Does EWTN Help or Hurt?

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In a certain sense i agree and in a certain sense i disagree. EWTN is doing the very best that they can with the money that comes in.

We need more people, young and old to get into the media industry and volunteer their time, talent and treasure the things like EWTN and C.A.

I personally don’t llike some of the programming choices that they make, i would like to see them try to reach out to a more youthful audience (and i am not talking about hands in the air charismaniac stuff either.) I mean like a “cool” music program featuring good music, not church music. Rock type stuff.

The prots have us beaten when it comes to hipness sometimes and it fumes me that we just don’t wake up and engage so much better with out lessening the faith!

That is the key to do the aforementioned with out lessening the faith!!!
 
Stillkickin said:
Well, here is a different view on it.
My wife’s grandmother is no longer mobile. Guess what programs on EWTN she watches? The rosary every evening and the Mass. Which are both very Catholic and I think the elderly appreciate them very much.

There are several shows that I personnaly will watch whenever I have the opportunity - The Journey Home, Father Corapi, Letter and Spirit, World Over, EWTN Bookmark, some episodes of The Abundant Life, and replays of Bishop Fulton Sheen (Life Is Worth Living), just to name ones off the top of my head.

Yes, production quality of many of the programs may not be all that great, but what is more important to have, splash, pizzaz, or content. I watch EWTN to learn and to be motivated in my faith. I guess i have never turned in to be “entertained” or to sit watch and vegitate. I can do that watching almost any other channel. Just like I don’t go to Mass to be entertained and wowed with big screens and concerts, I go to offer worship to God and recieve him in the Eucharist.

If you haven’t guessed, I’m a big fan of EWTN and it has helped me tremendously on my faith journey.

Stillkickin
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Still kickin, EWTN has helped in my faith tremedously as well. Especially Fr. Corapi. His talks are so full of insight and truth.

To the OP:
What I think it going on with EWTN is that they lack the funds to do much more. For some time now, I have seen that they always put a commercial with a deacon asking for people to donate money and pray. They are in a tight situation right now it seems. I hope that many people will pray for EWTN to grow even more. I certainly will tonight, because I can’t help anyone financially right now.
 
I_thirst_4_YOU said:
In a certain sense i agree and in a certain sense i disagree. EWTN is doing the very best that they can with the money that comes in.

We need more people, young and old to get into the media industry and volunteer their time, talent and treasure the things like EWTN and C.A.
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Amen to that
I personally don’t llike some of the programming choices that they make, i would like to see them try to reach out to a more youthful audience (and i am not talking about hands in the air charismaniac stuff either.) I mean like a “cool” music program featuring good music, not church music. Rock type stuff.
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Do you mean good Christian music as opposed to Church music (organ) music?

I am so put off my most of the music out there today that I think it would be better to do more good, beautiful choir music than more Rock.
The prots have us beaten when it comes to hipness sometimes and it fumes me that we just don’t wake up and engage so much better with out lessening the faith!
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That is the key to do the aforementioned with out lessening the faith!!!
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You seem to be of a younger generation than my 52yrs young. I lived through the “opening up”, the changes, and abuses of Vatican II. Went to many guitar masses, youth studies etc. and still lost my faith in my early 20’s

It wasn’t until later I realized that much of this experimentation had precisely led to a lessening of faith, a drop in vocations, and a chuch full of confusions. What led me back to the Church was a desire for the history and fullness of faith that I grew up with. The last thing we need IMHO is moreslickness and hipness. What we need is a more consistant and full teaching of the Gospels and the Faith.

In other words we need more of is what EWTN is trying to do. Put out the message of the Holy Mother Church in Rome. Showing people what the church really is; really believes; really teaches.

Don’t get me wrong, I would like to see a bit more variety of programming on the station, a bit less of the rosary and chaplets, but I hope they keep up the teaching and integrety of the church so that whoever is brought home by the station won’t feel they were misled.

James
 
I think EWTN is great the way it is. It’s the truth and teachings within the shows that got me tuning in daily. I could care less about the fancy stuff, just give me the truth, the way, and the life, because that is all I will need.
 
EWTN is excellent - it’s a big help!

Love Dale Ahlquist on G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense -

& saw the wonderful biographer Joseph Pearce for the first time on Bookmark…

& Fr. Leo Clifford’s reflections are excellent, too.

Did you ever catch Richard Geraghty? Haven’t seen him in a while, but I liked his brief messages also…

So I’m a big yup… :yup:

it helps! 👍
 
Hi, I just saw Fr. Groechel last night in our city for a “theology on tap” series. He was just like he is on TV and the huge crowd in the large back room of the bar was I know partly attributed to Father being on EWTN. He wrote before, was a priest many years, but EWTN gets his message and news on his order and other religious news out there.
There were a lot of seniors at first, but then many middle-aged couples came (me included) and then many students from Yale and surrounding towns. There were also a few young kids (my 15 year old thought she’d be the only one under 20) There were also many priests and brothers and confession afterwards for those that wanted to go. I’m glad that EWTN brought a lot of us together. Father mentioned his order has 143 now…he can’t keep track of the names! What a wonderful problem to have!!
 
