Enduring Faith and Timeless Truths of Fulton Sheen - Mark J. Zia

Enduring Faith and Timeless Truths of Fulton Sheen (eBook)

Mark J. Zia (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
144 Seiten
Servant (Verlag)
978-1-63582-338-7 (ISBN)

'I am grateful to Mark Zia for presenting the teachings of Fulton Sheen in a way that will enrich the lives of all those seeking truth and trying to understand the challenging times we live in.' -from the foreword, by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R. In every age God raises up saints who best exemplify the virtues so needed in their day. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was one of the most loved and influential teachers in America in the twentieth century. With wisdom coupled with a wonderful sense of humor, Sheen was a master communicator who showed the way to be authentic, down-to-earth, and holy. In this new book by Professor Mark J. Zia, readers already familiar with Sheen as well as those just discovering him will better grasp his 'big picture' teachings about the faith. The result will be a greater appreciation of what it means to be Catholic and a more fervent desire to grow in holiness.

"e;I am grateful to Mark Zia for presenting the teachings of Fulton Sheen in a way that will enrich the lives of all those seeking truth and trying to understand the challenging times we live in."e; -from the foreword, by Fr. Andrew Apostoli, C.F.R. In every age God raises up saints who best exemplify the virtues so needed in their day. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was one of the most loved and influential teachers in America in the twentieth century. With wisdom coupled with a wonderful sense of humor, Sheen was a master communicator who showed the way to be authentic, down-to-earth, and holy. In this new book by Professor Mark J. Zia, readers already familiar with Sheen as well as those just discovering him will better grasp his "e;big picture"e; teachings about the faith. The result will be a greater appreciation of what it means to be Catholic and a more fervent desire to grow in holiness.

CHAPTER | ONE

Fulton J. Sheen: Teacher of the Faith

It is always a revelation of disastrous failure when people are impressed more with what a man knows than with what a man is, or more with the college from which he was graduated than with his virtue. 1

—Fulton Sheen, For God and Country

Fulton Sheen, eight years old, was serving Mass at the cathedral for Bishop John Lancaster Spalding, the first bishop of the diocese of Peoria. Spalding had attended the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and was considered “the leading Catholic educator in the period between the Civil War and the World War.”2 Young Fulton accidently dropped one of the cruets on the marble floor of the sanctuary. The cruet smashed into countless pieces with a loud crash, and some seventy years later Sheen still recounted that “there is no atomic explosion that can equal in intensity of decibels the noise and explosive force of a wine cruet falling on the marble floor of a cathedral in the presence of a bishop.”3

After Mass, the kind bishop addressed the young Fulton: “Go home and tell your mother that I said when you get big you are to go to Louvain, and someday you will be just as I am.”4

Perhaps a scolding or a public humiliation would have discouraged the boy enough to ignore his priestly vocation. In pointing out that a vocation is a far more important concern than a little accident, the bishop showed Sheen that even the most unexpected circumstances can be a means of evangelization.

In his adult life, Sheen was extremely successful in presenting the Gospel message—on radio and television and through his thirty years as a university professor. Although educational technology has advanced light years beyond his chalkboard presentations, the content and philosophical underpinnings of his preaching and teaching retain their value. His wisdom and insight can be of great benefit to clergy and laity of our era. For the bishop’s comment about his own era is perhaps even truer of our time: “Never before in history has there been so much thinking and so little coming to the knowledge of truth, so many schools and so little scholarship, so many wise men and so little wisdom, so much talking about religion and so little prayer.”5

Some of the essential attributes of an effective teacher can be gleaned by examining Sheen’s own pedagogy. His was zeal for truth, a good sense of humor, a keen awareness of his own limitations, preparedness to engage, and authenticity. By exploring some of his pedagogical underpinnings in this first chapter, we will be better prepared to read the remaining chapters in the spirit of Sheen’s own style and outlook.

THE SPLENDOR OF TRUTH

A cornerstone of education is the systematic pursuit and acquisition of truth. Sadly, many educational institutions today, from grade school through university, focus not on truth but on utility, practicality, and economic success. Sheen comments, “If there is any great characteristic of our age, it is want of zeal for truth.… There is no fire in our hearts, but only dying embers.”6

Sometimes products of this defective method of education themselves, parents may tell their children, “No, you really don’t want to major in art. You cannot do anything worthwhile with an art degree.” Or, “You should major in business, since then you can have a well-paying and practical career.” Even “good Catholic parents” might ask a young man or woman, “Why would you ever want to enter religious life? What bragging rights could we possibly have?”

