THE PRIESTLY SPIRITUALITY ACCORDING TO ARCHBISHOP FULTON JOHN SHEEN

STATE OF THE QUESTION

The intention of this thesis is to explore the life and writings of Fulton J. Sheen regarding the priestly spirituality in the world today.What is it that is so special and particular to priestly spirituality in the Church today? Does the discussion of priestly spirituality evoke any sign of desire into appreciating the profundity of the sublime nature of priesthood? The American Archbishop Fulton John Sheen came into the ecclesiastical stage presenting his thoughts and living according to the mind of the Church in his daily life making present the spirituality of the priesthood a concrete thing through his life. Therefore, the spirituality of Fulton Sheen is incarnated in his daily life activities as priest which he believed so strongly in the Priest-Victim as an imitation or living his life as Christ urged us priests to be. As holiness is not an abstract concept, he tried to live his life within the direction of Pastoral charity as a diocesan priest as the Church document Pastores Dabo Vobis taught though he died 13 years before the publication of this document on March 25, 1992. The life of prayer which Fulton Sheen demonstrated was a thing that started from the family and continued with his total trust and devotion to Christ in union with His Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was really a deep spiritual mark that seem indelible as the priestly ontological mark. All these came from the formative trend that presented him with formal and informal education as a way towards enlightenment. Therefore, the sublime office of the priesthood is such that priests should try to reflect every moment as not to be a scandal to people. The sublimity is so profound and a mystery too that everything surrounding him is divine hence he sought to carry himself as a gift, as an oblation, as an offering, and as a sacrifice and a victim as well.

THE THESIS OBJECTIVE

The principal objective of this thesis is to x-ray the life, achievements, media evangelization, preaching, teaching, and most importantly the priestly life, the thoughts about the priesthood and vision of the ideal way of life of priest in situations of life in any given moment as conceived of it by Archbishop Fulton John Sheen. It is in all these that one finds the spirituality in which he lived. It then calls to mind that this topic on The Priestly Spirituality according to Archbishop Fulton John Sheen stands to be a stepping stone towards making an academic venture into the spirituality which the Archbishop lived and thought while alive.

MOTIVATION

The motivating factor that gave rise to this work is the quest into the relevance of Priestly Spirituality as it touches the Church today towards changing the contemporary world to a better understanding of life in union with Christ the Saving Victim through the priestly spirituality within the view point or the mind of Archbishop Fulton John Sheen. Thus the conscious awareness of priests’ incarnation and victim  as Christ the Eternal and High Priest brings to limelight that a priest is not his own rather a true victim-sacrifice who emptied himself to become Christ by Incarnation; in so doing offers the mysterious nature of the Savior in Do this as a memory of Me Lk. 22:19. The call to service is a call to the priesthood. Priesthood is of Divine origin and bears the character which is supernatural. The supernatural character manifests itself in the mystery which is identified from two symbiotic directional way namely kenosis and pleroma. This Fulton Sheen described in his idea of Incarnation Word which is a Priest-Victim, hence he always say “I am not only a Sacerdos in aeternum; I am a Victima in aeternum”[1]. The priestly spirituality which he lived and taught by his ideas, revolves on the Eucharistic love which emptied Himself and filled it up again in function of the Priest-Victim in the Mass. From this idea one sees that the priestly spirituality is a continuation of the Incarnation, the continuation of the Passion of Christ and the continuation of the Resurrection, made visible by the Christus-Sacerdos-Victima. This is the precise factor that propels us in this research work to get to that essence of this awesome and existential spirituality that draws one to the full meaning of the nature of the Eucharistic based and inspired priestly spirituality. This is a spirituality that sacrifices oneself or one’s own life for the welfare of others.

Nobody ever becomes a saint from his mother’s womb, rather with the falling and rising of our daily lives, one moves towards holiness and with all that goes with formation. This is indeed also part of Fulton Sheen’s life, that his scholastic years in both secular and religious courses helped in contributing in no small  measure as a bedrock in formation towards a life of meditation and decision of how properly to go about in life. The opportunity he had in life always bring him into a surprising encounter that turn to be special blessings to him in his priestly apostolate. As a priest-student his unexpected opportunity came in his life when he has to show his readiness in the service he was called for in his vocation. This is with regard to his unexpected first media preaching in 1922 when he was asked by his rector to accompany Emile Baumannn, French novelist on a journey of tracing St. Paul’s journeys. Indeed, a life worth living is that which is so simple, natural, sincere, trust in God and charitable indeed. That was the life of Archbishop Fulton John Sheen. This life summarizes his Priestly spirituality, which he not only preached but lived concretely as a testimony to all who knew him or heard him when he was teaching in the University, through the radio or television or even had the opportunity to meet him in person.

