The Most Reverend John R. Sheets, S.J. Auxiliary Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend in
Indiana, was an eminent Catholic theologian and author in the last half of the twentieth
century. He was particularly esteemed for his scholarly and insightful works in the areas
of Christian faith, morality and spirituality. “To Believe Is to Exist: Theological
Reflections for a Time of Crisis” illustrates the quality of his intellect and spiritual depth.
John Richard Sheets was born 21 September 1922 in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of
five children of Fred H. and Agnes O’Donnell Sheets. He grew up in the Catholic
community of Omaha and entered the Society of Jesus in 1940. His preparation for the
priesthood included studies for a bachelor’s degree at St. Louis University and a licentiate in theology at St. Mary’s College in Kansas. He was ordained a priest on 17 June 1953, and in 1957 he obtained a doctorate in theology from the Jesuit theologate in Innsbruck, Austria, where his teachers included Karl Rahner and Josef Jungmann.
After tertianship and final vows he joined the faculty of theology at Marquette
University. Along with Bernard Cooke, he founded the doctoral program in theology.
He served as novice master at St. Bonifacius, Minnesota, for one year, 1966-1967. The
following year, 1968, he was one of only two professors of theology at Marquette
University who refused to sign the protest against Pope Paul VI’s encyclical letter
Humanae vitae. The other was William J. Kelly, S.J.
Father Sheets also taught theology at Creighton University, eventually holding the Chair
of the Theology Department there. Today, in memory of his pursuit of excellence in
study and ministry, graduate students in theology at Creighton enjoy the opportunity for
financial support through the Bishop John R. Sheets Scholarship for the Masters of Arts
in Theology. In 1974 he founded Creighton University’s Summer Program in Christian
Spirituality, which soon attracted students from across the nation. That same year he
visited Switzerland to collaborate with Hans Urs von Balthasar, the founder of
Communio: International Catholic Review.
Father Sheets’s scholarly career made him a frequent contributor to major spiritual
periodicals and the author of many books and articles on Christian faith. He was in
frequent demand as a retreat master and guest lecturer on theological topics. He was an
early opponent of the supposed ordination of women in the Catholic Church.
On 14 May 1991, Father Sheets was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Fort Wayne-South
Bend, and he was ordained Bishop on 25 June 1991. Bishop Sheets retired from his
pastoral responsibilities on 23 September 1997, and died in Milwaukee on 16 April 2003.
He had been a priest for fifty years and a bishop for twelve, having suffered from
Alzheimer’s Disease at the end of his life.
Besides his academic and pastoral contributions, Bishop Sheets was an enthusiastic
outdoorsman and prayerful mystic. He often gazed at the sunrise and the moon. He loved poetry and serious European films. It was said that he could perceive the gift of all God’s creation in a drop of water.
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