Well I don't know really. Originally the boot went in from Cardinal Spellman after Sheen had the row with him. But it seems to be that the kind of hate campaign continued under its own steam long, long after Spellman's death. I believe Raymond Arroyo on EWTN referred to this as a kind of National Scandal, but I don't know the ins and outs of it.
I was looking at a photo this morning from New York in 1956 from St Vincent Ferrar Church. It shows a departures events of nine young Dominican priests going to Pakistan as Missionaries. Can you imagine such a thing today? Peoples eyes would pop out at such a thing. What has changed? Well the first thing is vocations. Nine new priests would be head lines anyway. Nine new young priests from the Dominicans , who like nearly all Religious Orders are dying on their feet. On top of this young men going to mission country of all things Islamic. It would be pretty well taken as a Death Sentence. But they went anyway and nobody seemed to think anything about it. All this died after Vatican 2, the big question being why? Why did this incredible kind of thing die out? A Church that believed in itself so much that it was pretty well buried in vocations and actually believed so much it was prepared to send young priests to an Islamic country and to their very possible deaths. https://www.dominicanajournal.org/building-churches-saving-souls/ When Brother Thomas Aquinas joined the Dominican Order at the age of 16, he never imagined that within four years he would bring the Gospel to violence-torn Pakistan. Today, if you were to run into Brother Thomas Aquinas in New York City (where he’s currently assigned), it’d be difficult to imagine just how remarkable a life he’s led as a Dominican cooperator brother. At the age of 20, Brother Thomas Aquinas Dolan knelt before Bishop Fulton Sheen to receive his blessing before traveling to Pakistan as a missionary. Bishop Sheen warned them that some of them might die over there in the service of Christ (much to the concern of the missionaries’ mothers sitting in the front row of the church). Religious violence was indeed widespread. Pakistan had just gone through a bloody partition that left hundred of thousands (if not millions) dead, while displacing even more. So Brother Thomas Aquinas took Bishop Sheen’s warning to heart. Upon arriving in Pakistan, he and his fellow friars encountered a man who frankly and directly asked if they were Christians. Fearing the worst, but affirming their faith in Jesus Christ, they confessed that they were indeed Christians. To their surprise, the man fell on the ground and began to kiss the bottom of their tunics. The man was also a Christian and was staying in a nearby refugee camp. The Christians were facing starvation because the Muslim authorities were denying them food on account of their religion. Brother Thomas Aquinas and his fellow friars quickly contacted Catholic Relief Services who in turn sent boxcars of food to relieve the suffering of the Christian refugees. Brother Thomas Aquinas was initially deeply hesitant about volunteering to go to Pakistan. He joined the Dominican Order at the young age of 16 and became a cooperator brother. After spending a few years studying and working, his superior encouraged him to write a letter to the Provincial volunteering to go to Pakistan as a missionary. Less than a week after sending his letter, he received a reply telling him to pack his things. He would end up spending 33 years in Pakistan. The mission territory that they were given was similar in size to New York and New England put together. But it came with no churches, no religious houses, and—they thought—no Christians. Many of the Christians they discovered had converted after hearing some revival preaching generations before in British India. These men and women had dedicated themselves to Jesus Christ and passed down the faith from generation to generation, although with no churches and little catechesis. That is where Brother Thomas Aquinas came in. While in Pakistan, Brother Thomas Aquinas designed and built countless churches, religious houses, hospitals, and even whole villages. He served as a parish administrator for multiple parishes, taught catechism classes to children, taught at the major seminary, and served as the director of the pre-novitiate program for the Dominicans. He was even ordained a deacon at the behest of the local bishops. Brother Thomas Aquinas’s faithful obedience in going to Pakistan despite his initial reluctance is a testament to his vocation. To his joyful surprise, he not only helped to spread the Faith in Pakistan; he was also able to grow closer to Christ, who was obedient to the Father. The submission of the will to God and his ministers on earth helps to form a Dominican friar, and any religious, to receive a foretaste of the fullness of joy that awaits the blessed in heaven. Brother Thomas Aquinas continues to spread the joy he has been blessed with to all those who have the privilege of meeting him. These days he can be found at St. Catherine of Siena Priory in New York City helping out with the many needs of the parish and extending kindness to the homeless. As a cooperator brother, Brother Thomas Aquinas has lived out his call to the consecrated life for over 60 years. Reflecting on what it means to be a cooperator brother, Brother Thomas Aquinas said, “A cooperator brother is a religious who gives his whole life to God, to the Church, and to the Dominican Order for the salvation of the whole world and the salvation of himself.”
Incredibly enough at a time when the Church was at its zenith and everything was sweetness and light Fulton Sheen saw down the years what was coming and Prophesised about it as did people like Padre Pio. It appears to have been described in the Third Secret of Fatima.
