Fulton Sheen’s Message for Christmas, by Derek Rotty

By Derek Rotty, Catholic Exchange, Dec. 23, 2025

Derek Rotty is a husband, father, teacher, and free-lance writer who lives in Jackson, Tennessee. He has written extensively on Catholic history, culture, faith formation, and family. He recently published his book Prophet of Hope: Fulton Sheen Responds to the Modern World, available on Amazon. Find out more about him & his work at www.derekrotty.com.

Christmas is quickly approaching, and remembering to recognize it as a season offers an opportunity to extend its graces and lessons further into our lives.

Venerable Fulton Sheen helps us to understand this reality well. Each year, in his syndicated newspaper column published close to Christmas day, he provided rich teaching, application to everyday life, and memorable turns of phrase that help deepen our insight into the Christmas mystery and apply it to our lives beyond December 25^th.

Sheen’s understanding of Christmas—the reality he desired to convey to his audience—is captured by a single axiom. “Christmas,” he wrote in December 1969, “is not something that happened; it is something that is happening every day.” Nearly identical statements appear in many columns over many years. Essentially, he wanted to convey that the celebration of Christmas, every year, “means a summons to every human nature in the world to prolong the enfleshment of Christ” (column from Dec. 25, 1960). ….

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