Why Fulton Sheen Still Matters: Three Catholic Leaders Reflect on His Life and Legacy

Dr. Peter Howard, Jesse Romero and John Yep joined Catholic365 Live to discuss Sheen’s approaching beatification, his influence on their lives and the message they believe he has for America today.

What is it about Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen that continues to seize people’s attention decades after his death? That question ran through a recent Catholic365 Live conversation with three men whose lives and apostolates have been deeply shaped by him.

Dr. Peter Howard, founder and president of the Fulton Sheen Institute and Fulton Sheen Movement; Catholic evangelist and author Jesse Romero; and John Yep, president of Catholics for Catholics, joined me to discuss Sheen’s approaching beatification, his relevance to the Church and the country, and the practical steps Catholics can take to live his spirituality.

Rather than simply looking back at Sheen as a celebrated television personality, the guests presented him as a spiritual father whose message is still changing lives—and whose emphasis on truth, courage, the lay apostolate and Eucharistic prayer speaks directly to the present moment.

Related: Tickets for the America's Saint Conference honoring the life and legacy of Ven Fulton Sheen are available here.

Dr. Peter Howard: The beatification is a launching point

Dr. Howard opened by describing the prayer and persistence behind the renewed movement for Sheen’s beatification. After the ceremony originally planned for 2019 was postponed, Howard helped organize an international petition that gathered thousands of signatures from 99 countries. He later hand-delivered it to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints and personally appealed for Rome to move the cause forward.

While in Rome, Howard also found himself close enough to Pope Leo XIV to call out a request that the Holy Father beatify Sheen. Pope Leo stopped, looked toward him and gave a thumbs-up. Howard sees that encounter—and the subsequent progress of the cause—as providential.

Sheen will now be beatified on Thursday, Sep 24, 2026, the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis. Howard emphasized the significance of celebrating the beatification in the heart of the country during America’s 250th anniversary year. Sheen, he said, is not merely a Catholic celebrity from another era; he is a distinctly American witness whose life can help the nation recover its moral and spiritual bearings.

Howard’s own relationship with Sheen began in 1998, when his sister gave him a set of cassette tapes for a personal retreat. He knew little about Sheen and initially intended to listen for only a few minutes. Instead, he found himself captivated. By the end of the retreat, he believed he needed to change his life and that Sheen would be central to the work God was calling him to do.

That encounter became the beginning of nearly three decades of studying and promoting Sheen’s thought. Howard stressed that the public still has much to discover beyond the familiar image of the charismatic television bishop. The deeper question is what made Sheen holy and what formed the extraordinary missionary energy that reached millions of souls.

For Howard, the answer begins with Sheen’s interior life—especially his unwavering commitment to a daily Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament.

Jesse Romero: Sheen spoke with moral and doctrinal clarity

Romero described Sheen as a voice of moral clarity who was willing to communicate difficult truths directly and courageously. What impressed him was not merely Sheen’s eloquence, but the unity between his command of Catholic teaching, his reliance on Scripture and his ability to speak to ordinary people.

Sheen entered Romero’s life while Romero was a young Los Angeles County deputy sheriff searching for answers. His work brought him face to face with violence, addiction, abuse and family breakdown. Although he had been raised Catholic, he wanted to understand more deeply why he was Catholic and how the faith made sense of the suffering he witnessed.

At a Catholic conference, Romero met Terry Barber of Saint Joseph Communications and purchased Sheen’s recorded convert course on cassette. Listening to those talks transformed the direction of his life. Romero began to see that although he was married and could not become a priest, he could still devote himself to preaching the Gospel as a layman.

That inspiration eventually led Romero to leave law enforcement and become a full-time evangelist. He told viewers that he has since preached in every state and in more than 2,000 Catholic churches. The image of Sheen in the pulpit continues to shape Romero’s own preaching and his desire to encourage, teach and build up the Body of Christ.

