Convert Maker: A New Biography of Fulton Sheen
By Stephen Rule, Intern
There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church—which is, of course, quite a different thing.
—Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
I first heard this quote from the great Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in the fall of 2021 when I was in the process of becoming Catholic. The quote really gets to the heart of Sheen’s work in evangelization. He knew from experience that what people are truly searching for is union with Christ and His Church, but misunderstanding and a faith that lacks proper explanation holds many people back from fulfilling this desire.
All of this is brought out tremendously in Cheryl Hughes’ new book Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Convert Maker.
Cheryl Hughes shows us that although he died over forty-five years ago, Fulton Sheen remains a relevant model for living out the Catholic faith and sharing it with others in the modern world. The book displays why Sheen was someone who captivated the attention of others, often reaching more non-Catholics than Catholics.
Speaking on his biggest misconceptions, Hughes sets the record straight on how Sheen is wrongly labeled as a celebrity. Nevertheless, he occupied a unique spot in Catholic media that has not been replicated before or since, with a knack for catching and keeping an audience’s attention. The historical context in which Sheen was selected as a Catholic voice for radio in the 1930s was very helpful, as I did not realize how up until then it was a time when religious radio hosts were typically out of the mainstream.
There are also many hilarious anecdotes which show Sheen’s sense of humor and the way it allowed others to connect with him through his shows and books. Hughes recounts that “If he mentioned on the air that he liked chocolate, the following week his office would be flooded with chocolate candies, cookies, and cakes. If he asked for dimes for the missions, thousands of dollars worth of dimes would arrive taped to envelopes or cards” (55). Only an apostolate that resonated with people intimately could garner such a response.
Throughout the book, Hughes wrote about several conversions that I had no previous knowledge of, such as that of Fritz Kreisler, a well-known Austrian composer and philanthropist. which I found particularly intriguing. I was surprised to learn that through this conversion, Sheen asked Kreisler to compose the opening theme for his television show Life is Worth Living. The sheer number of examples of conversions sparked by Sheen would be difficult to overlook, and they are a great example of the heroic virtue with which he lived. The corporal and spiritual works of mercy were very much alive in this great man.
Haywood Brown, Louis Budenz, and Bella Dodd are just a few of the other conversion stories sparked by Fulton Sheen that are detailed in the book. However, the conversion of Claire Booth Luce was perhaps the most impactful. I was most moved by the story of how Sheen helped to console Claire Booth Luce and give her an understanding of her daughter’s death. Sheen told her, “Perhaps it was in order that you might become a believer. In order that you might discover God’s truth. Maybe your daughter is buying your faith with her life . . . Ann’s death was the purchase price of your soul” (90).
A theme that kept coming up in the book was how Sheen was fiercely opposed to communism and saw it as antithetical to Catholicism, and was never afraid to explain why through every form of media he occupied. Sheen’s opposition to communist sentiments were held because he recognized the anti-Catholic nature of the ideology, even going so far as to write about it in his book Communism and the Conscience of the West. With that being said, Hughes puts Sheen’s views in their proper context by noting that “Msgr. Fulton Sheen was not a political man. He was neither a Democrat nor a Republican; he was a priest” (136).
Hughes offers a look at Archbishop Fulton Sheen that is very seldom spoken about yet at the heart of all that he did: Fulton Sheen never had a parish of his own, and because of this he was given a unique chance to embrace the world as his parish. He would even say, “It was very consoling to have a universal mission and to consider the world as my parish” (137).
Another favorite anecdote from the book comes from a description of Sheen given by Richard Cardinal Cushing, who described him as “a man who combined the qualities of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas: compassion and intellect, which he ingeniously combined with his charm and talent for bringing people to God” (194).
The power to win souls for Christ that Sheen possessed can still be felt to this day. As he says, “Soul-winning and society-saving are the concave and convex side of the love of God and the love of neighbor.”
Although this great archbishop died several decades before my birth, he has been one of the most influential figures I’ve turned to since my entry into the Catholic Church in 2022. I have been particularly influenced by his book Life is Worth Living and his autobiography Treasure in Clay, two of the many Sheen works that Hughes speaks about in her own book.
Hughes understands the great impact of Sheen and articulates it beautifully in saying that “Archbishop Fulton Sheen belongs to God and to his Church, and, through them, to everyone” (245). Today, Sheen has a cause for canonization and is currently recognized as Venerable. He also has an approved miracle for his beatification, which has sadly been delayed for a number of years.
This is certainly the most thorough work on the life of Fulton Sheen that I have ever had the great fortune to read, and I would recommend it to anyone with a love for this great Archbishop.
A Resounding Yes! is our podcast centered around Mary’s fiat and how we can say YES to the Lord. Listen to our episode with Cherly Hughes on Spotify here and on Apple Podcasts here.
To Purchase Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Convert Maker, visit Ignatius Press here.
Read about the transformation of The Spalding Institute, Fulton Sheen’s alma mater, at our recent blog here. For more information about Sheen’s cause for canonization, visit the website of The Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation here.
Stephen was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is a recent convert to the Catholic faith, which came about through reading the Doctors of the Church, particularly the writings of St. Augustine and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. He is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. Stephen has a great love for reading, writing and creating music and has a passion for using his gifts to share the faith with others.
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