Janet_S said:
Catholic charities weren’t much better than what?

You know, don’t you, that Catholic Charities isn’t the only Catholic group involved in works of charity.
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Janet I got the series of Father Brown and we have been watching them, they are good and he carries a rosary and it shows him using it.

It is sort of like the mystery Muder She Wrote series.

My dh likes the actor because he was in the movie Sink the Bismark

I really like it maybe we could get EWTN to show episodes of the Father Brown series?
D.
 
I’m not even Catholic, but I feel EWTN is a wonderful, powerful, tool to reach people. Heck, I’m here now largely because of EWTN prompting me to examine my faith.

I don’t mind that the glitz is sometimes lacking. In matters of the faith, 100 lbs of pizazz doesn’t make up for an ounce of content.

And if you don’t just love Mother Angelica - well - *blah *to you!!! 👍
 
dessert said:
Janet I got the series of Father Brown and we have been watching them, they are good and he carries a rosary and it shows him using it.

It is sort of like the mystery Muder She Wrote series.

My dh likes the actor because he was in the movie Sink the Bismark

I really like it maybe we could get EWTN to show episodes of the Father Brown series?
D.
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Have you read any of the Father Brown stories? They were written by G.K. Chesterton. Here is a great link.
 
EWTN is fantastic and I am not Roman Catholic. I have learned more about orthodox Catholic beliefs from Fr. Pacwa, Fr. Groeschel, Fr. Corapi, etc (love Archbishop Sheen) than I would have without it. I also had a wonderful conversation with a 40 year old woman (Generation X) who along with her husband are devoted orthodox Catholics and faithfully watch EWTN and Fr. Corapi.

This ministry represents the Catholic church well and is a great evangelism tool for sharing the truth about the Catholic faith.

RevNorth
 
Randy_Carson said:
DISCLAIMER: What I’m about to say won’t be very popular with some people…it may not even be accurate or fair, but it is my impression. You’ve been warned. 🙂

I don’t watch EWTN very often. In fact, almost never.

Whenever I’m flipping through the channels looking for something interesting and I come to EWTN, I’m not impressed with what I see.

Daily mass. A very aged Mother Angelica struggling through the rosary with a chorus of nuns monotoning their responses. The Divine Mercy Chaplet. Over and over and over again throughout the broadcast day.

Or aged monks and priests on an empty set talking directly to the camera. An elderly couple wandering through a church talking about saints. All obviously very low-budget productions.

Compared with Pat Robertson’s 700 Club and the productions of other Protestant broadcasters, EWTN is amateurish at best.

Is this really the best that Catholic Television has to offer? Does EWTN’s programming portray the Catholic Church in its best light?

Finally, is it time for Mother Angelica to step aside and let television professionals take EWTN to the next level?

[set rant=off]
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Count your blessings. We don’t get EWTN in my area. The only religious broadcasts we get are local Protestant preachers or the national “send me money and God will make you rich types.”

ANYTHING Catholic would be welcomed.
 
Legal Eagle,
EWTN is the primary reason I have cable! But one great thing
about their live shows is that you can go to the website and
either see the video (for a week or so after airing) and the audio
for a longer. When I miss a show, I try to do the video, but
definitely the audio. The Journey Home, The World Over, Life on
the Rock are the principle ones I’ve done.
So until you have it available, this would be a good way not to
miss everything.
 
I think EWTN is so “low budget” because we mainly (the people who contribute) run the network. They remind us daily that it’s “ours”. They don’t do anything shady with the money, no one is paid high salaries (the friars and nuns, nothing), but they all feel blessed to be a part of it. If they use the money for good things and not glitzy sets, that’s okay with me. It’s the message that matters, not the setting.
 
I have not read the whole thread, but I find the OP quite surprising. To me EWTN compares favorably both in content and presentation with any other religious broadcasting I’m aware of. The main fault I find with EWTN is that it sometimes presents overly simplistic, pat answers and some of the speakers come across as smug and triumphalistic. But this is true ten times more (at least) of the Protestant broadcasting I know. I can’t fathom what the OP means by comparing Pat Robertson’s network favorably with EWTN. One look at Robertson’s sickly smile and I want to turn the channel right away.

The depth of thought presented in EWTN programming is truly remarkable for any TV network. TV is an intriniscally shallow medium. The faults of EWTN are largely the faults of the medium; its virtues are the virtues of the Catholic tradition, and those are broad and deep.

Edwin
 
EWTN Convert here. 🙂

My life would not be the same without EWTN and Mother Angelica, the Nuns, the Priests, monks, etc. That channel and its programs played an important role in my journey to Catholicism and I pray that it never ceases teaching the faith and bringing others closer to Jesus.
 
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