When asked how younger Catholics could be drawn into a Sheen revival, Romero returned to the qualities that first drew him: moral clarity, doctrinal clarity and the courage to speak truth. But he also warned against allowing Catholic media to become an endless stream of criticism and negativity. Argument alone will not renew the Church.

Romero quoted Sheen’s challenge: “The only argument the world will listen to now is the argument of personal holiness.” For Romero, the most effective answer to crisis in the Church is not simply more commentary. It is the formation of saints.

John Yep: Bring Christ into the public square

Yep recalled first encountering Sheen as a teenager in minor seminary, where Treasure in Clay, Sheen’s autobiography, was read aloud during silent meals. As an Illinois native, he also felt a natural connection with the bishop who had emerged from the same Midwestern landscape.

The conversation then turned to Sheen’s engagement with political leaders, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. I asked Yep what Sheen might say if he sat down with President Donald Trump today. Yep reframed the question: “What would Christ say?”

That distinction captured a central feature of Sheen’s public witness. Sheen did not adjust the Gospel to flatter presidents or political movements. He approached both prominent leaders and ordinary individuals as souls in need of truth. Yep suggested that Sheen would encourage a leader where appropriate, offer correction where necessary and return consistently to the dignity of the human person.

Yep also argued that the Church cannot avoid public questions simply because they are politically contentious. Politics concerns the affairs of the people, and the Church must help form consciences where human dignity and the common good are involved. Sheen’s opposition to communism showed how a bishop could address public issues with unmistakable Catholic conviction while using the public square as a bridge to Christ.

At the same time, Yep’s comments were not directed only toward bishops and priests. He emphasized the vocation of lay Catholics to act in the world. Laypeople are present in families, workplaces, schools, media and civic institutions where clergy often cannot go. Their task is to bring a well-formed Catholic witness into those places.

Yep’s practical advice was simple: begin with the Holy Hour. Even when a person’s state of life makes a full hour difficult, he encouraged beginning with the time that is realistically available. He also urged Catholics to support priests in making time both for Eucharistic prayer and for hearing confessions.

A shared message: begin with the interior life

Although Howard, Romero and Yep approached Sheen from different experiences, their conclusions converged. Sheen’s public effectiveness cannot be separated from his private life with Christ.

Howard explained that Sheen anticipated a more personal and anthropological approach to evangelization—one that begins with the disorder and woundedness within the human person. Before someone can receive doctrine as good news, the evangelist must understand the person’s suffering, restlessness and longing for meaning, then show how Christ answers those deepest needs.

Romero connected that approach with the universal call to holiness. Sheen’s preaching did not reserve sanctity for priests and religious. It called every listener to repentance, conversion and a serious interior life.

Yep brought the discussion back to the Blessed Sacrament. Howard then underscored that the daily Holy Hour was the practice that changed his own life and the source from which Sheen drew his insight, courage and apostolic fruitfulness.

The guests’ message was ultimately demanding but hopeful. Catholics do have a responsibility to speak clearly, engage the culture and use modern media well. Yet the renewal of America and the Church will not begin with a better argument, a larger platform or a political victory. It begins when individual souls allow Christ to transform them.

Preparing for Sheen’s beatification

Howard invited viewers to attend the Fulton Sheen: America’s Saint Conference on Sep 23, 2026 at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac, the day before the beatification. The conference will bring together speakers representing different dimensions of Sheen’s life and legacy, including his missionary work, defense of the vulnerable, engagement with public life and devotion to the Eucharist.

The day will begin with Mass and conclude with a Holy Hour. Howard described the beatification not as the end of a long process, but as the beginning of a movement calling Catholics to think like Sheen, pray like Sheen, love like Sheen and lead with the same clarity and courage.

The most fitting preparation may therefore be the one all three guests recommended: spend time before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and ask what He is calling you to do.

Watch the full Catholic365 Live conversation: “Venerable Fulton J. Sheen: His Life, Legacy and Upcoming Beatification.”
Tickets for the Fulton Sheen Conference (in person and virtual) are available here.