Fulton Sheen’s call for ‘moral revival’ still moves us— and we need it more than ever

Life is worth living.

Such a simple truth, and yet it was the title of a wildly popular television show that ran some 70 years ago.

It was shot in black and white, unscripted, starring a host who used little more than chalk and a blackboard, a cape and his sharp eyes, locked tightly on the camera, to deliver piercing truths.

That star was Fulton Sheen, who last week was beatified as a saint-in-waiting of the Roman Catholic Church.

At its peak, Sheen’s show garnered tens of millions of weekly viewers — and once beat out Lucille Ball for an Emmy Award.

Extraordinary.

Fulton Sheen died almost half a century ago, and yet his message and witness are needed, and arguably appreciated, now more than ever.

Look no further than the Canadian video that went viral this week romanticizing euthanasia, euphemized as “Medical Aid in Dying,” now one of the leading causes of death for our neighbors to the north.

No question: People today desperately need to hear that life is indeed worth living.

And look to Sheen’s Thursday beatification ceremony, where tens of thousands of primarily young people gathered to celebrate him, to see how many are responding to his call.

I was privileged to be mere feet from the altar, and it felt like briefly grazing Heaven.

The joyous occasion was a testament to the enduringly powerful witness of Fulton Sheen — one the world over still very much needs.

The Church needs Fulton Sheen, most especially his exemplary clarity and conviction in delivering unpopular truths.

He was a mass-media “fisher of men,” credited with more than 40,000 conversions through his pioneering television and radio programming, at a time when Catholicism faced prejudice and suspicion in the US.

That number is doubtless greater now, as his concise yet warm and compassionate communication style lends itself perfectly to young Americans’ clip-based conversations.  

Priests need Fulton Sheen — and my goodness, do they love him.

Last week’s beatification procession of approximately 1,000 beaming young priests took almost an hour.

Sheen modeled a masculine formality that’s clearly an inspiration for a younger generation of Catholic clerics.

I jokingly dubbed them the “cassock bros,” because I struggled to find even one young priest at the beatification who wasn’t wearing the more formal, floor-length black outer garment that fell out of popularity after Vatican II.

But Sheen’s cape, lace and impeccable style were Catholic formalism at its best: They signaled pride in his office, and pride in the faith.

Men need Fulton Sheen’s masculine example and his constant message of encouragement to strive toward holiness.

Women, too, need Fulton Sheen, who warned of feminism’s false promises and reserved his highest praise for motherhood.

His episcopal motto was devoted to the mother of God: Da per matrem me venire — Grant that I may come to you through your mother.

And we all need his countercultural example.

Sheen was an early supporter of civil rights, and a fierce opponent of communism.

He called the latter “the scavenger of a dying civilization” and warned that communism only enters a culture “when it begins to rot from the inside.”

His railings against Nazism and communism even earned him a file with the FBI at one point. 

But they merit our attention once more.

With bastions of civilization like marriage and respect for human dignity in decline, and moral relativism on the rise, truly the West needs Fulton Sheen at this moment.

Rampant materialism, human exploitation and hyper-individualism leave us vulnerable to totalitarianism — or as Sheen once wrote, “Unbounded license leads to unbounded tyranny.”

We can see the effects already as younger Americans increasingly cozy up to socialism, forgetting that it lies at the root of some of humanity’s greatest suffering.

That makes the rebirth of interest in Fulton Sheen all the more important.

For Millennials and Gen Z, as for their grandparents decades ago, Sheen’s winsome cheer and humor make him impossible not to love. 

The portrait unveiled during the beatification Mass depicted him with a grin and a piece of chalk in his hands.

It’s almost as if he’s gesturing, Uncle Sam-style — as if to say, “I want you.”

Fulton Sheen will be forever remembered for the message that God wants you.

Because your life is worth living.

Ashley McGuire is a senior fellow with the Catholic Association and co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show “Conversations with Consequences.”