The Moral Universe

by Fulton J. Sheen

If God is who he says he is, runs a popular objection against Christianity, then why does he permit evil? The answer to this objection, according to Fulton J. Sheen, is “God intended to construct a moral universe.” In doing so, he had to grant freedom to mankind—to endow every man and woman in this universe with the power to do good and avoid evil, “to be captain and master of their own fate and destiny.” When freedom is abused, evil enters in; yet when it is wielded properly, by the grace of God, beatitude is found. With his typical acuity and eloquence, Sheen examines all the pillars of the Christian moral God himself as the ground of morality; the role of the conscience; the necessity of mortification; the beauty of a retired life; the sanctity of marriage; the fact of sin; the need of redemption; the reality of judgment and purgatory, heaven and hell; and the paradoxical joy of defeat.

As fresh and invigorating as when it first appeared in 1936, The Moral A Preface to Christian Living is a clear and concise exposition of those Catholic doctrines which show the way to holy living.

154 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Fulton John Sheen was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois, in 1919, Sheen quickly became a renowned theologian, earning the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy in 1923. He went on to teach theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and served as a parish priest before he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1951. He held this position until 1966 when he was made bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in New York. He resigned as bishop of Rochester in 1969 as his 75th birthday approached and was made archbishop of the titular see of Newport, Wales.
For 20 years as "Father Sheen", later monsignor, he hosted the night-time radio program The Catholic Hour on NBC (1930–1950) before he moved to television and presented Life Is Worth Living (1952–1957). Sheen's final presenting role was on the syndicated The Fulton Sheen Program (1961–1968) with a format that was very similar to that of the earlier Life Is Worth Living show. For that work, Sheen twice won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, and was featured on the cover of Time magazine. Starting in 2009, his shows were being re-broadcast on the EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network's Church Channel cable networks. His contribution to televised preaching resulted in Sheen often being called one of the first televangelists.
The cause for his canonization was officially opened in 2002. In June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI officially recognized a decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints stating that he lived a life of "heroic virtues," a major step towards beatification, and he is now referred to as venerable. On July 5, 2019, Pope Francis approved a reputed miracle that occurred through the intercession of Sheen, clearing the way for his beatification. Sheen was scheduled to be beatified in Peoria on December 21, 2019, but his beatification was postponed after Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester expressed concern that Sheen's handling of a 1963 sexual misconduct case against a priest might be cited unfavorably in a forthcoming report from the New York Attorney General. The Diocese of Peoria countered that Sheen's handling of the case had already been "thoroughly examined" and "exonerated" and that Sheen had "never put children in harm's way".