Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Convert Maker (Cheryl C. D. Hughes) - 2/17/25

2/17/25 - Cheryl C. D. Hughes holds a Ph.D. in historical theology from Durham University in England. Her books include Katharine Drexel: The Riches-to-Rags Story of an American Catholic Saint (2014) and Crossing Boundaries and Confounding Identity: Chinese Women in Literature, Art, and Film (2023). Venerable Fulton J. Sheen was one of the greatest spiritual leaders and entertainers in America's tumultuous twentieth century. His television shows, for which he eventually won an Emmy Award, reached millions of viewers, and in the 1950s and '60s, "Fulton Sheen" was a household name. But his greatest gift was in finding lost sheep. Through his thought, wit, and compassion, many thousands of people likely entered the Church, from all walks of life. Among them were jazz legend Ada "Bricktop" Smith, journalist Heywood Broun, Communist activist Louis Budenz, U.S. Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce, spy Elizabeth Bentley, composer Fritz Kreisler, Communist Bella Dodd, and Hollywood starlet Virginia Mayo. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen: Convert Maker lets readers inhabit the postwar America where Bishop Fulton Sheen thrived in order to reveal what made him such a magnetic figure in his own era. It peers into the complex lives of the celebrities and fallen stars who saw in the warm, brilliant bishop a sign of God's grace, and it offers a study in the inner dynamics of conversion. Get the book at https://ignatius.com/archbishop-fulton-j-sheen-afsp/