Those of us who are a few years more than 12 will remember Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. I was in Italy when his TV show was the most popular in the United States, but we heard of him; and he was on national TV, NOT on EWTN! Of course, today no one would dare give him the time of day. After all, he was faithful to the Church and today, the usual suspects would scream “division of church and state!” as though the secular airwaves were state-sponsored (or are they?).

His books, tapes and CDs are still available in Catholic bookstores and websites. Even Amazon sells them! He was also famous for his sharp wit and some of his sayings can still make us laugh… and reflect, Here are a few of the Archbishop’s gems:

• “Hearing nuns’ confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.”
• “Baloney is flattery laid on so thick it cannot be true, and blarney is flattery so thin we love it.”
• “You should realize that the community with which you deal is not the one of 42nd street and Broadway, or Hollywood and Vine. These are the crusts of the great American Sandwich. The meat is in between” (That’s right! The meat is us, and not the “elites” of the broadcasting companies and Hollywood!).
• “The proud man counts his newspaper clippings. The humble man counts his blessings.” (Remember the Gospel parable of the prayer of the Pharisee and the sinner?)

And then there is the famous one that many Catholic apologists quote:

“There are not over a 100 people in the U.S. who hate the Catholic Church; there are millions however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which is, of course, quite a different thing.”

In other words: there are a lot of folks out there who think they hate our Church, our Pope, and our priests, but they don’t have a clue about what the Church really stands for, let alone who She is. Scott Hahn, one of the most famous converts of our times, quotes that sentence over and over again. He was a Protestant minister who tried to talk Catholics out of their Faith, until… until he started reading Church documents and was horrified to realize that the Church that he had persecuted was right on all counts! Kind of reminds us of the conversion of St. Paul, right? “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And St. Paul, literally and figuratively, fell off his high horse.

Unfortunately, today there are very few people who truly know the Church. Sure, most Catholics go to Mass, sometimes. They pray, some-times. But if anyone asks them the reason for their faith, the cat gets their tongue. And they become shark bait to all those who will take their most precious possession, their Faith, away from them.

That’s why committed Catholics like Mother Angelica started EWTN, to combat the forces of evil that do their best to lead us astray. That’s why some generous and self-sacrificing folks worked for years to obtain the money to purchase one small radio station, KPIO 1750 am, in northern Colorado. And that’s why the Archdiocese of Denver every year labors to bring us the Catholic Faith Conference.

Next year, 2010, this event is called Living the Catholic Faith, and it takes place in the Colorado Convention Center, in the Korbel Ballroom, on Friday and Saturday, February 26 and 27.

Once again, the conference will offer great speakers that will enable those who attend to understand their Faith a little better. Speakers such as Dr. Tim Gray, the president of the Augustine Institute in Denver, who will encourage those with the vocation to teach. Folks like Louis Verrecchio, who will explain Ten things every Catholic should know about Vatican II. Fr. Jim Crisman, the Director of Vocations for our Archdiocese (he celebrated the 9:00 am and the 11:00 am Masses here at Holy Trinity on December 6) will ask our help in discerning and promoting vocations. For those who are confused about Church teachings on sexuality, Dr. Janet Smith will speak on the subject of homosexuality.

Everyone is encouraged to participate in the Conference. It has been planned specifically with the needs of our Archdiocese in mind. For more information, visit or call 303-715-3260. If you’ve never attended one of these events before, you don’t know what you are missing!