Book: My Uncle Fulton Sheen

My Uncle Fulton Sheen, by Joan Cunningham Sheen and Janel Rodriguez - Ignatius Press 2020

The niece of the greatest preacher in the English language to date shares her memories of growing up with her uncle. The easy to read work is full of homey and attractive details. A friend on reading it declared "this man was a saint".

Her uncle comes across as priestly and full of humanity. The book is a perfect gift for priests.

What is not so commonly known are the contradictions which Archbishop had to endure. Often people would approach him in the street to insult him because they did not like what he was saying on television.

His response was always one of gratitude. Sometimes he offered to meet the person for coffee to discuss the matter further, and occasionally his approach resulted in a conversion and even a confession. Every apostolic opportunity was seized to care for souls.

Cases of Leprosy in New York are mentioned, as are the 20,000 letters a day which Archbishop would receive. His broadcast earned 26,000 dollars per programme as he was listened to by millions. All of this went to the missions.

One hopes one day he could be named the patron saint of social communications
.