The call for holiness of life is for all, but for priests who are called to share in the ministerial priesthood of Christ, the pastoral charity provides a base for which we increase in holiness. The practice of Christ’s love urges us into pastoral charity in the priesthood. The use of this term is a post-Concilium idea. Some of the 20^th century documents on priesthood or Holy Orders spoke of it in different dimensions. Pius X in his Apostolic Exhortation Haerent animo of 1908 spoke of the exigencies of priesthood and configuration of Christ. Pius XI on his Ad Catholici Sacerdotii of 1935 talked about the nature of priesthood and vocation insisting on the exigency of sanctity of the priest as an Alter Christus, as a good shepherd and the importance in the teaching and formation of seminarians. The Apostolic Exhortation of Pius XII on Menti Nostri of 1950 dealt with the sanctity and priestly formation, liturgical and spiritual elements, care of the young priests after ordination, conferences and spiritual direction to transmit pastoral experiences. The encyclical of John XXIII on Sacerdotalis Nostri Primordia of 1963 presented St, John Mary Vianney as the model of diocesan priests. Paul VI in his Sacerdotalis caelibatus dealt with chastity of the celibate priest. It was John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis of 1992 that discussed the Pastoral Charity of a priest in an extensive way in number 23 and emphasized it again in number 60 for the formation of future priests while in the seminary. Fulton Sheen’s life was seen in line with the pastoral charity because as a priest-victim engraved in Christ, he performed that act of kenosis that by emptying his life for others as to grow in holiness by all he did as a priest. Because of this, one sees and understands well what he said and lived, that his priestly life is not different from his spirituality, rather it revolves round the crucifix which is the price of our redemption and assurance of resurrection.

This he did, not in isolation with his communion and obedience in the Church as he was ever obedient to his Bishop and the Church. The fraternal love of the priesthood of Christ which he exhibited while alive speaks of his virtue among the presbyterium. His love of the priestly functions propels him even at the sick bed to perform that which is known of a priest. Fulton Sheen’s dedication and seriousness in his pastoral work was with a devout and religious acumen. He was very much interested in the souls of his flock. This he tries to show and to  teach them always, that his interest is mainly in their spiritual and moral life and not what he may gain from them materially. This pastoral love for souls engraved in his apostolate made him to be interested with conversion and charity as spiritual character which were evident in his spirituality. Nevertheless, the sole work of conversion is done by the Lord but He uses one who is always disposed to the spirit of docility to the Word of God through good morals and great spirituality

Fulton Sheen exhibited a nice rapport between the priests and religious as a Bishop. Hence he made an open door policy and free principle of each person contributing his idea, for the smooth running of the diocese, thereby changing the name of administrative and juridical associations of the Chancery Office into that of pastoral Office. The attraction scrutiny which Fulton Sheen had in his missionary apostolate was embedded in his great love for people and a true concern for their spiritual and physical welfare. This is because of the way in which he lived his prayer life. Fulton Sheen said that “Prayer does not change God’s will, but it may change ours, that we become receptive to His blessings”[2]. This saying actually changed his life that he depended solely on God to make spiritual progress in life, thereby radiating this divine virtue to others throughout his priestly life.

Worthy of note is the constant contact with Christ in the Eucharist ignites an unquenchable fire of love in him because there is a personal dedication, disposition of the spirit and intimacy with God. His total trust, devotion and love to the Blessed Virgin made him to test her power of intercession on several occasions. He had very many theological meditations on Our Lady with his masterpiece about her on his book The World’s First Love, here he treated Mary on two main parts: The woman the world loves and the world the woman loves. His concrete pastoral life was a great testimony to many because of his great search for souls and the corresponding love for the administering of the Sacrament of Reconciliation which he used all techniques possible to reconcile many to Christ. His exemplary prayer life was summarized in his deep love of Holy Hour adoration and visits to Marian shrines.

Priesthood is by its nature mysterious. It exists simultaneously with the mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist. It is not something ordinary rather it is a vocation that is sublime with divine character though it functions in the human ambient. Fulton Sheen, in presenting the priesthood saw the priest in line with Incarnated Word, as a Victim and with Eucharistic nature. The act of being likened to Christ in the nature of a priest is a form of mysterious dimension in which we see in the person of a priest, therefore to bear fruit in his priestly work he has to cooperate with the divine by surrendering totally and unquestionably too with a sacred character. One who is called to the priesthood ought to be virtuous at all times. His life is not his own, he is regulated by the Word of Life in which he is a mere and special servant. He directed others by word and life. This is because Benedict XV asserted that the man who urges others to despise sin must despise it himself. Preaching by example is an effective procedure other than vocal preaching.

The priest by his sacramental ordination and the mystery of incarnation, is a victim-sacrifice who shares in the spiritual begetting of the children of God because he is a celibate for the Kingdom of God, though he may find it difficult to control only by the grace of God. It is only with purity that we can match against sensate culture thereby pulling us nearer to God and we in turn carry others along with us towards Jesus. Being a victim implies also being in friendship with God and by that we are sources of grace to the world and the blessings that God bestowed on His people.

