Pressing Sainthood for a Beloved Archbishop

The effort has begun to declare the sainthood of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, host of TV's Life is Worth Living and one of the most visible and popular Catholic priests of all time. Contact your parish priest to ask how you can assist with the process.

I personally became familiar with Bishop Sheen in high school via reruns on the EWTN network and am now a huge fan. As a broadcaster myself, I was enthralled by Sheen's communication skills. The image he presented of a regal cleric - he knew full well that audiences expected to see a Bishop in full vestments - was balanced by the good cheer of his anecdotes. At a time when Billy Graham was packing 'em in the tents with heavy does of figurative fire and brimstone, Bishop Sheen used his video pulpit to teach rather than preach, instructing his flock with insightful lessons in life - his blackboard and the "angels" who "mysteriously" erased its contents when out of camera range were the Bishop's schtick-in trade.

I'd love to see a Bishop Sheen compilation appear on DVD; although the early live episodes predate the invention of videotape - preserved on kinescope, a process of converting cathode ray images to film with results that can best be descrived as "hammered shit" - the later syndicated series was taped and episodes from 1965 until the show's end in 1968 were in living color. Good video quality or wobbly kinescope, these episodes form a great teaching tool for Catholics and all people.

That in and of itself is a miracle.