Archbishop Fulton Sheen was recently declared "Venerable" by Pope Benedict (on June 28), a step on the path to being canonized as a Catholic saint. He is one whose writing I would highly recommend reading. (Outside of obvious exceptions such as the Bible, his book Life of Christ is my favorite non-GKC book ever, and apparently a book that Mother Teresa always kept with her). And, of course, one can watch reruns of his Emmy-winning television series "Life is Worth Living" as well. That being the case, I wish to quote from Archbishop Sheen's autobiography Treasure in Clay (written shortly before his death in 1979), concerning his influences, since it is appropriate to this blog. :-)

The greatest influence in writing was G.K. Chesterton, who never used a useless word, who saw the value of a paradox, and avoided what was trite.