Fulton J. Sheen was the Archbishop for Rochester, New York, once upon a time. A pretty awesome and powerful position in those days. As a child of six or eight, he was THE representative of God on earth. I mean we had Pius the 12th or whatever as El Papa, but America did, after all, need its singular majesty telling Him how important we were.

Fulton had this New York Irish brogue, although he was born in El Paso, Illinois (born Peter John Sheen May 8, 1895 - December 9, 1979).  No 'aye laddies' type of brogue, but a singular aristocratic Irish brogue.  In the 19th century and early 20th century, all the immigrants segregated into neighborhoods, defacto and dejure.  Italians stuck with Italians, Germans stuck with Germans, Irish stuck with Irish. Oh, and it got crazier than that. I mean Irish Catholics stuck with Irish Catholics. It would be against God's Law for an Irish Catholic to marry an Irish Protestant like my grandmama did in the Twenties.  This was something that one only whispered about.

To further complicate the demography, the earliest Irish Settlers shunned the newer Irish Settlers regardless of religion. We had the 'Lace Curtain Irish'. HA

Fulton, therefore represented the Lace Curtain Irish Catholics but with a new Egalitarian Edge, so to speak. He emphasized the Universality of the Catholic Church and like to emphasize that 'catholic' in Latin meant Universal.

Fulton went from being one of the kings of radio to being a religious king on television. This is a protestant country. Richfield, Minnesota might have banned one from selling their property to people of the Negro Race or the Jewish Race, but there were enclaves in this country where you were not to associate with Catholics. We started this country with people who despised the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope, at the same time.

But Roman Catholicism was the largest single 'sect' of Christianity in this country, so it had to be dealt with and Fulton took full advantage of this fact.

Fulton was so good at speaking about Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church that he had a large Protestant following.  It was just that a lot of his Protestant listeners would not admit that they rarely missed his presentations.

In order to further contextualize Fulton, you have to understand some fundamental beliefs in this country at the time. Belief held by anywhere between 75% and 90% of the citizens of this country:

GOD FORBIDS WOMEN FROM BEING PRIESTS, RABBIS, MINISTERS and most women of course were barred from becoming lawyers, doctors, or Congressmen (hence the nomen).

GOD FORBIDS ABORTION-EVER. Even if Mom will die and we are not sure the three month old fetus will survive.

THE CATHOLIC GOD FORBIDS CONTRACEPTION IN ANY FORM.  Irish Catholics would have 12 children while Irish Protestants would stop at 4. Sex was a terrible 'thing' and a sin against God, but what are you going to do? I mean what is a mother to do? . I mean we need children. Ahhhh well. Thinking about sex was as bad as having sex.  I mean murder was bad, very bad. But sex...well I digress.
                       
Fulton would present himself in full regalia. Now there were very few color tvs in the '50's but I note in the taped recordings I have been watching, he wore the full bright colors of the Roman Clerical Aristocracy.  He had the cute cap, a cape, necklaces with the crucifix and sacred medals, pretty bows and full dress. I do not mean to say he was fully dressed. I mean he wore a full dress.  You could see his shoes though and they were not Sears-Roebuck in origin. And the colors would be dark reds, pinks, whites....I mean talk about peacocks.

Fulton would be present himself upon a rather meager stage by these day's standards. There would be drapes behind him, of course. There would also be an ugly, elementary school blackboard. And no one had any doubt that this was LECTURE TIME. And we were not to visit with our neighbors or chew gum. I mean this man, although a media celebrity, was recognized as one of the foremost Catholic theologians in his time, having written 73 books.

He would start off with chalk in hand and write something on the black board like:

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Fulton would write with the same kind of flourish as he spoke. Then he would write something like:

Whether the devil is directly the cause of sin.

He is really dealing with the old phrase: The devil made me do it.

Now Fulton would go on and on about how we live in a sinful world and temptations are everywhere, ready willing and able to lure us into sinful actions. And then he would go on to tell us that we are the actors. That the devil may attempt to lure us, to trick us, but it is we that must act. No one, no devil can make us act. Even though I think at times, in some roles, Harrison Ford could not have thought up his style on his own.  But I digress.

Now Fulton would go into the anecdote.  He would say something like:

Now Mary came with her parents, and I had known Mary's parents for decades. Good solid Americans. Good solid Catholics. Charitable but hard workers none the less. And I noticed at our little gathering that Mary was looking at the floor and would not address me with her eyes. Well I know that when someone averts their eyes they are hiding something. And at her tender age of 19 or 20 it would not be that hard to discern what sin she was hiding.

So I casually approached her and asked her when she had given her last confession. Still looking at the floor she said that she had been studying philosophy at University and that she no longer cared for religion.  Because she had come to understand the truth of things.

So I took her to my library, and I asked her if she had any thoughts about Immanuel Kant as I pulled the tome from its place.  Oh no I have not Father.

Well, I said have you read this essay from Frederic Nietzche, and she responded she had not.

And I pulled four other books by St. Aquinas, and Bertrand Russell and Martin Luther and St. Augustine well, she had read none of them.

And so I took her hand and said, Are you ready now my child to give me your confession? And weeping she finally looked at me and said, Yes Father.

And it was then that I found the truth of things.

You see we sin and then we deny the sin and when we can NO LONGER HIDE THE SIN WE
TURN OUR BACKS UPON GOD!!!!

I can see him now and I have not even witnessed this particular segment in forty five years or more. Ha

Then Fulton would proceed to matters of the state. He might note that a great senator has responsibilities to his God, his country, his state, his constituency. And then he would discuss how a politician makes decisions and how difficult this decision making might be.

Oh it had nothing to do with separation of church and state or some political argument. He would just go on a tangent-my god Fulton liked tangents-about how difficult life was for the powerful to make decisions and how we needed to seek the right and the truth and the love of God......

All this accomplished with the chalk still in his hand at times. Then he might write another thought from Aquinas:

Now the will...can be moved by two things. First, by its object, inasmuch as the apprehended appetible is said to move the appetite;. Secondly, by that agent which moves the will inwardly to will and this is none other than either the will itself or God. 

Then of course, Fulton would attempt to define appetible--he would really only latch onto three or four difficult words or concepts per show.  He did not wish to lose his audience but he knew that to spread the word, the rule of simplicity must be kept at all times.

Then he would go into sinning again, raising his voice slowly until he was close to shouting.

And in the end, (if you watch, his eyes would avert to the clock from time to time) he would raise his arms to heaven and say something like:

AND IT IS ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD THAT WE LIVE OUR DAYS.

Or some such silliness.  

But if you wish to learn how to write or to speak or to lecture, do not omit Fulton from your curriculum. Nay I say.  Bishop Sheen was one of the greatest.

Oh, he would not flourish today.  But in his time, he was a liberal. He was against the Vietnam War as early as 1967.  He was against segregation. He was against those who believed not in charity.  He praised the 'unwashed'. He lauded the humble.  He pleaded with the rich and the powerful to show mercy, to show Christian values.

A blogger who is new to me, JG wrote a nice piece on Notre Dame today. I had been contemplating a blog on Fulton, an important symbol of my youth.  I knew I was witnessing greatness when I watched him as a child. I just did not know why.

The picture is from Wiki.  Nice wrap up on his life and times with references there.