WHITESTONE — Sister Mary O’Connor, 89, has a folder of autographs collected since her childhood, including one from one of her beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, Gil Hodges. 

Another is from a candidate for sainthood, Archbishop Fulton Sheen. 

This pioneering televangelist is regarded as one of the most influential figures of the mid-20th century, known for his messages on faith and morality. 

Sister Mary, now retired at the Sisters of Mercy Convent, was a teenager when she met Archbishop Sheen at her home parish, St. Gregory the Great in Crown Heights. 

“He was a good friend of our pastor, Msgr. (James) McGowan, and that’s how we got him to come,” Sister Mary said. “During the years between 1950 and 1953, I used to lay the vestments out for the priests, so I got to meet him.” 

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Archbishop Sheen spoke at St. Gregory the Great every Sunday during Lent, she said.  

“His talks were marvelous,” she said. “The church used to be absolutely packed, and people came from all the neighboring parishes, like St. Teresa (of Avila).” 

Archbishop Sheen’s popular primetime TV show “Life Is Worth Living” aired Tuesday nights on ABC starting in the 1950s. Sister Mary, who entered the convent in 1954, recalled how the show was one of the few programs that she was allowed to watch there. 

“He got up, and he talked, and he wrote on the board,” she recalled. “Some of it was a little more than I could quite understand when I was only a teenager. 

“But, later, I realized he was really giving us a lot of information about Catholicism.” 

Sister Mary went on to have a career as a teacher for Catholic schools in the diocese, followed by a 23-year stint as a chaplain on Rikers Island. Now, as her 90th birthday approaches, she is active, still drives a car, and maintains the convent chapel.  

However, she regrets not being able to recall specific lessons from Archbishop Sheen.  

“That,” Sister Mary lamented, “is too long ago.” 

She is not alone. These days, it’s hard to find people who remember his messages. 

Older members of the clergy and religious in the Diocese of Brooklyn, many of them now retired, were children back then. Some of them confirm their parents were regular viewers of the archbishop, who broadcast from St. Agnes Church in Midtown Manhattan. 

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Most recall his eloquence, engaging humor, dramatic hand gestures, and swirl of his cape. 

But Archbishop Sheen is generating a resurgence of interest with his cause for sainthood. 

There are ample opportunities to catch up on the life of this early televangelist, with several biographies and his own autobiography, “Treasure in Clay,” published shortly before he died in 1979. 

Also, DeSales Media, the ministry that operates The Tablet and Currents News, began airing remastered episodes of Archbishop Sheen’s shows in 2024. “Life Is Worth Living” and “The Fulton Sheen Program” air on NET TV each Wednesday at 9 p.m. 

“Bishop Sheen was part of my childhood,” said Sister Maryann LoPiccolo, the diocese’s episcopal delegate for religious. “But to be honest, I think I was too young to reflect on what he taught.” 

Still, Sister Maryann noted, “It’s remarkable that decades later he is still inspiring people.”  

Among these new devotees is Father Michael Perry, ordained in 1971, who is pastor emeritus for Our Lady of Refuge in Flatbush. He currently resides at the Bishop Mugavero Residence for Senior Priests in Douglaston. 

“Bishop Sheen was a superstar,” Father Perry said. “At a certain time, everybody in New York was watching him. If they didn’t have a television, they went to local bars and watched him on TVs there. And then the next day in The New York Times, there was stuff about what he had said the night before.” 

Father Perry said he now appreciates how the archbishop never spoke from notes but delivered his messages with perfect timing. 

“He would always end this show the same way, with a big flourish of his cape, and saying, ‘God love you!’ ” 

Msgr. Kevin Noone, ordained in 1970, is pastor emeritus for Our Lady of Angels parish in Bayside. He recalled his parents watching Archbishop Sheen, but acknowledged the messages went over his head at the time.  

Now he is a priest in residence at St. Mel Parish in Whitestone after serving 50 years as a pastor and episcopal vicar for the Diocese of Brooklyn. Later, he became an admirer of Archbishop Sheen by reading some of the biographies.  

Msgr. Noone and Father Perry both said they admired Archbishop Sheen for keeping a daily holy hour with the Blessed Sacrament.  

Msgr. Noone said he wasn’t a fan of the archbishop’s on-camera style, but he does appreciate how the celebrity prelate admitted to struggling with vanity. 

“The fact that he could say what his struggle was is compelling,” Msgr. Noone said. “You could say that gives us a feeling that there’s hope for all of us. 

“We all have an Achilles’ heel and, apparently, that was his.”