Yes. Me too. Several years ago I wrote about it--i can't find the original poem but I remember the last lines and the pain and yearning I felt as I wrote them--and things weren't nearly so bad back then. "And does One wait Across this vast abyss of pagan night? And does His sanctuary lamp burn bright?"
I am very sadly coming to the end of this book on Fulton's life. It feels like I am about to take leave of an old, dear friend and it saddens me. I want his story to go and on and on. Suddenly it came to me this morning that everything he wrote about was about God and the things of God. Every last thing. The question is ; how could this be? Was it a deliberate action on his part to right a purely religious book about purely religious things? No , the reason why it was all about Christ was that Fulton was writing about his life and everything about his life was about Christ. In other words Fulton was a saint and that's what saints do. So as a fellow Irishman ; a tribute from Ireland to a man who was all about Christ; a hymn that is all about Him:
There isn't any doubt that Fulton Sheen was very holy, saintly indeed. But along with that, reading between the lines it is not hard to see that he was a mystic and was able, for instance to, 'See' , things other people could not. That he had mystical powers of discernment for instance. He quotes a case were he refused to ordain a young man because he believed he had no vocation. A couple of days later he got a letter from the young guys mother thanking him for doing so and saying her son was totally unsuitable for the priesthood. Others in the Seminary also said the guy was unsuitable. Sheen knew just by looking at him that this was so. He mentions giving talks and retreats to priests and knowing just by looking at them they were loosing their vocations. He mentions looking at one young priest and saying to his Bishop that the man was about to leave the priesthood. The Bishop denied this and said he was one of his best priests and he was just about to name him Chancellor of the Diocese. The priest left his vocation before the end of the week. Fulton said one way he knew was when he was giving talk if he mentioned anything about Jesus he could see the bad priest squirming and looking around as if he wanted to run away. I call this myself the, 'Cat on a hot tin roof syndrome'. You can actually see priests (and others) squirm or act afraid at times when certain subjects or things come up. Another example is Our Blessed Lady, for instance, or talking about a saint. I remember one time going to a Church while I was camping , a little Church in the middle of nowhere in the country. I had been going to Mass every day in this Church and praying after Mass. I did not know the priest from Adam nor did he know me. But after Mass one day I met him outside Church. He commented that I had great Faith going to Mass every day and praying so much. But I noticed how uncomfortable he looked in my company. I could see the cat on a hot tin roof thing starting with him big time. We weren't arguing and I wasn't saying anything disagreeable to the poor man but it was like a fire was being lit under his feet, he couldn't get away from me quick enough. I would say one common sign of this is a look of deep fear on their faces. They turn into scared chickens and bolt. Fulton was right.
Fulton also mentions Popes he met. For instance he met Pope Pius xii and Pope St John xiii on several occasions. Both Popes told Fulton that he would have a high place in heaven. Pope Pius xii also told Fulton he was a Prophet for our times. I would pay particular attention to anything Pope Pius xii had to say as I think he was a mystic himself.
You know as far as Discernment is concerned I think any Catholic who has a good Sacramental / Prayer/ Spiritual Life is endowed with this quality of Discernment to some extent or other, it is just maybe we are not really totally open to it. We might describe it, for instance as a feeling of being uneasy in the company of someone or perhaps with a particular place or object. A for instance might be if we are talking to someone we ,say, notice they are unwilling to look us in the eyes, they talk too much and too quickly, they might squirm a little , want to get away from us super quick. Or with a certain place or object a certain coldness as though things had gone into shadow. Or perhaps that certain feeling of, 'Things not being right'. But with time and I suppose practice this becomes more fine tuned and our , 'Spidey senses ' , (so to speak) become more specific and alert down the years. Even to such an extent we might even have a pretty good guess at what the person facing us is thinking. For instance is they are hostile towards us and hide it brilliantly with a smile; still we know. 'Would he were fatter! But I fear him not. Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much. He is a great observer, and he looks Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays, As thou dost, Antony. He hears no music. Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort As if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit That could be moved to smile at anything. Such men as he be never at heart’s ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, And therefore are they very dangerous. I rather tell thee what is to be feared Than what I fear, for always I am Caesar. (1.2.198-212)' Shakespeare..Julius Caesar describing Cassius
Fulton Sheen has a passage on conversions. He says it is important to listen to people not only with the mind but the heart so that we may understand what they are really telling us. I saw my cousin at Mass yesterday, she is a retired Social Worker, a widow, a grandmother and a daily mass goer. But when she looked at me she looked like she was chewing a lemon and moved away swiftly. A few years back she offered me a lift home from Mass and somehow the subject of Abortion came up. She supports abortion and became really, really angry, furious in fact when I said it was wrong. I didn't argue the case as she was in such a rage. Every since I am not flavour of the month. Suddenly yesterday, thinking of Fulton's advice it suddenly came to me why she was so angry at me and is still angry. It is not abortion in general she is thinking about' I begin to suspect that it is because she herself has had an abortion. I listened to her with the heart and not just the head. Now I understand. Fulton was so wise.
