# Venerable Fulton Sheen Part III

An episode of [Saints Alive Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1598392451), 9 Apr 2025, 17 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1882754/episodes/16892135-venerable-fulton-sheen-part-iii.mp3

“A picture of a man dying on a cross can be a picture of hope.” Saints Alive presents the final installment of our three part episode on the life of Fulton Sheen! Today we’ll hear about the stories of two people whose lives were changed by Venerable Sheen. We’ll also hear about the humility of the man that reminded the world that life truly is worth living. This is an episode you don’t want to miss - listen today! This episode is part of our Hallow exclusive Lenten series for families: The Little Way! Tune in to a new episode everyday by joining the challenge on Hallow! https://hallow.app.link/ociVupCuZQb Saints Alive is brought to you by the #1 Catholic Prayer App, Hallow! Sign up today with a 30-day free trial! Please rate, review and share with friends and family! Find out more about Saints Alive at our website: https://www.saintsalivepodcast.com/

## Transcript

[0:02] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Saints Alive, where we take you with us to meet God's most heroic followers.
[0:08] SPEAKER_00: The saints were just ordinary boys and girls who allowed God's love to transform them into real life superheroes.
[0:15] SPEAKER_00: Their love for God changed our world.
[0:18] SPEAKER_00: Did you know that God has sent you here to become a saint?
[0:21] SPEAKER_00: It's up to you to choose love over fear, to be courageous, faithful, and kind.
[0:26] SPEAKER_00: The choice to become a saint won't be easy, but it will be worth it.
[0:30] SPEAKER_00: So listen closely and open your hearts.
[0:33] SPEAKER_00: These real life tales of the saints from the past may just inspire you how to live your story.
[0:39] SPEAKER_00: Let's go on this adventure together.
[1:00] SPEAKER_00: When we last left off, Fultenstein had unexpectedly retired from his immensely popular show, Life is Worth Living.
[1:08] SPEAKER_00: Let's listen in and see what happens next.
[1:19] SPEAKER_08: He reaches the millions, he got the content, and he calls it a day?
[1:25] SPEAKER_08: Yeah, what happened?
[1:27] SPEAKER_02: Well, Fulton Sheen and Cardinal Spellman had a disagreement that spoiled their relationship.
[1:32] SPEAKER_02: It all happened to be over powdered milk of all things.
[1:36] SPEAKER_02: Powdered milk?
[1:37] SPEAKER_02: Gross.
[1:38] SPEAKER_08: Yeah, I'm lactose intolerant.
[1:40] SPEAKER_02: It got messy.
[1:41] SPEAKER_02: And in a rage, Spellman ensured that life is worth living was pulled off air.
[1:46] SPEAKER_02: And cancelled his Good Friday sermons at St.
[1:48] SPEAKER_02: Patrick's.
[1:49] SPEAKER_08: Ouch.
[1:50] SPEAKER_08: Did he ever do TV again?
[1:52] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, on and off, but it was never really the same.
[1:55] SPEAKER_08: That's depressing.
[1:56] SPEAKER_02: From a worldly perspective, maybe.
[1:59] SPEAKER_02: But a cosmic one, maybe not.
[2:01] SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
[2:02] SPEAKER_02: It helped him focus.
[2:03] SPEAKER_02: I mean, only two people in history were perfect, and Sheen wasn't one of them.
[2:08] SPEAKER_02: But the celebrity was never the point.
[2:10] SPEAKER_02: Souls were.
[2:11] SPEAKER_02: It wasn't so much about who he was when the cameras were on as about who he was when they were off.
[2:17] SPEAKER_02: Throughout the years, he helped many enter the church.
[2:19] SPEAKER_02: Sure, a lot of famous writers and actors and politicians, but there were countless more who weren't famous or special in the eyes of the world.
[2:29] SPEAKER_02: And his commitment to them only grew over the years.
[2:32] SPEAKER_02: One day, in the early 60s, there's a young man suffering from leprosy, begging outside St.
[2:39] SPEAKER_02: Patrick's, with no coat on in the bleak midtown winter.
[2:45] SPEAKER_04: My friend, you're shivering.
[2:51] SPEAKER_04: No coat.
[2:53] SPEAKER_04: No home.
[2:54] SPEAKER_04: No family.
[2:56] SPEAKER_04: No gut, to hear me.
[2:58] SPEAKER_04: No country.
