God Love You: Bishop Sheen's own selection of the most helpful, inspiring passages from his many books

by Fulton J. Sheen

   Here is a rich selection of short, meaningful excerpts from the writings of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. Forming a collection of landmarks along the way to spiritual peace, each paragraph in this book has been selected for the specific help and guidance it can bring in helping to make life worth living.
   These brief, perceptive selections from thirty of Bishop Sheen's books reveal a brilliant mind at work as it considers the affairs of men, both spiritually and temporally. Love, hate, frustration, passion, virtue, wisdom, peace--all that goes into the complexity of man's life on earth is considered with rare sensitivity and frequently penetrating humor.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Fulton John Sheen was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois, in 1919, Sheen quickly became a renowned theologian, earning the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy in 1923. He went on to teach theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and served as a parish priest before he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1951. He held this position until 1966 when he was made bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in New York. He resigned as bishop of Rochester in 1969 as his 75th birthday approached and was made archbishop of the titular see of Newport, Wales.
For 20 years as "Father Sheen", later monsignor, he hosted the night-time radio program The Catholic Hour on NBC (1930–1950) before he moved to television and presented Life Is Worth Living (1952–1957). Sheen's final presenting role was on the syndicated The Fulton Sheen Program (1961–1968) with a format that was very similar to that of the earlier Life Is Worth Living show. For that work, Sheen twice won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, and was featured on the cover of Time magazine. Starting in 2009, his shows were being re-broadcast on the EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network's Church Channel cable networks. His contribution to televised preaching resulted in Sheen often being called one of the first televangelists.
The cause for his canonization was officially opened in 2002. In June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI officially recognized a decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints stating that he lived a life of "heroic virtues," a major step towards beatification, and he is now referred to as venerable. On July 5, 2019, Pope Francis approved a reputed miracle that occurred through the intercession of Sheen, clearing the way for his beatification. Sheen was scheduled to be beatified in Peoria on December 21, 2019, but his beatification was postponed after Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester expressed concern that Sheen's handling of a 1963 sexual misconduct case against a priest might be cited unfavorably in a forthcoming report from the New York Attorney General. The Diocese of Peoria countered that Sheen's handling of the case had already been "thoroughly examined" and "exonerated" and that Sheen had "never put children in harm's way".

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my bookshelf for years. Published in 1955, read by my mom in 1981(she wrote her name and date on the cover page. She passed it on to me some time ago. I was scanning through my shelf and came upon it in January and decided it was time to open it. It took me just under a year to finish reading it. It's a compilation of other works by him. For me it was best I read only a few paragraphs at a time as most of them are thought provoking, deep and meant to be reflected on. Too much to take it at one time and some topics/subjects were repetitive. Overall, it was enlightening for me.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

God Love You was first published in 1955 and this copy was a second release in 1981. It is a collection of excerpts from books and essays written and selected by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. It is a very peaceful and contemplative book. Although I read it from start to finish, I found myself picking up the book several times afterwards and just opening to a random page to read one of Archbishop Sheen’s teachings again. It is that type of book. It is especially enlightening to see how socialism was disparaged when this book was written in the 1950’s, while exalted by some today. This book belonged to my dad which makes it very special to me.

[Elaine Reinhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book. Very inspirational and thought provoking. Wonderful!

[Naomi Mallare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of good stuff :)