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"Sheen is Still Relevant" : Guest Post by Emily Hurt of Theological-Librarian

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In this month of celebrating all things Fulton Sheen, I’m delighted to share a guest post today from a very young blogger who admires and write about Peoria’s own Venerable Fulton Sheen.


Recent college graduate Emily Christine Hurt  writes about Fulton Sheen and other topics (including her job search) at Theological-Librarian.

I first encountered Emily’s writings on the Facebook page for the Catholic Bloggers Network.  Even though she writes about Fulton Sheen prolificially, I have to say that one of my favorite posts is when she describes an interview at the Library of Congress.  That’s partly because my husband and I married at St. Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill, adjacent to the Library of Congress, but also because I secretly I would love to be a librarian and find that a cool profession.


Emily, thank you for guest posting today, and sharing your love of Fulton Sheen.

About me and my blog:


I’m a 2012 graduate of Christendom College with a Bachelor’s in Theology.  I love Fulton Sheen, and if I were to ever pursue further theological studies, I would like to focus on Sheen.  I was born and raised mostly in Louisville, Kentucky, but lived in California for eight years.  I came back to the East Coast to go to Christendom College, in Front Royal, VA.  My work-study job in college was as a library page and desk attendant.  Since I loved it so much (enough to name my blog “Theological-Librarian” ),  I spent the first couple of months after college looking specifically for a library job that does not require a Master’s Degree.  Now I am now looking for any job that I can find.  I am also discerning whether graduate school is for me.
I started blogging in April/May 2011 while wrestling with the problem of suffering and our beloved History Professor’s cancer diagnosis.  For reasons still unknown to me, I felt the need to get my thoughts out to a bigger audience than just my journal.  
A lot of those earlier posts were more personal—they would only interest my friends or the Christendom College community—and frankly, I’m a little embarrassed when I look back at some of them.  Caroline Pollock, over at My Daily Diatribes also inspired me to blog and share my thoughts about something that was touching both of us. 

How I met Sheen and why I love him:

I first heard about Sheen in 2003, probably through some cassette tapes by Fr. Groeschel that my mother was listening to at the time. That Christmas, I read my first Sheen book, Life of Christ.  I was impressed by his writing style, his emphasis on the centrality of the Cross, and his unique explanation of Our Lord’s words to Nicodemus, the Beatitudes, and more.
I kind of fell in love after that, and read everything I could get my hands on by Sheen: Peace of Soul, Go to Heaven, This is Rome, This is the Holy Land, These are the Sacraments, The Way to Inner Peace.  His books on the priesthood (Those Mysterious Priests and The Priest is Not His Own) gave me a strong admiration of and respect for the holy priesthood.
My sophomore year in college (Spring 2010), I had to write a History paper about someone who influenced modern history.  I first chose Jacques Maritain, for I don’t know what reason (I stink at philosophy), but then got permission to write on Sheen, even though someone else in my section was also writing on him.  
In my paper, I said Sheen influenced history through: a) his anti-Communism, 2) his tele-evangelization, and 3) his missionary work with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.  My History Professor (not the Awesome one mentioned often on my blog) told me about Thomas Reeves’ biography of Sheen, America’s Bishop, which I used in my paper and read for enjoyment.
I realized how much I loved Sheen, declared my major (Theology), and determined to write my Senior Thesis on Sheen.
During the last semester of my Junior Year (Spring 2011), because of many events in the life of the college (two of our chaplains leaving due to ill-health within 3 days, and our beloved History Professor getting cancer), I began to wrestle with the problem of suffering.  I waded through pages and pages of Sheen during Summer 2011, particularly his words on the redemptive nature of suffering.  I tried to internalize those words  and to believe that this would all turn out okay.  This helped me not to ask “Why?” too much.
By August 2011, I’d narrowed down my broad topic of “something from Sheen’s writings” to: a) his Christology, 2) his views on the priesthood, specifically on the priest as a victim, 3) suffering, or 4) the Mass.  I even thought in my over-ambition about going through Sheen’s books chronologically to see how his Christology developed.
By September 2011, however, I had chosen my final topic: “Redemptive Suffering in the Theology of the Servant of God Archbishop Fulton John Sheen.”
In Chapter One, I looked at Sheen’s view of Christ as a Savior who came to suffer, and not just a moral reformer, and at his presentation of the Cross as always present in Our Lord’s Life in his masterful Life of Christ.  In Chapter Two, I looked at Sheen’s writings on the sufferings of the Mystical Body, how they resemble the sufferings of Christ, the intensity of love and hate directed toward both Christ and His Church, and how the world hates the Church because She teaches that suffering can be redemptive.  In Chapter Three, I looked at how Sheen views the Cross as the symbol of suffering, and love and the Crucifix (the cross + Christ) as the solution to the problem of suffering.
 I concluded by saying that Sheen is still relevant, because men will always have to suffer, and Sheen’s answer to the problem of suffering will always be relevant.  (This response  was partially to answer a college chaplain telling me that  Sheen was “outdated.”)
Why I write about Sheen on my Blog:
I love Fulton Sheen, I find inspiration in his writings; and reading Sheen has helped me to grow in my faith.  This past summer, I turned to my blog as a means of explaining for my own benefit and that of my friends Sheen quotations that puzzled my friends or people on the Fulton Sheen Facebook page.  I want to spread that love and explain some of his tricky statements—similar to what are known as the “hard sayings” of Our Lord—such as his argument that “We become like that which what we love,” and the assertion that “Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them.”  This last quote is part one of a series, “God is Not the Author of Your Heartbreak,” with Part Two on Sheen’s words that God “kept a small sample of [the human heart] in heaven,” and Part Three on how love can transform our pain.
As I end all my posts on Theological-Librarian, borrowing from Archbishop Sheen:  God Love You!

