This article was first published
in The Catholic Herald
An American Apologist
By Dwight Longenecker
I am happy to admit that
one of the less attractive elements of American
religious
culture is the televangelist. If you’ve been
to America on holiday, turned on the television
and done some channel hopping it is almost impossible
to avoid them. The hot-Protestant preachers usually
have big mouths, big budgets, big Bibles, big
bellies and wives with big hair.
American Catholics are not
to be outdone. In the very heart of America’s Bible
Belt they offer the indomitable Mother Angelica--
a Captain Pugwash lookalike with a big smile,
big wimple, big ambitions and a big budget. When
I last visited EWTN one of the workers there
told me in a twangy Alabama accent, ‘Y’know,
when Mother first came down here she and the
sisters had death threats from the Ku Klux Klan.
Meant Mother had to sleep with a shotgun under
her bed.’
Mother Angelica is certainly
an exemplar of the Church Militant. You may be
worried about her controversial style, but everyone
has to admire her tenacity, hard work, vision
and amazing success. But Mother Angelica is not
the first American Catholic to be involved in
broadcasting. The pioneer of American religious
broadcasting was not a Protestant hot gospeller,
but a devout Catholic Archbishop.
This month sees the ninety-eighth
birthday of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He was born
in the midwestern state of Illinois in 1895 and
was ordained in 1919. By 1939 Fulton Sheen had
already become a famous preacher and had founded The
Catholic Hour radio broadcast on NBC. The
programme ran for twenty two years. In 1940 preached
on the first televised religious service and
for sixteen years from 1950 he served as the
National Director for the Society for the Propagation
of the Faith. From 1951 to 1957 he hosted the
Emmy award winning TV show, Life is Worth
Living. In addition to his broadcasting work
he wrote over sixty books and dozens of articles.
Two of his books became national best sellers.
He served on the Vatican II Commission on Missions
and was appointed a bishop by Pope Paul VI in1966.
Fulton Sheen was an amazingly
gifted communicator. At the very beginning of
the media age he realised that the faith needs
to be conveyed through every means of the modern
mass media. He used books, articles, leaflets,
radio and television shows to get the message
across in a winning way. Fulton Sheen was not
a dumb American priest from hicksville. He was
highly intelligent and very educated. He held
a PhD from the University of Louvain in Belgium.
He attended the Sorbonne and was the first American
to receive the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International
Philosophy. He was also professor of philosophy
at Catholic University of America for nearly
twenty five years.
Fulton Sheen was able to
communicate the faith successfully because he not
only talked,
he listened. He knew how ordinary people spoke.
He knew what their worries and fears were. He
used their language to talk about the faith.
He used their lives to show God’s love at work.
He didn’t expect people to come up to his educational
or cultural level. He went down to theirs, and
he did so in genuine humility, humour and good
will. He was not condescending.
The secret of Fulton
Sheen’s success as an apologist and evangelist
is similar to that of another great Christian
communicator, C.S.Lewis. Lewis and Sheen are
almost exact contemporaries. Both were highly
educated, yet gifted in speaking to ordinary
people. Lewis became famous through his radio
talks during World War II, Screwtape Letters and Chronicles
of Narnia. All his work was filled with his
passion to communicate the gospel to a needy
world. Fulton Sheen was the same. From the other
side of the Atlantic he issued a flood of articles,
radio programmes, TV shows and books to help
millions understand their faith. Fulton Sheen
knew that everybody loves a story and he loved
to tell stories about how people, relationships,
families and communities were transformed by
the power of Christ’s love. He believed that
the Catholic faith was not just a set of doctrines
to be believed or a set of traditions to be kept.
Instead, the Catholic faith was vital for a happy,
successful and productive life.
Now as we are turning
the corner into the twenty first century and
the third millennium of the Christian age. The
world needs the Christian gospel as never before.
Cynicism, doubt and despair seem about to overwhelm
us. People are lost in the darkness of unbelief,
depression, fear and distrust. Pope John Paul
II calls each one of us to be involved in the
New Evangelisation. What does this mean? It means
each one of us—not just priests, monks and nuns—must
give witness to our faith. If we have communication
gifts as speakers or writers we must work hard
to use those gifts in the media.
This is the task not only of
media people. Everyone needs to speak boldly
about what Jesus Christ means to them. Examples
like Fulton Sheen show us the way to spread the
gospel effectively. There are three principles
from his life from which all of us can learn:
First, really believe that God is alive, that
he cares and that he answers prayer. Second,
speak naturally about what God has done for you.
People want to believe and they want to hear
how faith works so they can see the way. Third,
stay in touch with God so it his message you
are spreading and not just your own.
Those who have been
influenced by Archbishop Fulton Sheen are working
for his beatification and eventual canonisation.
Martin Shaw is the director of the Fulton Sheen
Foundation here in Britain. Martin is a good
example of someone who is simply getting on with
the job. He told me quite simply how Fulton Sheen’s
writings had helped kick start his spiritual
life and that in turn has encouraged me. You
can learn more about the cause and about Fulton
Sheen by writing to Martin at 43 Westminster
Palace Gardens, Artillery Row, London, SW1P 1PR.
In the meantime,
take an example from Fulton Sheen. Get involved
in the New Evangelisation. Ask God for courage
to talk about your faith. There is one final
thing: Maybe you have no faith to talk about.
Maybe God has never touched your life in a real
way. It is never too late. God wants to be a
real and powerful presence in all our lives.
There is only one thing you have to do: Ask.
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