third grade at St. Louis School in Batesville in the mid-1950s when her father, Charley Peters, was received into the full communion of the Church.

“I know I was just a child at the time, but I was proud of him when he did this,” Cozart recalled.

It was at this time that Blessed Fulton drew some 30 million people each week to watch his TV show “Life Is Worth Living.” Cozart and her father were regular viewers.

“He absolutely loved to watch Archbishop Sheen,” said Cozart, still a member of St. Louis Parish in Batesville. “I would watch it with him, despite not understanding much of his words. But I listened.

“There are many things in my life I have forgotten, but not my memories of this.”

Cozart confessed that her memory “is not earth-shattering.” Nonetheless, she added that “to me, it will always be close to my heart.”

‘Love made visible’

Nancy Shields was a child in the 1960s when she, her mother and an aunt watched Archbishop Sheen on TV.

“Now that his talks are easy to find on YouTube, I often watch the clips of him and have found them just as powerful and comforting,” said Shields, a member of Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis.

She particularly recalled Blessed Fulton’s reflections on St. Peter’s shock when Christ had told him and the Apostles that he would be crucified and Christ’s reply to him, “Get behind me, Satan” (Mt 16:23).

“His response shows that the cross was not a defeat, but the heart of his mission,” Shields said. “Jesus could not be seen as the Son of God just through his loving of others and his miracles. Through Archbishop Sheen’s explanation, I came to see Christ’s suffering not only as sacrifice, but as love made visible.

“I want to go deeper in my faith and better understand Christ’s sacrifice for us, and Fulton Sheen’s talks have helped me do that.” †

The Criterion