The Quotable, Venerable Fulton Sheen: On Procrastination

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God has promised men pardon if they are penitent, but not if they procrastinate.

Fulton Sheen, Peace of Soul.

There are so many great quotes from Fulton Sheen that I am posting a selection here and there this month.   You can read some of the prior quotes here  and here , or you can search the “Fulton Sheen” label and all the quotes will come up.

I have some of my own quotes, but the wonderful and sadly out of print The Quotable Fulton Sheen (I reviewed it in my September column here) has a lot of great ones to share, as well.

Worth a Listen: 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman (The Unashamed Version)

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(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise “worth a listen”)


I often catch up on blogs on our first generation iPad after reading to the kids at night.  The only downside is that it makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to leave a comment.  This is fine because I am often just doing a quick check-in, but frustrating when I do want to comment.

Recently, on a post I can’t now locate on Dorian Speed’s blog (yes, that’s her real name!), various commenters, mostly fellow Catholic bloggers, admitting (some in a sheepish way) that they can’t abide Christian music.  This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this sheepishness, and it just makes me laugh.  There are a lot of people who say Christian music makes them crazy.

When I read these kind of comments or see those kinds of posts, I think, man, I am just not cool enough for school.

You see, just started here on the blog in the last few weeks “Worth a Listen” to specifically feature Christian and Catholic artists, songs that our family loves.

And so I wanted to comment, (perhaps in a whisper,) um, hey, some people really, truly, like Christian music, and find it helpful in their faith and family life.  But I also feel a wee bit embarrassed because so many people have such an aversion to it.

Then I thought, you know what?  I’m letting my freak flag fly.  Not ashamed anymore.

I’m a sold-out, singing-along-with, iTunes library full-of, Christian music fan.  I was CCM (that’s contemporary Christian music) before CCM was even considered nerdy.  I’m a total, 100 percent, Christian music geek here, and proud of it.

I’m sure I will be writing a lot more about my love of CCM in coming weeks and how it can co-exist with an intelligent, robust Catholic faith life.

For this week, I decided to feature a very popular song right now on Christian radio, Matt Redman’s “10,000 Reasons.”  Here’s what I love best about it:  when it comes on in the minivan, hearing my kids sing along (and one, who shall remain nameless, sing in a fake Australian accent): “Bless the Lord, oh my soul.”

Quotable, Venerable Fulton Sheen: On Anti-Semitism

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For a Catholic, to be anti-Semitic is to be un-Catholic.

–Fulton Sheen, Love One Another. 

There are so many great quotes from Fulton Sheen that I am posting a selection here and there this month.   You can read some of the prior quotes here  and here , or you can search the “Fulton Sheen” label and all the quotes will come up.

I have some of my own quotes, but the wonderful and sadly out of print The Quotable Fulton Sheen (I reviewed it in my September column here) has a lot of great ones to share, as well.

