PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Before Rev. Billy Graham, there was Bishop Fulton Sheen.
In the early 1950s, when comedy legends Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason ruled the airwaves of the nascent television industry, Bishop Sheen became a superstar, hosting a show that drew 30 million viewers a week and made him the first televangelist.
Although he would later become an archbishop, he was known as Bishop Sheen during the time he enthralled audiences every Tuesday night on “Life Is Worth Living” — standing before a blackboard, much like a teacher in front of a classroom, and offering lessons on faith, family, and society.
Not one to shy away from controversial issues, he would also delve into topics like alcoholism and the evils of Communism.
Now, 70 years later, DeSales Media Group, the ministry that produces The Tablet, is bringing “Life Is Worth Living” and a second show, “The Fulton Sheen Program,” to a broader Catholic audience through its New Evangelization Television (NET) station.
The original black and white kinescope shows have been digitally remastered and will be broadcast on NET-TV every Wednesday at 9 p.m. beginning Oct. 9.
“Life Is Worth Living” originally aired on the DuMont Television Network from 1952-1955 and moved to ABC, where it was broadcast from 1955-1957. Bishop Sheen (1895-1979) later starred in a second series, “The Fulton Sheen Program” on ABC from 1961-1968, featuring a similar format. Many of the episodes of the latter show were filmed in color.
Bishop Sheen, who appeared in approximately 250 episodes between the two series, won an Emmy for Most Outstanding Television Personality in 1953.
“His message was, ‘Your life is worth living. Your life is a gift from God.’ And it was empowering,” said Dominic Ambrosio, director of programming and production for DeSales Media Group. “He really had a great way of being present and connecting with the audience.”
NET-TV will air 132 episodes from both series.
Marilyn Arreaga, a producer at NET-TV, said the network will start with “Life Is Worth Living” and then proceed to airing episodes of “The Fulton Sheen Program.”
Arreaga believes Bishop Sheen’s message will still resonate with today’s audiences, even though he was on the air more than 70 years ago.
“I’ve been going through all his footage,” Arreaga said. “The charisma he had with people, the humor, and the way he was able to bring out his message in such an interesting and prophetic way, is still inspirational to this day.”
During his television career, Bishop Sheen was an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York and, at the tail end, the bishop of Rochester. He was also the director of the Society For The Propagation of the Faith.
He served in the Archdiocese of New York from 1951 to 1966, when he was named Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester. He served in that role until 1969, when he was named archbishop of the titular See of Newport, Wales.
He died of heart disease on Dec. 9, 1979.
Bishop Sheen was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, in 1919. In the 32 years before he became an auxiliary bishop, he was a parish priest and taught theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America. It was during that time he got his start in the media. From 1930-1950, then-Father Sheen hosted the night-time radio program “The Catholic Hour on NBC.”
A cause for canonization for Archbishop Sheen was opened in 2002. He was declared venerable 10 years later, and in 2019, a miracle was attributed to his intercession — bringing him one step closer to sainthood.
How DeSales Media Group wound up with the remastered shows is a tale of friendship and coincidence.
Bishop Sheen, who owned the rights to his two shows, bequeathed them to St. Bernard Seminary in Rochester, now called St. Bernard School of Theology and Ministry.
The kinescopes sat dormant in the seminary for many years until about 30 years ago, when Bill McDonnell, who was a friend of Bishop Sheen’s in Rochester, found out about the bequest and asked about the possibility of remastering them. The seminary agreed.
“The content was so good, but no one had access to it anymore,” McDonnell’s son, also named Bill, said. “So he took on that mission.”
“Unfortunately, of the 250 programs, only 130 of them were able to be preserved,” he added, explaining that many of the kinescopes had deteriorated. “The rest were lost to time.”
After McDonnell’s death, his son took over the task of remastering the original shows.
When “Life Is Worth Living” debuts on NET-TV, viewers in the Diocese of Brooklyn will have the opportunity to view the show on the network that serves the diocese.
DeSales Media Group’s involvement came about when Ambrosio, Arreaga, and another producer, Steven Aiello, attended a spring screening at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in Manhattan of “Follow That Bishop!” — a documentary about Bishop Sheen.
Ambrosio thought Bishop Sheen’s message and NET-TV would be a natural fit, so he sought out McDonnell to see if they could work something out.
“[Bishop Sheen] was the Walter Cronkite of Catholic TV,” Ambrosio said. “He was a pioneer in vocalizing and displaying information using television as a medium … in ways that really wasn’t done before that for religious and faith-based viewers.
“I think the message to our viewers is that we are always looking for content and programs to help them on their mission of life and their mission of faith.”