Today's beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen is above all a recognition of his holiness. Here was a man of deep spiritual faith, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and an extraordinary zeal for the salvation of souls. Sheen carried out an unprecedented work of evangelisation, but aside from his spiritual success he also achieved a prominence and influence which marked a unique moment in American history.
While Sheen’s radio programme, The Catholic Hour, had been on the airwaves for decades, it wasn’t until the advent of his television show Life is Worth Living in 1952 that he became a household name across America. The DuMont television network was looking for something to fill what it expected to be a no-hoper slot every Tuesday evening competing with the comedian Milton Berle on NBC and the legendary Frank Sinatra on CBS.