Sheen Mass of Thanksgiving, Part 3: Wrapping Up and Keeping it Real

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This is my final wrap-up post about the Mass of Thanksgiving for Fulton Sheen.  You can read Part 1 here about before the Mass (perhaps destined to be known hereafter as “the mantilla post”?), and Part 2 about the Mass itself here.

This is basically the keepin’ it real edition, to explain some of the back story and to make fun of myself, share a family joke, and have an epiphany about online life and camaraderie and perspective.  I am definitely increasing the drama level here for effect, and I hope that works.  Perhaps it is only helpful to me, but I’m going to share it anyway.  Here it is:

No one tells me anything.

I’m not sure exactly how it came about, but since I’m from a big family, some of us became fond of complaining this to parents or other siblings, once we were mostly grown and away at college or starting careers.  Mom & Dad, you’re going to New York to visit another sister?  Someone got into law school?  Someone has a new boyfriend?

All purpose response: “No one tells me anything!”

Fortunately this had become a family joke before most of us started having children, so we had a very strict unspoken protocol of personally talking to each sibling when a new baby was on the way.

And no other sibling could spill the beans.  This meant that to avoid awkward conversations around that time, if you had heard from a pregnant sister (or sister-in-law), you usually didn’t answer the phone for a few days to be sure you weren’t going to get a different sibling who might not have heard the news yet.  Which would be me because… pause for effect here… No one tells me anything!

These days my siblings and I use the expression with each other because we are all almost too busy to keep in touch.  It’s also helpful to use if I am feeling left out about something with friends or those close to me, I  say that to myself, since it usually makes me laugh and realize that it’s not the case, and I need to just plug on and be positive.

As perspective on what I’m going to share, keep in mind that I wasn’t officially “covering” the Mass or the Sheen weekend events for The Catholic Post.  I’m a freelancer for The Post, writing my column and this blog. So I’m not in the know about every Catholic event, but I do like to sometimes write here on Reading Catholic about events from my own perspective.

So being out of the loop for me is not necessarily a bad or unusual thing–I’ve got my specialty here with books, and in general I like to stick to it.

My first “no ones tells me anything” moment when I found out that Lisa Hendey and a few other Catholic people I know online were coming to Peoria for the Sheen weekend.

I had another “no one tells me anything” moment after I saw late Saturday that there was some kind of reception at the Sheen Museum on Saturday night.  And there were Lisa Hendey and Alexis Walkenstein (of The Maximus Group), hanging out and having fun just a few miles away.

And what was I doing?  I was in my pjs, sprawled out with kids and dog, watching Love It or List It while also checking Facebook on my ancient iPad.  Nearby, my husband Joseph read something intelligent.  I am a morning person, so my brain shuts off around 8 p.m.  Love it or List It is just about right then.

I know this actually is exactly what I wanted to be doing then, but still… I can do that next Saturday night!  Tonight my online friends are having fun in the same area code as me.

Not only am I melancholic and insecure when it comes to online friends, but apparently I am also prone to jealousy and possessiveness.

I had one of those moments when when Brandon Vogt tweeted that he was going to see his “friend Monsignor Soseman,” and I thought, hey there, Monsignor Soseman was my friend first.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Brandon Vogt, Joseph and I were friends with Monsignor Soseman when there wasn’t an Internet.  We were friends with him back when you were probably still in grade school, young one!

Then I had my epiphany.

When you’re feeling “no one tells me anything,” remember: it’s okay.  You’re part of the family.

We are all part of the same Catholic online family, and I don’t have to know everything, and neither do you.  If I don’t know about some cool conference or some great reception (even in my own area code!), it’s all good.

Just like my siblings are always my siblings, we are all family no matter what.

If you’re in the Catholic online community, you’re part of the tribe–there’s no secret handshake or code.  (And if there is, you can just keep it to yourself, because that’s not the tribe I’m talking about).  I’m part of this, and so are you, however small our impact or own little corner.

When I reach out to other Catholic in online forums like Twitter or seek guest writers or feature some great bloggers, online friendships grow and flourish.  Some day those may and have lead to real-life meetings and most won’t, but we are all part of that same Catholic faith and support each other.

So if you are a Catholic blogger or Twitter person and feel left out or not in the loop when you see people posting photos or seemingly having a great time at a conference, or getting lots of comment or …..fill in your own blank here.  We all have our insecurities.  Just remember you’re not alone, and I feel the same.

