June 3, 2013
July 29 marks the beginning of daily newscasts from an office near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. by EWTN, one of the world’s largest religious broadcasting operations. Thank you Mother Angelica for being a pioneer in the New Evangelization using broadcast TV and the new media. Thank you for telling Catholicism like it is for all those years before you retired behind your cloister walls.
The purpose of this venture is to present the authentic Catholic point of view concerning various public affairs, and the fate of Christians abroad who are being persecuted and repressed. The intended audience is the 75 million Catholics in the United States, who, I hope, will hear true Catholic principles applied to the many challenges posed by the world. The live, half hour broadcast will have no commercials and will be funded mainly from private donations as EWTN is in its entirety.
We can expect to see a network style newscast but without a particular political slant, a genuine blessing if this truly comes to pass. For those of us sick of MSNBC, CNN, FOX, and other MSM, this may be a breath of fresh air. Guests will be political, ecclesiastical, and cultural leaders who will help shed light on issues within and outside the Church without, I hope, yelling and screaming at one another. Let EWTN break that mold now. It sounds like we’ll be getting food for the intellect and reason to chew on. I can’t think of any venture more necessary today to help people think about the implications of so many issues we face.
One perhaps unintended benefit, if this show lives up to expectations, will be a broadening sense of what it means to belong to the one, holy, universal and apostolic Church. EWTN already has that effect in toto, but a network news format may sweep in many more viewers who are not regular watchers and haven’t experienced this effect. In my diocese many, many people are very parish focused to the extent that they don’t see beyond the parish boundaries. If EWTN carries off the purpose of these broadcasts, perhaps more Catholics will develop a better sense of what it really means to be Catholic, a disciple of Christ, and a caring witness to the world – beyond their parish boundaries.
EWTN’s new venture will serve a good purpose with the non-Catholic audience also. Many non-Catholic people I know want to know how the Church really looks at things and are having an awful time finding out because of the massive misrepresentations by modernist priests, nuns, and certain bishops.
Let the light of Christ shine into the darkness. Let the clarity of truth be brought to all unfiltered, unambiguous, and unconformed to the double talk of the day. Let it be done in charity. Let us all learn to do it better.
I am looking forward to the first show and hope it lives up to what has been advertised.
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R. Now and forever!
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