[2:59] SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
[3:01] SPEAKER_04: Well, let's start with the coat.
[3:07] SPEAKER_04: But this coat must be worth a small fortune, huh?
[3:10] SPEAKER_04: I couldn't.
[3:12] SPEAKER_03: You could.
[3:13] SPEAKER_03: You must.
[3:14] SPEAKER_03: It's much too puffy for me.
[3:17] SPEAKER_03: I'm already much too puffed up as it is.
[3:20] SPEAKER_03: Now let's get you some dinner.
[3:33] SPEAKER_04: You're having a little trouble there?
[3:35] SPEAKER_04: My hands there.
[3:42] SPEAKER_04: They're not much use.
[3:44] SPEAKER_04: Well, I've got two.
[3:46] SPEAKER_04: Here, let me help you.
[3:48] SPEAKER_04: I couldn't ask you.
[3:50] SPEAKER_04: You didn't.
[3:57] SPEAKER_02: Besides a coat, he found and bought furniture for an apartment for the man and invited him to dinner once a week.
[4:03] SPEAKER_02: Eventually, he converted to the faith.
[4:05] SPEAKER_02: Fulton's heart was always open to the rich, to the poor, any time, anyplace.
[4:16] SPEAKER_02: On another occasion, near the peak of Sheen's fame, a flight attendant named Bobby was working a red-eye flight across the country.
[4:28] SPEAKER_06: Excuse me.
[4:30] SPEAKER_06: Aren't you Fulton Sheen?
[4:33] SPEAKER_03: Guilty.
[4:33] SPEAKER_03: Though I was hoping to be mistaken for Elvis.
[4:36] SPEAKER_05: Not at all.
[4:38] SPEAKER_03: Cape always gives me away.
[4:40] SPEAKER_03: Uh can I get you anything?
[4:42] SPEAKER_03: Why don't you tell me the story of how such a bright young woman ended up with such sad eyes?
[4:49] SPEAKER_05: Am I so easy to read?
[4:52] SPEAKER_03: Not at all.
[4:53] SPEAKER_03: It's just such a guardian angel, is it terrible gossip?
[4:58] SPEAKER_05: I well.
[5:01] SPEAKER_05: My roommate and my the man I wanted to spend my life with, they um there was a car accident, and I just lost them both.
[5:12] SPEAKER_03: Oh my dear.
[5:14] SPEAKER_03: I'm so sorry.
[5:16] SPEAKER_05: I became a flat attendant as a way of um of uh flying as far away from that loss as you could.
[5:25] SPEAKER_03: Escaping to the clouds.
[5:28] SPEAKER_03: Yes, my dear, nothing I could say would ever take away that pain.
[5:35] SPEAKER_03: But I know someone who can help.
[5:38] SPEAKER_03: I'll be saying Mass at St.
[5:39] SPEAKER_03: Patrick's Cathedral tomorrow.
[5:41] SPEAKER_03: I would love to have you attend, if for no other reason than to see you smile again.
[5:53] SPEAKER_02: Bobby had a layover in New York, so she took him up on it.
[5:57] SPEAKER_03: One sheep is lost, and as our Lord tells the story, the shepherd left the 99 and went in search of the one that was lost.
[6:07] SPEAKER_03: He went through crags and thorns and woods to find the lost sheep.
[6:13] SPEAKER_03: When he finds the lost sheep, he puts it on his shoulders, brings it back into the house, and asks his neighbors to rejoice because he found it.
[6:22] SPEAKER_03: He never put any of the 99 on his shoulders.
[6:26] SPEAKER_03: It was only the lost sheep for which he did that.
[6:38] SPEAKER_02: Something in his words moved her deeply.
[6:42] SPEAKER_02: After mass, Bobby waited for Sheen on the New York City sidewalk, eager to speak with him.
[6:48] SPEAKER_03: I had a feeling you would come today.
[6:54] SPEAKER_06: And I'm so glad I did, father.
[6:58] SPEAKER_03: Bobby, I want you to have this.
[7:01] SPEAKER_05: What a beautiful crystal pendant.
[7:05] SPEAKER_03: Is that a a mustard seed?
[7:08] SPEAKER_03: A bit of a heavy hand in the metaphor department, but I hope you'll permit me.
[7:15] SPEAKER_05: I'll cherish it forever.
[7:20] SPEAKER_02: And she did.
