Below is an excerpt from the introduction to Praying in the Presence of the Lord with Fulton Sheen , edited by Michael Dubruiel, originally published in 2002.
Excerpts from the book will be published in this space over the next few weeks, in honor of Archbishop Sheen's beatification on September 24, 2026.
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I still remember walking into the living room of our family’s home in Winchester, New Hampshire, and seeing my father transfixed in front of the television set watching a bishop preach. My father, not easily impressed, clearly was, by this man’s preaching. The year was 1975. A local station out of Massachusetts was broadcasting reruns of the famous “Life Is Worth Living” series of Bishop Sheen’s that had originally aired from 1951 to1957, first on the DuMont Network, and later on ABC to a national audience. At the time I do not remember personally being that taken by the bishop; but the fact that my father was, left its impression on me.
My introduction to Archbishop Sheen came about in the last year of his life. At that time I was serving in the United States Army and had just been sent to serve a one-year tour of duty in Turkey at a small military outpost there. Upon my arrival I went to the Chaplain’s Office and inquired if he might have any Catholic reading material. He replied that he did not but that the previous chaplain who happened to have been a Catholic priest had left behind a set of tapes. I was free to have them if I wanted them.
The tapes were recordings of a retreat that Archbishop Sheen had given to priests.
Bored at the time, I figured that I would give them a hearing, | could never have imagined the effect they would have on me, From the very first talk 1 found myself won over. Here was a Catholic who knew the Scriptures and preached with authority. Here was a man of God!
1 listened to the tapes over and over, amazed that no matter how many times | played them how new the material seemed to me, From that day forward I sought out every book and tape by Bishop Sheen that | could get my hands on, devouring them in my spare moments in that faraway land, I made a vow that upon my return to the United States in December of 197,9 1 would search out Bishop Sheen.
Ironically, upon my assignment to a military base in Virginia, the first night there | was shocked to hear on the news that Fulton Sheen had died. I would never get the chance to meet him in person, on this earth anyway. But I felt that he was now more present to me than he ever could have been while still alive.
Even though no one had declared him a saint, I often sought his intercession and found that this often met with favorable results. | had no doubt that Fulton Sheen was someone who had used his God- given gifts to the greater honor and glory of God, ‘Truly he was a modern-day golden-tongued preacher like St. John Chrysostom,