This is seen in the spiritual life which is a daily life in union with God. Therefore, spirituality is the practice of life concretized which has a base from the family of God’s people. For those aspiring to the priesthood, it is not enough to accept and ordain any candidate who show interest in the priesthood, because of its sublime nature and office, the human person ought to undergo formation proper to this. For this John Paul II in Pastores Dabo Vobis[3] discussed extensively the areas of priestly formation in which he treated the human formation as the basis of all priestly formation which involves the biological, psychological or emotional, mental, moral and social which all culminate in the Spiritual formation as a communion with God and in search of Christ[4]. It is only when the formation is seriously internalized by the candidate that the product is seen clearly in the pastoral life more so in his preaching. In this vein, the priest ought to be faithful, obedient, humble, docile, prudent and with much virtues so that his power of imbibing the formation ought to be commendable and creditable as well. On this issue of human formation the Vatican Council II described how best this formation could be done for those preparing for the sacred priesthood. The Church is ever concerned with the high spiritual growth of her priests hence the priority is placed on spirituality as the center of formation, hence proper formation ought to be associated intimately on doctrinal and pastoral formation which makes the candidate to appreciate the Mystery of the Church. By this candidates for the priesthood follow the priestly celibacy, Christian education and solid foundation for spiritual life which includes spiritual directions, conferences and retreats as explained in Optatam Totius[5].

PROBLEMS

The problems that I encountered were basically the author’s use of same synonyms in explaining his ideas which many a time seem as if it is a repetition and also he was so much elaborative in his writings both of his history and his theology. Those who wrote on him also met same problem that there seem to be many times, repetitions.

METHODOLGY USED IN THE STUDY

The methodology used in the course of this research work is that descriptive and analytical which indeed are expository whereby the thoughts are presented according to how they appeared and then follows the explanations. In some cases we introduced and qualify it with a suitable citation that is proper to the idea. This analysis run through the three chapters of this research paper as we have already see in the main text. Each chapter ended with a conclusion after which followed the general conclusion.

STRUCTURE OF THE WORK

This research work is structured into three chapters. In chapter one which is the biography of Fulton J. Sheen, we saw the formative life our protagonist in his family and in the Seminary, starting with the ecclesiastical historical situation of his country during his birth which includes the catholic universal background or dates of the Popes and their pontificate till his death. We saw the life of his parents before his birth on May 8, 1895, then his life as a boy, in the high school, in the college and in the seminary. After which we see his sacerdotal ordination on September 20, 1919, had a panoramic view of his study life as already a priest, his initial pastoral assignment and as an educator, then his visits and encounters in a spiritual, academic and social life that brought to many an enlightenment and faith of being a Christian to some who were of different religion and belief. Finally in this first chapter, we discussed his Episcopal ordination on June 11, 1951, other Episcopal assignments, his life as a media evangelizer, his connection in Vatican Council II, and his death on December 9, 1979.

In chapter two, the priestly holiness of Fulton J. Sheen, which is the center of this research paper, we presented his concrete and daily life from where we saw clearly his priestly spirituality which geared towards holiness of life in the ordinary life in the presbytery, his pastoral charity and virtue of a good pastor, his missionary availability, his prayer life and exercising of his priestly functions. We also presented his prayer life and priestly functions as a man of prayer; regarding how devoted and religious he was in the celebration of the Holy Mass, of Sacrament of Reconciliation, other Sacraments, of Holy Hour and his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the conclusion of this sub-title we discussed the cause for his beatification and his path to the Sainthood which was formally opened in the Offices of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints on April 15, 2008.

In the third chapter, we majored our research work on Fulton J. Sheen’s proposal on Priestly Spirituality which is in line with the Church’s teachings. We also treated the nature and ministry of a priest, the pastoral life and holiness of a priest and the concrete means of priestly spirituality which starts with the formation basing our thoughts on Pastores Dabo Vobis, which treated pastoral charity in relationship with the diocesan priestly spirituality. We also saw that the teachings on Pastoral life and holiness of a priest are inseparable. This is because the priestly holiness is intrinsic in his apostolate which is anchored on the Eucharist as the fons et culmen of his nature and existence as a priest. In the last sub-title we explored the necessity and necessary means in which spirituality is built. This is obtainable when there is a sound formation that is holistic and integral which starts first from the family, then moves into the Church and the society. The formation being of two directional principle implies that both the instructor and the instructed were to cooperate in unity as to produce the best. In this the Church’s documents Optatam Totius and Pastores Dabo Vobis treated extensively on these issues on formation before one is ordained a priest.

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[1] SHEEN F. J., The Priest Is Not His Own, p. 34.

[2] SHEEN F. J., Life Is Worth Living, p. 274.

[3] PDV, nn. 43-44, 51-56

[4] PDV, nn. 45-50.

[5] OT, nn. 8-22.