In 1943, at the height of the Second World War, an anonymous source alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s strong criticism of the Soviet Union and its leader, Joseph Stalin.
These were topics the priest — then with the title “monsignor” — had been speaking about for many years, in fact, along with his intellectual criticism of Marxism. Recall that the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were allies against Nazi Germany, and some believed that any criticism of the U.S.’s allies could hurt the overall war effort. This led the bureau to open a file on Archbishop Sheen and launch an investigation.
Since winning the war was of paramount importance, the FBI followed this and many other pointless leads. Eventually, the agents assigned to tail him came up with mostly worthless facts about Archbishop Sheen such as that he liked chocolate ice cream, kept up a rigorous and somewhat ascetic schedule (including most notably his daily Holy Hour each morning), and once talked a police officer out of giving him a speeding ticket.
All of these small but now comedic details about his life soon led the FBI to give up all suspicions.
By the early 1950s, both the bureau and its long-serving director, J. Edgar Hoover, had done a complete about-face on now-Bishop Sheen and invited him to speak at a graduation ceremony of newly inducted agents. Archbishop Sheen’s file on the FBI was now officially closed, and he went from being someone who might be a threat to national security to an American legend.
The 2023 documentary “Follow that Bishop,” produced by Rome Reports and co-directed by Antonio Olivie and Sean Patrick Lovett, uses this previously relatively unknown moment in Sheen’s life as a fascinating vehicle to expand on the much larger and more important roles he played as a writer, evangelist, bishop and promoter of the missions.
The 28-minute documentary goes on to briefly tell his story as both a churchman and national figure who garnered interest and attention beyond just the Catholic community thanks to his national syndicated radio show and television show, which at its height had a viewership of over 30 million and won him an Emmy Award in 1953. Meanwhile, he served as national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the United States (1950-1966).
The documentary concludes by discussing the miracle in 2010 in Illinois of the sudden recovery of a stillborn infant attributed to Sheen’s intercession, which was pivotal to his beatification. The documentary shows footage of this now healthy teenager playing with his brothers and sisters, as well as an interview with his mother regarding the details of his miraculous return to life after going 61 minutes without a heartbeat or respiration after birth.
As part of Sheen’s canonization process, which began officially in 2002, he was declared a “Servant of God,” and six years later, as the process continued, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed him “Venerable Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen.” He will be beatified in St. Louis Sept. 24.