After my epiphany, I got out of my “no one tells me anything” mood (and my pjs) by Sunday morning when it was time for Mass.

Of course I was genuinely thrilled to see Lisa Hendey, who I haven’t seen in several years.  She is just delightful and upbeat in person, as she is on her terrific Catholicmom.com, as well as her always-encouraging writing for Faith & Family Live.

Here we are with the aforementioned Brandon Vogt, whose energy and output rivals that of Sheen.

I also loved getting to meet Alexis Walkenstein of The Maximus Group, who is just as cute and endearing in person as she is online, but curses, I didn’t get a photo of her.

I also got to see a lot of local friends, some that I see often and some that I don’t.  Quite a few have blogs that are featured on the sidebar here, Catholic, Local and Online.  Many of them have done their own excellent blogging about the Sheen Mass.  Here are just a few of the bloggers who were there, and please let me know me if I left anyone out, and I will update here.  I am linking to their Sheen Mass post if they have one:

*Britta of “By Prayer and Petition.”

*Marie of “Help Them to Heaven.” 

*”I Wonder Why.” 

*”Stumbling on the Way to Emmaus.”

And Bonnie Engstrom of A Knotted Life.  Especially if you feel you may have had a tough day, head over to Bonnie’s post about her family’s experiences during the Mass. (Kind of makes me a little sheepish about those “no one tells me anything” moments).

As many know, their son James Fulton’s recovery after 61 minutes not breathing after birth is what is technically called the “alleged miracle” being put forth for Sheen’s beatification.

During the Mass, my husband asked me several times, “Where are Bonnie and Travis?”  I kept looking, but never did see them until after the Mass, but didn’t hear about their travails with Travis’ shirt and tie, nursing baby and so forth, until I read about it on Bonnie’s blog.  Here’s the photo I snapped of Travis and James Fulton after the Mass, Travis by this time being minus his more formal wear.

Hey! There’s Tom Dermody, the editor of The Catholic Post, just behind James. I did get a photo of him after all.  Here is his CNS story about the Sheen Mass.

The Engstroms were also popular with the Catholic (and other) papparazzi. I couldn’t resist getting a photo of that.

I also got to visit with the talented and energetic Brandon Vogt.  I even took a photo of him with Monsignor Soseman.

But remember,  Brandon, he was my friend first.

What’s your best memory of the Sheen Mass?

Do you have an epiphany about Catholic online life to share?

What do you think about mine?

Sheen Mass of Thanksgiving, Part I: Before the Mass

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As I’ve mentioned already, the Mass of Thanksgiving for Archbishop Fulton Sheen being named Venerable held here in Peoria on Sunday was truly amazing.

I wanted to share some personal photos from the morning, some taken with my iPhone and some (that would be the really good ones) taken by my husband Joseph on his Canon.  Because there is so much to share, this will be split into several posts.
My goals here are: 1. to introduce you to some Peoria diocesan people who are worth knowing, 2. to explain some Catholic culture and the interesting world of papal orders, and 3. to have fun exploring the sights, personalities and emotions around the Mass itself.

First, there was a lot of media interest in the Mass.  Here is Bishop Jenky being interviewed by local newscaster Anna Yee (here’s the link to her story):

