When Bishop Sheen appeared in Portland. A sequel.
Bishop Fulton Sheen was Beatified last week, reaching a status on the road to potential sainthood that confirms his presence in heaven.
The local angle
ENHANCED INFORMATION – Hibernian Jack Lynch checked in after reading Blessed Bishop Sheen. The (almost) Saint. “Mike Heffernen and I graduated from Central Catholic in 1958. Bishop Sheen, at the peak of his popularity, gave the commencement address. Needless to say, tickets were highly sought after.”
Thanks, Jack. A virtual trip to The Oregonian morgue was productive.
The visit of the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York was kind of a big deal in Portland in early June of 1958. When Bishop Fulton Sheen came to town The Oregonian knew a star when it saw one. Covering the stars sold newspapers. Coverage of the Bishop’s trip was thorough.
A funny thing happened at Portland Airport on June 8, 1958, the night Auxiliary Bishop Fulton Sheen arrived in advance of his commencement speech at the Central Catholic High School graduation the next day.
The five-year run of his television show - Life Is Worth Living on ABC - ended the year before. But, as Jack points out, he was at the height of his fame. He was easily the best-known Catholic priest in America. Celebrity influencer is what he’d be called in 2026.
Due to his celebrity, reporters were on hand when he landed at Portland Airport (not International yet). But His Excellency was tired. "There was tension in the terse answers...the reporters were trying too hard, asking complex questions he wasn’t prepared to deal with in ten-word answers,” wrote Gerry Pratt, a reporter at the time for the Oregonian.
A small boy interrupted the give-and-take in the airport Rotunda, asking the Bishop who he was and what he was doing.
“I am Bishop Fulton Sheen and these men are reporters. They are asking me questions, that’s what we are doing. How would you like to be interviewed?”
“Some of the warmth that has made the man famous began to show in his eyes,” wrote Pratt.
“Tell me,” he said, turning his compete attention to the boy and trying to hold back a smile, “what do you think about the political situation in Poland? Or give me your opinion of the religious situation in Paris. What’s happening in Russia?”
When the boy caught in the spotlight said “I don’t know,” Bishop Sheen counselled him.
“You never tell the press you don’t know. ‘I don’t know” is the one thing they never print,” he said.
That was a Page One story that Sunday in the Oregonian with a large photograph above the fold. It kicked off four days' worth of coverage. Bishop Sheen’s address to the 222 Central Catholic graduates at the Portland Auditorium (now the Keller) drew more than 5,000 people. On Monday the newspaper ran a long version of its broadcasting column (Behind the Mike) devoted to the Bishop’s broadcasting career. (He had just stopped doing his weekly Life is Worth Living show after 5 years in prime time on ABC. “I had no script writers. I had to do it all myself week after week. I have so much to do week after week. It’s very difficult running an office that receives 4,000 letters a day from all over the world.”)
Reruns of Bishop Sheen’s program are still running on television. Starting in 2009, his shows were being re-broadcast on the EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network's Church Channel cable networks.
What’s in a name
Martin Sheen in 2011 with the editorial staff of Saint Anthony’s Messenger.
From Hibernian Katie Hennessy - “Martin Sheen took his last name instead of Estevez to honor Fulton Sheen. Therefore, Charlie Sheen carried on that tradition I reckon...”
Katie is correct.
Check out this unlikely lead the other day in The Irish Times: The grandson of Rosscommon emigrants who inspired an American actor to take the professional name Martin Sheen was beatified in the US city of St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday.
Here’s how and why Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez took the stage name of Martin Sheen when he arrived in New York in 1959.
As a boy, Martin Sheen watched Fulton J. Sheen’s groundbreaking Catholic television broadcasts. The future bishop was a familiar face in American homes, delivering talks on faith, morality and Catholic teaching with a striking presence that captured the young actor’s imagination. He was a TV star. Go figure,” Martin Sheen recalled. “He had prime time, half hour every Tuesday night on one of the major networks,” reported EWTN. You can read the whole story, including how the two men met, HERE.
Martin Sheen’s mom was born in County Tipperary. Her brother fought in the Irish War of Independence and with the Anti Treaty IRA in the Irish Civil War. Sheen has said he’s proud of his uncle and his Irish heritage. (That’s a full column in itself. Stay tuned.)
M. Sheen has also said he wishes he never dropped his real name when he went into show business. Not because he regretted taking the Bishop’s surname as his own, but because he abandoned the name his parents gave him. He never officially changed his name, he just took a stage name, he has said. He talked his son Emilio out of changing his name, but his son Charlie followed his example. All is explained in this article.
This is from The Oregonian of June 10, 1958. After his appearance at the Central Catholic graduation Bishop Sheen sat down with the newspaper’s Radio and TV columnist for an in-depth interview about his other business: broadcasting.