Frank Sheed, in full, Francis Joseph Sheed, (1897–1981), an Australian-born lawyer, was, like his wife Maisie Ward

Maisie Ward

Maisie Ward , scion of one of Britain's distinguished Catholic families, was a writer, publisher, and speaker.-Life:Famous in her day as one of the names behind the imprint Sheed & Ward and as a forceful public lecturer in the Catholic Evidence Guild, her reputation has dimmed in subsequent decades...

, a writer, publisher, and speaker. Famous in their day as the names behind the imprint Sheed & Ward and as forceful public lecturers in the Catholic Evidence Guild

Catholic Evidence Guild

The Catholic Evidence Guild is a loose international association of Roman Catholic lay volunteers which seeks to research and present clear and compelling explanations of the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. The organisation was founded in the Diocese of Westminster, England towards the end...

, their reputations have dimmed in subsequent decades. That is an ironic development given that they were ahead of their time in so many ways, foreshadowing most of what was good about the Second Vatican Council

Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...

.

Life

Sheed was a lay theologian

Lay theologian

A lay theologian is a theologian who is not an ordained clergyman.Among lay theologians are the following:* George Abbot * Thomas J. J. Altizer* Joseph T. Bayly* Edward Musgrave Blaiklock* Nicholas Cabasilas* Chung Hyun Kyung...

 in Catholicism back in 'clerical days' when there was practically no such thing. He wrote a constant stream of books touching on almost every aspect of basic theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, several of which remain in print. His translation of St. Augustine's Confessions

Confessions

Confessions may refer to:*The plural of confession* Confessions , a series of books composed by St. Augustine of Hippo circa AD 397* Confessions , an autobiography by Jean-Jacques Rousseau...

(which he hyped in an advertising campaign as "sex-drenched!") remains acclaimed. As publisher of an all-star roster including Karl Adam

Karl Adam (theologian)

Karl Borromäus Adam was a German Catholic theologian of the early 20th century....

, Christopher Dawson

Christopher Dawson

Christopher Henry Dawson was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Christopher H. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century".-Life:...

, Ronald Knox

Ronald Knox

Ronald Arbuthnott Knox was an English priest, theologian and writer.-Life:Ronald Knox was born in Kibworth, Leicestershire, England into an Anglican family and was educated at Eton College, where he took the first scholarship in 1900 and Balliol College, Oxford, where again...

, and Hugh Pope

Hugh Pope

Henry Vincent Pope, better known as Fr. Hugh Pope , was a Dominican biblical scholar, Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegium Angelicum in Rome.-Life:...

, he maintained a robust basic Christian faith while keeping pulse on progressive trends.

Works

• Theology and Sanity
• A Map of Life
• Theology for Beginners
• To Know Christ Jesus
• Nullity of Marriage
• What Difference Does Jesus Make
• Marriage and the Family
• The Catholic Evidence Guild, 1925
• The Church and I [autobiography], Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974.