It was in 2004, in one of my archive columns, that I mentioned an interesting reminder from Brian Olszewski, the religion columnist who was my journalist colleague for two decades, which came courtesy of a two-page press release from New York. The alert reminded me that it was the 25th anniversary of the passing of Archbishop Fulton Sheen and a memorial mass was being held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York by New York’s then Archbishop Edward Egan, urging prayers for Sheen’s canonization.
Locally, it was our own Gregory Ladd of Highland who made it his own faith-fused mission to keep Sheen’s memory alive. As a member of the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, Ladd wrote a book about Sheen, the latter who still ranks as early television’s most unique talk show host of the 1950s, with his “Life is Worth Living” show on ABC.
Ladd, 60, died in 2007, and Sheen departed for the heavenly gates at age 87 in 1979, just weeks after spending time with Pope John Paul II during his U.S. visit. In addition to his book on Sheen, Ladd also produced a wonderful documentary about the life of Hoagy Carmichael, and Ladd was a member of the Grammy Association.
Sheen’s popularity and celebrity notoriety gained a wide audience draw and he was a guest on both Steve Allen’s and Ed Sullivan’s variety shows, and was also a guest of honor at one of the famed Friar Club’s celebrity roasts seated beside the likes of Milton Berle, Henny Youngman and Red Buttons.
Sheen’s show was one of the most highly sought-after programs by commercial sponsors.
– Original Credit: AP/NBC TV Archive 1969
As Ladd would remind, Sheen also had his own infamous broadcast moments, including the episode of his program in 1953 when, during a dramatic reading of the burial scene from William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” Sheen shared his own opinion about the evils of world communism and told viewers: “Joseph Stalin must one day meet his judgment.” A week later, the Russian dictator suffered a stroke and died.
Reader Don Bowman, who is also one of our farm neighbors and a member of our town Catholic church, faithfully shares a daily quote online in social media from the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen public Facebook page, which has more than a half million devoted followers.
Last month, the Catholic Diocese of Gary provided complimentary 125-page paperback books titled “The Wisdom of Fulton Sheen: 365 Days of Inspiration” to its flock around Starke, LaPorte, Porter and Lake counties.
Author Matthew Kelly, who wrote the introduction, explained: “Sheen saw what television was going to be be and how important it was to harness it for good, to share a message of hope and inspiration with as many people as possible. Captivating, intelligent and humorous, with his simple chalkboard he could outperform ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ night after night.”
Here in Northwest Indiana, at age 56, Robert J. McClory, was ordained a bishop and installed as the fifth Bishop of Gary during a special Mass held at Holy Angels Cathedral on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, the feast of our Lady of Lourdes.
Last weekend, Bishop McClory was hosted by our church priest Father Terry Bennis on Saturday, Jan. 29 for a special mass and dinner with the All Saints Catholic Church parishioners following at our church hall in San Pierre. Church secretary Peggy Oakley made six dozen of her specialty pastries Butter Nut Horns for the dessert table, a Hungarian recipe enjoyed in her family for gatherings for more than half a century and now shared with readers here today.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.
Peggy Oakley’s Butter Nut Horns
Makes 3 dozen
1 cup of cold butter
2 cups sifted flour
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
Powder sugar as needed
Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, cut pieces of cold butter into the flour.
2. In a small bowl, mix together egg and sour cream and blend together wet ingredients with dry ingredients to form dough.
3. Divide dough into three portions and chill for at least one hour before rolling each on a floured pastry cloth into a circle shapes each 12-inches in diameter.
4. In another bowl, combine the white sugar with cinnamon and nuts and generously spread 4 heaping tablespoons of the nut mixture onto each dough circle, and then cut each circle into 12 divided triangular wedges.
5. Starting with the wide end of each wedge, roll each up to make individual horns.
6. Bake horns on an ungreased cookie sheet in 375-degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Cool pastries and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
