WOF 535: Bishop Barron on Bishop Fulton Sheen
The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture
Brandon Vogt
4.9 • 5.8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome back to the Word on Fire Show. I'm Matthew Petrusek, senior director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the Word on Fire Show. Thank you for joining us. The faithful recently rejoiced at the news that Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the great American evangelist who lived from 1895 to 1979, has moved forward in the canonization process. The Vatican recently announced that he will soon be beatified, which is one step away from being declared a saint. This is an especially happy development for Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, which, as an apostolate dedicated to evangelization, has a special devotion to Archbishop Sheen; in fact, his portrait hangs just beyond the studio doors where we are recording this show, next to our other patrons, St. Thérèse of Lisieux and Pope St. John Paul II. Looking back, what kind of enduring impact has Fulton Sheen had on evangelization and the Church? Looking forward, what can we continue to learn from him today, especially given the fact that the evangelical landscape has so drastically changed, both culturally and technologically, since Sheen's time? Here to celebrate Sheen's legacy, and how the great communicator continues to shape Word on Fire's own evangelical mission, is Bishop Robert Barron.
Topics Covered
00:00 | Introduction
01:22 | Winona-Rochester's confirmation season
02:19 | What is beatification?
04:44 | Who was Fulton Sheen?
07:15 | Sheen's theology of the Church as mystical body of Christ
11:38 | Sheen's theology of grace
15:10 | The quiet influence of Fulton Sheen in Bishop Barron's life
20:44 | The Pivotal Players: Fulton Sheen
21:59 | Examining Sheen's universal appeal
26:22 | Fulton Sheen and social media
29:49 | Word on Fire and Fulton Sheen
30:20 | Listener question: How do I best use social media to evangelize?
32:23 | Join the Word on Fire Institute
Links:
- Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/
NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to The Word on Fire show. I'm Matthew Petrusig, senior director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the Word on Fire show. |
| 0:06.0 | Thank you for joining us. The faithful recently rejoiced at the news that Bishop Fulton Sheen, the great American evangelist who lived from 1895 to 1979, has moved forward in the canonization process. |
| 0:19.5 | The Vatican recently announced that he will soon be |
| 0:21.4 | beatified, which is one step away from being declared a saint. This is an especially happy |
| 0:26.6 | development for Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, which, as an apostolate dedicated to evangelization, |
| 0:32.3 | has a special devotion to Bishop Sheen. In fact, his portrait hangs just beyond the studio doors where we are recording |
| 0:38.6 | this show right now, next to our other patrons, St. Teresa of Lusieu and St. Pope John Paul II. |
| 0:44.7 | Looking back, what kind of enduring impact has Fulton Sheen had on evangelization and the church? |
| 0:50.9 | Looking forward, what can we continue to learn from him today, especially given the fact |
| 0:55.5 | that the evangelical landscape has so drastically changed, both culturally and technologically, |
| 1:01.7 | since Sheen's time. Here to celebrate Sheen's legacy and how the great communicator continues to |
| 1:07.0 | shape Word on Fire's own evangelical mission is Bishop Robert Barron. |
| 1:21.1 | Welcome back to the studio, Bishop. Thanks, man. So today we're looking at the great |
| 1:24.9 | Bishop Fulton Sheen and celebrating his legacy and looking at his ongoing impact, not only word on fire, but on the church and culture more broadly. |
| 1:33.4 | But before we do, what have you been up to recently? |
| 1:36.2 | Well, I'm in the midst of confirmation season, which is always, it's a joy. |
| 1:40.0 | It's also a bit of a workout. |
| 1:41.6 | When I was in California, I used to do about 36 confirmations in a two-month period. So you're pretty much, you know, all the time. Here it's a little bit less, but you just do a lot of confirmations. And I go from end to end of my diocese from, you know, Wisconsin to South Dakota. So it was a lot of driving. |
| 2:02.5 | But it's always, you know, it's a great thing. |
| 2:06.7 | And it's, I think, it's important task for a bishop because you're there for these young kids to kind of symbolize the universal church. |
| 2:09.5 | And it's, you know, special for them when the bishop shows up. |
| 2:12.1 | And I always get a kick out of it. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Brandon Vogt, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Brandon Vogt and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.