[7:21] SPEAKER_08: So after all that time working, did he retire and play golf?
[7:26] SPEAKER_02: Hardly.
[7:27] SPEAKER_02: Though he struggled the last ten years of his life with heart disease, he kept traveling, speaking, and writing.
[7:33] SPEAKER_02: Nobody else in the Catholic world even came close to his output.
[7:39] SPEAKER_02: His book royalties and television fees went to the Mission Society.
[7:42] SPEAKER_02: Ten million dollars by some estimates.
[7:45] SPEAKER_02: But again, it was always about the people.
[7:47] SPEAKER_02: And he never stopped working for them.
[7:49] SPEAKER_02: At one point, after having open heart surgery, Bishop Sheen was confined to his bed for months.
[8:00] SPEAKER_07: I'd tell you to rest, hon, but you wouldn't listen.
[8:05] SPEAKER_07: How you taught four converts and witnessed two marriages from this bed.
[8:10] SPEAKER_07: Laudie, I will never know.
[8:13] SPEAKER_03: The horizontal apostolate may sometimes be just as effective as the vertical.
[8:19] SPEAKER_07: Oh now, shh.
[8:22] SPEAKER_07: I didn't mean to upset you, sugar.
[8:25] SPEAKER_03: You didn't.
[8:26] SPEAKER_03: I've just been thinking.
[8:29] SPEAKER_03: I was a priest without being a victim.
[8:33] SPEAKER_03: When I was a priest, I thrilled at being called father.
[8:37] SPEAKER_03: But was I a victim?
[8:39] SPEAKER_03: I enjoyed the prestige of being a teacher and of appearing on radio and television.
[8:44] SPEAKER_03: I was popular, sought after, loudly applauded and a friend of all.
[8:50] SPEAKER_03: Passerby would recognize me in the street.
[8:53] SPEAKER_03: My face appeared in millions of homes.
[8:57] SPEAKER_03: But how close was I to the cross?
[9:02] SPEAKER_03: Could I say with Paul that I have been crucified with Christ?
[9:08] SPEAKER_03: Since I would not take up the cross, the Lord would lay it on my back as he laid it on Simon of Cyrene, who later came to love it.
[9:19] SPEAKER_03: I see now that the Lord was teaching me not only to be a priest, but also to be a victim.
[9:27] SPEAKER_07: You just don't be so hard on yourself.
[9:30] SPEAKER_07: You hear me?
[9:33] SPEAKER_03: Respectfully, my dear.
[9:35] SPEAKER_03: I was going easy.
[9:39] SPEAKER_02: And though a celebrity faded in popular culture, others never forgot.
[9:44] SPEAKER_02: In October 1979, Sheen met John Paul II in the sanctuary of St.
[9:49] SPEAKER_02: Patrick's Cathedral.
[9:50] SPEAKER_02: After years of exile from this special place, he came home at last.
[9:59] SPEAKER_01: Holy Father, what a joy to welcome you to New York.
[10:02] SPEAKER_01: Come.
[10:03] SPEAKER_01: You may shake hands in America, in my country, Hawks.
[10:08] SPEAKER_01: I have heard how difficult these last years have been.
[10:13] SPEAKER_01: Now I think as the vicar of Christ, I may speak for him in this.
[10:19] SPEAKER_01: Well done, my good and faithful servant.
[10:22] SPEAKER_01: You are my son, in whom I am well pleased.
[10:28] SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Holy Father.
[10:31] SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
[10:33] SPEAKER_03: I can die happy now.
[10:35] SPEAKER_03: Not too soon, I hope.
[10:37] SPEAKER_03: I want to see the Lord.
[10:39] SPEAKER_03: I have spent hours before him in the Blessed Sacrament.
[10:42] SPEAKER_03: I have spoken to him in prayer, and about him to everyone who would listen.
[10:48] SPEAKER_03: And now I want to see him face to face.
[10:53] SPEAKER_02: On the evening of December 9th, 1979, she knelt in the chapel to make his holy hour.
[11:02] SPEAKER_03: You look at me from the cross in pity and in love.
[11:07] SPEAKER_03: Your crucifix to me is not just something that happened, it is something that is happening.
[11:14] SPEAKER_03: For you are crucified in every age by every one of us who sin.
[11:19] SPEAKER_03: But it is also a promise.
