Sheen, Fulton John

Sheen, Fulton John, 1895–1979, American Roman Catholic clergyman, b. El Paso, Ill., grad. St. Viator College, Bourbonnais, Ill. (B.A., 1917; M.A., 1919). He studied at the Catholic Univ. of America (B.A., 1920), the Univ. of Louvain (Ph.D., 1923) in Belgium and the Univ. of Rome (D.D., 1924). Ordained a priest in 1919, he joined (1926) the faculty of Catholic Univ. He was appointed national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith (1950), titular bishop (1951) of Caesariana, N.Y., bishop (1966) of Rochester, N.Y., and titular archbishop (1969) of Newport, England. Bishop Sheen was known for his attacks on Communism, Freudianism, and birth control and his support of compulsory religious exercises in schools. An outstanding orator, he had large radio and television audiences. He was the author of numerous books, including The Cross and the Crisis (1938), Communism and the Conscience of the West (1948), Life Is Worth Living (5 vol., 1953–57), Life of Christ (1958), The Power of Love (1965), Guide to Contentment (1967), and Children and Parents (1970).