Detroit priest compiles Venerable Fulton Sheen’s latest book, “On the Demonic” – Detroit Catholic

The late archbishop wanted to write a book warning against demonic influences, says Father Dave Tomaszycki; the book summarizes his teachings

DETROIT – From political and social unrest, to times of great debate and confusion in society, to a breakdown of trust within and outside the Church, the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote about the times in which he lived.

But his work is still very applicable today.

Archbishop Sheen (1895-1979), best known for his sermons and his popular television program, Life Is Worth Living, was also a prolific author and a prophetic voice regarding the trials and tribulations that believers would face in the modern era.

Archbishop Sheen has published more than 60 books, but even that does not fully capture the depth of his teachings, says Father Dave Tomaszycki, a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Inspired by his own study of Archbishop Sheen’s works, Father Tomaszycki, who currently serves as priestly secretary to Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, has been working on compiling another book that addresses Archbishop Sheen’s teachings on a particular danger the late bishop saw as penetrating modern society toward the end of his life.

Later this month, the St. Paul Center will begin publishing the book “On the Demonic,” compiled and edited by Father Tomaszycki, a collection of Archbishop Sheen’s teachings on the subject and history of the demonic, a subject the late archbishop sought to explore in greater detail throughout his life.

“I re-read Archbishop Sheen’s book ‘Those Mysterious Priests’ (1974) in 2016 and I noticed that he included a few paragraphs about demons, which he said, ‘I will cover in another book,'” Father Tomaszycki said. Catholic Church in Detroit. “He said he was going to write a book on the subject, which I found interesting. He has an extensive archive, so was there a book just lying around in the archives?”

Father Tomaszycki went to work searching Archbishop Sheen’s various archives from Peoria, Illinois, to Rochester, New York, New York City, and Washington, DC, looking for this long-lost book.

Finding no such publication, Father Tomaszycki decided to get to work. He collected Archbishop Sheen’s words, mostly from a series of lectures he had given in the late 1960s and early 1970s, along with some of Archbishop Sheen’s columns from the Diocese of Rochester. Catholic Courierand with the assistance of some friends and his spiritual mentor, he has compiled and edited On the Demonic, the latest book by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

“It’s all Fulton Sheen’s words,” Father Tomaszycki said. “I put it together, but it’s not like I’m explaining Fulton Sheen’s thoughts. When you read this book, it looks like Fulton Sheen sat down and wrote it.”

Father Tomaszycki was already familiar with Archbishop Sheen’s work, having read more than 20 of his books. In his research, he studied the Archbishop’s books, columns and speeches with a fresh eye. He drew on various writings and lectures by Archbishop Sheen on the subject of demonic matters and pieced together common themes from the various lectures.

“I think 40 to 50 percent of the book is from his lectures and a large portion is from articles he wrote for his diocesan newspaper,” Father Tomaszycki said. “He wrote 12 to 15 books in the 1940s, but there wasn’t much on demons; that was more in the 1970s. For this project, I mostly listened to his lectures, looked through newspaper articles and searched the archives. I even got some handwritten notes that made it into the book.”

Father Tomaszycki said Archbishop Sheen defined the demonic as anything that divides people and leads them away from God.

“He never gives us a definition of the demonic, but he gives us three signs of the demonic: a love of nudity, violence and a schizophrenic mentality or the loss of one’s own identity,” said Father Tomaszycki.

Father Tomaszycki said Archbishop Sheen went into detail about how all three signs of the demonic take gifts from God – be they human bodies, human passions or human identity – and distort them, turning them toward themselves rather than toward God.

These demonic elements have existed since the Fall, said Father Tomaszycki, but the technological advances of the 20th century have contributed to a greater depth and breadth of this influence on society.

Archbishop Sheen was increasingly aware of these influences, which are increasingly present in today’s world, said Father Tomaszycki.

“The devil has always existed, but Archbishop Sheen felt he lived in a unique time,” Father Tomaszycki said. For example, he said, “Evil people have always existed, but now we have nuclear weapons. The way the whole world communicates today is like a new Tower of Babel. He talked about how this new technology makes the Antichrist possible because we now have the ability to communicate with the world and destroy the whole world.”

The book examines how a love of nudity, violence, and a schizophrenic mentality drive people away from God by devaluing sexuality, creating a desensitized society that is unmoved by man’s destructive power and in which people do not recognize themselves as being made in the image and likeness of God – thus creating a world in which humanity worships itself instead of worshiping God.

But the book offers an antidote: Jesus.

“Fulton Sheen mentions three weapons against the demonic: the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus and Mary, the Mother of God,” Father Tomaszycki said. “Those are the three most important weapons. He also points out that the cross is a weapon against the demonic, and also the holy hour. At the end of his life, (Archbishop Sheen) really pushed for the holy hour, for the need to pray before the Lord, to settle down to the point of knowing the Lord and fighting the devil.”

Father Tomaszycki hopes the book will provide spiritual reinforcement for those familiar with Archbishop Sheen’s work. While Archbishop Sheen spoke of how the demonic infiltrates society, it can just as easily attack believers on an individual level, he noted.

“It’s easy to look at the culture and see the demonic at work, but the devil attacks all of us,” Father Tomaszycki said. “There are many things we all fall into without realizing it. Knowing God is hard, but it’s very easy to know the world. Now, who is the prince of the world? The devil.”

One of the temptations Archbishop Sheen warned against is an overly political worldview, said Father Tomaszycki, noting that this is one of the traps the devil tried to lure even Jesus himself into in the desert.

“Archbishop Sheen said one of the devil’s temptations for our Lord is to be political,” Father Tomaszycki said. “As a priest, it is much easier to preach politics. You get a lot more fans, but it won’t save anyone.”

It took Father Tomaszycki four and a half years to compile all of Archbishop Sheen’s writings and lectures on the subject of demonism into a book worthy of the Venerable’s name. But so far, he said, the feedback has been positive.

“I did a podcast with Scott Hahn last week and I forget his exact words, but he said something like, ‘That is the clearest and most precise thing I have ever heard about demons.’ It was very positive praise,” Father Tomaszycki said.

The book also received positive feedback and comments from Archbishop Vigneron, as well as Peter Howard, founder of the Fulton Sheen Institute, and the late Al Kresta.

On the back cover of On the Demonic it is clear that Archbishop Sheen was not optimistic about world history, and one of his quotes is paraphrased as follows: “The Church is not optimistic about history. It has always been convinced that the end product of history will be the Antichrist, the concentration of diabolical evil in human souls.”

But the key point, according to Pastor Tomaszycki, is the second part of the quote, which confirms that the final fate of humanity does not depend on the outcome of history.

“The only way out of this horror will not be a new social order, but the return of Christ to judge the living and the dead,” said Father Tomaszycki, quoting Archbishop Sheen. “This is undoubtedly a very frightening statement… but the Church has foreseen this. Jesus has foreseen this. The Bible has foreseen this. It will happen as God has foreseen it. We don’t know how, but if we stay with Christ, all will be well.”