[11:22] SPEAKER_03: For you never once spoke of your death without speaking of your resurrection.
[11:52] SPEAKER_02: Fulton passed away peacefully in his chapel before the Blessed Sacrament.
[11:56] SPEAKER_02: The day after the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
[12:01] SPEAKER_02: Wow.
[12:02] SPEAKER_08: What happened to the lady on the flight?
[12:04] SPEAKER_02: Bobby?
[12:05] SPEAKER_02: After coming into the church, she met the man who would be her husband at a parish dance.
[12:10] SPEAKER_08: I'm guessing there's a lesson here.
[12:12] SPEAKER_02: And what do you think it might be?
[12:14] SPEAKER_08: I need a tape.
[12:16] SPEAKER_02: If I speak in tongues, if I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, but do not have love, I'm nothing.
[12:26] SPEAKER_01: Oh.
[12:26] SPEAKER_02: You just got bibled.
[12:28] SPEAKER_02: It's great to want to use your gifts to spread the faith and make people laugh.
[12:32] SPEAKER_02: I want you to use your talents, but right now let's just keep it with your friends.
[12:38] SPEAKER_02: There's plenty of people who could use your cheer in person.
[12:42] SPEAKER_08: And isn't all the world a stage though?
[12:45] SPEAKER_08: Internet or not?
[12:47] SPEAKER_02: It's most important that we act with love to those right in front of us every day.
[12:51] SPEAKER_02: And spend time growing closer with the Lord in the Eucharist, the source of that love.
[12:56] SPEAKER_02: If that love finds root in our hearts, we can fill whatever we feel called to fill with his love.
[13:03] SPEAKER_02: But if it doesn't, everything we do in comedy, in art, in school, like a car wash, it's rootless.
[13:12] SPEAKER_02: And sooner or later, we'll be blown off track.
[13:15] SPEAKER_08: Alright.
[13:16] SPEAKER_08: I think I get it.
[13:18] SPEAKER_08: You know, you could have just said play with your sister or you're grounded and saved a lot of time.
[13:23] SPEAKER_02: And God could have created us without free will, but where's the love in that?
[13:27] SPEAKER_08: Thanks, Dad.
[13:28] SPEAKER_08: Come on, Paul.
[13:29] SPEAKER_02: Where are we going?
[13:30] SPEAKER_08: Back through the wardrobe.
[13:37] SPEAKER_08: A dragon has just flown over the treetops and landed on the beach.
[13:41] SPEAKER_08: Yes, I'm afraid he's between us and the ship.
[13:44] SPEAKER_08: Do I have to be repeat cheap?
[13:46] SPEAKER_08: I'll be repeat.
[13:48] SPEAKER_08: What's this?
[13:49] SPEAKER_08: A portal is open to the fabric of space and time?
[13:52] SPEAKER_08: It's it's who is it?
[13:55] SPEAKER_08: Lucy! It's a pleasure, Lucy.
[13:58] SPEAKER_08: And I would love to chat further about your time travel closet, but there's a small matter of the dragon.
[14:04] SPEAKER_08: Wait, am I the dragon?
[14:05] SPEAKER_08: Yes, Paul.
[14:06] SPEAKER_08: You're the dragon.
[14:08] SPEAKER_08: What's the motivation?
[14:09] SPEAKER_08: Um, death destruction of all joy.
[14:11] SPEAKER_08: You're in paradise and they put up a parking lot.
[14:14] SPEAKER_08: Just be fire.
[14:46] SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening, and make sure to tune in tomorrow for our final family game with the Buckley family.
[15:20] SPEAKER_00: My name is Alex.
[15:21] SPEAKER_07: I'm Melissa.
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: And I'm Tanner.
[15:23] SPEAKER_00: We are so excited to announce our newest series, The Little Way, a Lenten Challenge for you and your family.
[15:31] SPEAKER_00: In this series, you'll follow along with Mia and Paul Buckley as they go on a family adventure to France.
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: Each day is different, with 10 brand new Saints Alive episodes throughout the series: Sunday homilies, family games, prayers, stories from Sister Miriam James Highland and Father David Michael Moses, and so much more.
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: This is a Hallow exclusive and will launch on Ash Wednesday and go through the entirety of Lent.
[16:00] SPEAKER_00: Sign up today by clicking the link in the show notes.
[16:03] SPEAKER_00: We can't wait for you to join us on the little way.

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