Saint Fulton?

WITL ^ | August 30, 2006 | Ann Rodgers

[siunevada]

Heck, even my CAT is more Catholic than Kerry!

LOL!!!!

I really hope he throws his hat in the ring in 2008. Last time around was really fun. As Bugs Bunny would say, "What a maroon!"

[Macoraba]

IMO the greatest American Catholic is Christopher Columbus. I consider him to be the proto-evangelist of the New World! It all began with him!

[linda_22003]

I have seen those recently from time to time, and he's very good, isn't he? I have only very dim memories of his show from when I was a small child, and all I remember is that he frightened me - probably the dark eyebrows, his waving arms, and the "funny clothes".

[Upbeat]

I believe that the Rep. VP candidate who ran with Goldwater in 1964 was RC. Last name was Miller but I can't remember the first name. Getting old.

[PandaRosaMishima]

I too am grateful for ETWN for rerunning the good Bishop's programs. Humble or exurberant, B&W or color, I don't care, I watch them all. Sure the Bishop gets a tad flamboyant, but that is often the full fun of watching. Seriously, is Fulton Sheen's showmanship any worse than the maudlin Beg-a-thons on TBN? His cape, cross, and cassock are a cut above the shiny pretty preachers with the polyester suits, smary smiles, and three-hundred dollar haircuts. You put Bishop Sheen's words in the mouth of any of these others and the effect is just not the same. His sign-off, "God love you!" is a much-needed blessing on the dial.
My grandmother doted on Bishop Sheen, and she was Presbyterian. When my parents were courting, and my father came to pick up my mother, he'd spot the Bishop florishing that red cape and quip, "Well, there's Batman!" I am just grateful to have the chance to see him for myself.
Entertainmentearth.com said it would make a Bishop Sheen doll, or figure or whatever it is called if there was enough demand. Any takers?

[marsh_of_mists]

I had never even heard of Bishop Sheen until a few years ago, when I flipped to EWTN late one night, just to see if it was airing anything interesting, and there was this tall, striking man in archbishop's garb, in old-fashioned black-and-white. He was THE most skillful orator I had ever heard! I was amazed! It was only the next day, after googling around on the internet, that I discovered who he was. Later, I asked my grandmother about him, only to discover that she had adored his program fifty years ago. She was surprised to find out that reruns of him were airing anywhere. I don't think she'd heard anyone even mention him in decades until I came to her and asked her "Grandma, did you ever heard of Bishop Fulton Sheen?"

Fulton Sheen had higher ratings than Milton Berle at one point and yet he is now all but forgotten. In a more just world he'd be as much a household name as Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason still are. Thank God Catholics are now able to re-discover him on EWTN, if they are willing to look.

[monkapotamus]

He was powerful, brilliant, truthful, holy, and inspiring. I first saw his program several years ago and couldn't walk away from the TV for a moment.

[NYer]

I had never even heard of Bishop Sheen until a few years ago, when I flipped to EWTN late one night, just to see if it was airing anything interesting, and there was this tall, striking man in archbishop's garb, in old-fashioned black-and-white.

Hard to imagine today that only 50 years ago (yes ... only), a Catholic Bishop appeared weekly on prime television and spiritually fed an American audience.

2/12/52: Bishop Fulton J. Sheen came to TV with "Life Is Worth Living," which will ran until 1957 on the DuMont network and then ABC. In early 1953, Sheen intoned that Russian leader Joseph Stalin "must one day meet his judgment," and within a week Stalin was dead.

I asked my grandmother about him, only to discover that she had adored his program fifty years ago. She was surprised to find out that reruns of him were airing anywhere.

As a child back then, it was my grandmother who insisted that we kids watch Bishop Sheen's program each week. He was the first American "televangelist". If anything, we have Mother Angelica and her EWTN network to thank for restoring Sheen's programs to the American airwaves. Both deserve sainthood!

[wideawake]

You are correct. Sadly, his daughter is now a pro-abort radio talk show host - Stephanie Miller.

[linda_22003]

William E. Miller, from New York.

[Upbeat]

Now that you mention it, I remember that about his daughter. It is sad. I have a very clear memory of voting for the Goldwater/Miller ticket in 1964.

[wideawake]

Good for you. Too bad Goldwater became such a degenerate later in life.

[Upbeat]

I got into the booth tempted to vote for Johnson but my arm just couldn't push a Dem lever. I haven't been tempted since. I pray that my fellow Evangelicals will be as supportive of a Catholic conservative in the future as real Catholics have supported George Bush.

[CatholicLady]

This thread has more drifts than a Minnesota blizzard