Our family arrived early for the Mass, and I dropped off our children in the St. Thomas More Chapel, which held overflow seating for the Mass.   Most of St. Mary’s Cathedral was filled with ticketholders, and I’m not sure how those were obtained, but there was room for various people in overflow places.  People I knew who were there were split pretty evenly between those who had tickets and those who didn’t.
Another family agreed to let our kids be with their family, since Joseph and I were to be in the procession.  I’m so grateful to them (hi Lucy and Rick!), because although our kids are old enough to be at Mass by themselves, it was nice to know they were covered.  I was also relieved that also in the Thomas More chapel  was another family that are pretty much family to us.
Here’s a stained glass portrait of St. Thomas More, just outside the chapel itself.
The reason that Joseph and I were in the procession is that we are both members of the (yes, this is the real name) Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (EOHSJ hereafter).  You can read about the founding of the Order here.  
How did we come to be members of this order?  Nine years ago (interestingly, when I was pregnant with our youngest), our former Bishop, John Myers, nominated us.   He is now the Archbishop of Newark, NJ, but was in Peoria for the Mass and, a few days before, to celebrate 25 years as a bishop. After we accepted, we had our investiture with a large group at the cathedral in Indianapolis, where the annual conference was held that year. 
I could write tons about the EOHSJ, but since that would be a completely new post, I will resist.  Among the many expectations, I consider three to be most important and what we focus on:  to pray daily for the peace of Jerusalem, to support Christians in the Holy Land, and to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  Joseph and I have not yet made our pilgrimage.  My desire is for our whole family to go on a Footprints of God pilgrimage (hosted by Steve & Janet Ray) once all our kids are teenagers.  I keep announcing it and putting away funds for it, so I hope it will really happen in a few years for us.
The either cool or slightly awkward part of being in EOHSJ is that we have ceremonial dress.  
Here’s another one of the Ladies in her ceremonial robe and behind her, one of the Knights in his ceremonial robe.  This particular Lady’s name was Judy and she has a great sense of humor, so we had a lot of fun that morning.
You’ll notice the mantilla. 
Allow me a short digression here: 
I’ve been in Facebook and real-life conversations with young mommy bloggers about mantillas, as a strangely large number  have written or talk in the past few years about wanting to start wearing a mantilla or headcovering at Mass.  I find this completely fascinating, since I don’t share the desire at all.  I share my own story that, as someone who is occasionally required to wear a mantilla, I don’t recommend it for regular use.
That is just me.  Intellectually, I’m okay with whatever a woman wants to do.  But at the same time, the conversations have been pretty candid (with me saying things like, “No! No mantillas! No!”).  That is definitely a completely different post, and I think Simcha Fisher or some other smart young blogger has already covered this topic and related issues in depth.
So as we were getting into our robes before the Mass, I tweeted to @BonnieEngstrom (who was in one of the online conversations along the way) something along the lines of “Putting on my mantilla for you! :-)”  My awkward attempt at mantilla humor.
Here I am, in mantilla, ready to process.  Notice my iPhone ready to snap photos.  Also notice the Jerusalem cross on the robe, an ancient symbol and one of the main insignia of the Order.
One nice part of being in EOHSJ is that when we are participating in a liturgy, we process and get to be with the celebrants beforehand, usually the bishop and some variety of priests and monsignors. Our family has a lot of priest friends, and so this is a nice chance to catch up and visit.  
Here is Joseph with Monsignor Stephen Rohlfs, now rector of Mount St. Mary’s seminary.  He’s a priest of the diocese of Peoria, and one of Joseph’s oldest local friends and theologian mentors.  
Okay, now this is going to get confusing, if you weren’t confused already.  You will notice that Joseph is not wearing the EOHSJ ceremonial dress.  That’s because he actually outranks us EOHSJ folks.  
When we became EOHSJ, Joseph was already a member of the Order of St. Gregory the Great. (He’s wearing the insignia of the Knighthood on his jacket).   Knights of St. Gregory the Great, who are appointed directly by the Holy Father, can also wear ceremonial dress, but aren’t required to.

You can read all about the Order on the Vatican website, and no, I don’t understand it very well, either.   Generally, people who have a long history of service to the Church are named to the Order.  Joseph received the honor at a relatively young age, and it’s my theory ( but keep in mind here I’m a lay person and not an expert here, even though I’m his wife and biased), some of it had to do with his working prayerfully and diligently as a theologian and lawyer in Catholic health care ethics and mission, a challenging field.  

Here is Dr. Clement Cunningham in the ceremonial dress (minus the hat) for the Order of St. Gregory the Great. Dr. Cunningham is a local Peoria diocesan hero and supporter of so many wonderful local and national Catholic efforts.
Here is Dr. Cunningham being helped through the corridor between the rectory and the cathedral by the kind and dear Dick LaHood, a fellow Knight of St. Gregory the Great.  
One of the tweets I sent just before the Mass was something like, “It’s really loud in here, but it’s not me, but Father Apostoli and all the priests talking.”
I meant it in a lighthearted way, and really, everyone was talking, not just Father Apostoli (sorry to single you out, Father!). My goal was to give a feel of what it was like to wait for the procession, behind the scenes.  The reason for the noise is there is a small corridor between the Rectory and the Cathedral, so with several dozen people talking, it got pretty loud.
I will stop here.  Part 2, coming tomorrow, will cover the Mass itself and what happened there.