Where you do not find love, put it there
Encounter at Catholic Charities
When my family attended the recent beatification of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen, we reminded our daughters that the event wasn’t for Sheen himself, but for us, the Church.
His life offers a lasting example of how Christ’s love calls us to serve others, and it inspires me in my work at Catholic Charities.
Sheen pioneered Catholic media outreach.
Millions tuned in to his radio program, and later to his television show, “Life Is Worth Living,” to hear him bring Christ’s message into their homes and families.
He articulated Catholic teaching and engaged the modern Church in a way it had never seen before.
Sheen’s dynamic evangelization caught the world’s attention, but he wasn’t merely a media personality.
His heart of service drew him out into the world, where he advocated for and encountered people in need.
Bishop Sheen had a deep love for the missions.
From 1950-1966, he led the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the oldest Catholic missionary society under the pope’s authority.
He regularly traveled, preaching missionary appeals and visiting the people his time, energy, and money supported.
He cared deeply about supporting and uplifting their dignity.
He spoke of his worldwide missionary support at the Second Vatican Council, attending all four sessions from 1962-1965 and serving on the Council’s Commission on the Missions.
In 1951, he designed the World Mission Rosary, a way to engage the Church in praying for each of the mission territories around the world, which we prayed bilingually before the beatification Mass.
Each decade of the rosary is a different color, representing a different area of the world the Church serves.
Despite giving more than $10 million in television earnings to the Church’s missionary work, Sheen’s witness reminds us that charity involves more than generosity from a distance.
It asks us to encounter others personally, with humility, compassion and genuine care.
As Sheen once said, “Charity is to be measured, not by what one has given away, but by what one has left.”
My daughter Gabbie’s most powerful takeaway from the beatification was hearing about the encounter Sheen called his “Most Inspiring Moment.”
On one of his many trips abroad, Sheen traveled to an African leper colony with 500 silver crucifixes, one for each person he would meet.
During his first encounter, he dropped the crucifix into a man’s palm rather than placing it there gently.
Sheen recalled that at that moment one more leper had joined the camp, the most diseased of them all: himself.
He had taken the symbol of Christ’s redemptive love but refused to identify with what it implied and thus refused to identify with the humanity of the man before him.
“It is so easy to love humanity in general but so difficult sometimes to love a man,” Sheen said in recalling the experience.
Recognizing his shame and embracing humility, he picked up the crucifix and pressed it between his hand and the leper’s.
He continued in this way for the remaining 499 people he met.
Sheen’s story challenges us to face our neighbors’ suffering, turn away from fear, and love up close.
At Catholic Charities, one of the ways we strive to do just that is through our Charity and Mercy Grants.
Parishes throughout our diocese can apply for funding to support social ministry programs and acts of mercy that respond to local needs.
Charity and Mercy Grants empower parishes to respond to the specific needs of their neighbors with compassion and dignity.
These parish-led efforts help meet immediate needs while honoring each person’s dignity and offering hope for the future.
Pope Benedict XVI expressed this beautifully in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), writing, “The Christian’s programme ... is ‘a heart which sees.’ This heart sees where love is needed and acts accordingly.”
In one of his early radio addresses, Bishop Sheen said, “Charity is a habit, not an isolated act.”
Through our work at Catholic Charities, we strive to help make service a lasting part of life throughout our diocese.
As we approach All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, may the holy men and women who modeled sacrificial love intercede for us.
May we learn to see those around us — in our workplaces, schools, and parishes — with the heart of Christ and recognize where our love is needed.