The liberal arts are thrown out the window in favor of professional programs that promise high starting salaries and prestige after graduation. This is not to say that there is anything wrong with pursuing a professional degree. Sheen would be among the first to value such education, as long as students are also educated in the liberal arts and the pursuit of truth for its own sake. The things to avoid are the drive for financial gain and the need for prestigious career placement.

As for the liberal arts curriculum, Sheen also warns of the dangers when students take a hodgepodge assortment of unrelated classes simply to earn enough credits to graduate:

Students are not getting the education they ought to receive; they get only a congeries of unrelated, disconnected, and disjointed subjects, which they and no one else can put together. An encyclopedia is not educated, despite its bursting with knowledge, because it lacks the power to coordinate one subject with another. A truly educated man, on the contrary, sees a relationship between subjects…. Any system of electives which ignores the unity of knowledge and the over-all purpose of life confuses the student rather than perfects him in truth.7

The situation is complicated even more by the fact that many educational institutions today are infected with secularism and utilitarianism—to the point that Sheen asks, “Would it not be well to establish universities in this country dedicated to the purpose not of learning but of unlearning?”8 He is drawing attention to the fact that in many instances, the type of education a student receives is riddled with falsehoods and half-truths, particularly concerning a proper understanding of the human person: his origins, values, and destiny. “We might just as well put it bluntly, and say that what we call modern is only an old error with a new label. The modern view of man is wrong—completely and absolutely wrong, and if we go on following it we will end in blind alleys, frustrated hopes and unhappy existences.”9

Thus the authentic teacher may need to divest students of intellectual nonsense they have received before giving them the truth about themselves and the world around them. The focus of education must be on truth, not on political correctness and trendy theories. Above all, students need a proper introduction to Christian anthropology in order to understand and take control of their futures. For education is ultimately about growing in virtue and becoming saints of the kingdom of heaven. Sheen puts it this way:

What has complicated and intensified parental irresponsibility is the fact that most schools today assume that education consists only of the imparting of knowledge. This is an egregious error, because knowledge is only a part of education, and this means the will must be trained as well as the intellect. More important than knowledge is the formation of character, the right ordering of conscience, and the formation of personality.10

GOOD FOR A LAUGH

A truly effective preacher or educator will not be afraid to employ humor at appropriate times. Sheen certainly demonstrated its capacity to perk up an audience. He wrote, “Whether there be only five senses or fifty-seven senses, one of the most precious of them all is the one the modern world is rapidly losing, namely, the sense of humor.”11

Sheen’s humor, even when dealing with serious topics, was part of his charm, endearing him to many people. He recalls one example in his autobiography:

This reminds me of a lecture I was giving to a group of university students in Minnesota. In the question period that followed, one asked me how Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days. I answered: “I have not the vaguest idea, but when I get to Heaven, I will ask Jonah.” He shouted back: “Suppose Jonah isn’t there.” I said: “Then you ask him.”12

Another humorous exchange was at Sheen’s expense:

I gave many lectures in Philadelphia and each year for a number of years, one was given at the Town Hall. One evening I lost my way and asked a few boys for directions. They told me where it was and then they asked: “What are you going to do there?” I said: “I’m going to give a lecture.” “On what?” they asked. I did not tell them the title of the lecture but simplified it by saying: “Boys, I’m going to talk on Heaven and how to get there. Would you like to come and find out?” They said: “You don’t even know the way to the Town Hall.”13

Many other episodes of humor took Sheen quite by surprise. For example:

I finished a triduum in one parish. The church was crowded and we invited the young children to sit in the sanctuary. There were probably fifty or sixty of them under the age of ten. I went into the church about an hour before the sermon and knelt down on a prie-dieu to meditate. Afterward the sheriff of the town told me that his little daughter was among those who were in the sanctuary that night. She asked her father, “Why did the bishop kneel there looking straight at the altar so long?” “He was probably talking to God.” The little girl said: “I thought he was God.”14

Sheen recalled an instance that put him on the receiving end of someone’s impatience. Although the event may have been embarrassing, he did not hesitate to share it for its humor:

One Sunday, preaching in a parish church in Ohio, a...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	17.1.2023
Vorwort	Fr. Andrew Apostoli C.F.R.
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
ISBN-10	1-63582-338-2 / 1635823382
ISBN-13	978-1-63582-338-7 / 9781635823387

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