EWTN

  • Thread starter Thread starter RoyNeary2001
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
JReducation said:
There were too many posts and I don’t have time to read each of them. This may have been answered. I apologize for the redundancy, if I’m repeating what has been said.

EWTN was founded by the Poor Clares, with Mother Angelica at the head. If we fast-forward, Mother Angelica returns to her life as the superior of her community and EWTN’s administration is handed over to a lay board, but always under the vigilance of the Franciscan community. That should answer the question about monitoring. The Franciscans do not need the monitoring of the bishops, because the five obediences are under the jurisdiction of priests or lay brothers who have the same power as bishops. They do not have the sacramental powers, but they have to gubernatorial powers. In addition, the lay board has been erected as a public association of the lay faithful under the jurisdiction of the local bishop. There is a lot of oversight.

Not every program that you see via EWTN is produced by them or owned by them. They serve as a carrier as well as producers. For example, “Women of Grace” is not owned by EWTN. It is another public association of the faithful based on the Diocese of Palm Beach.

This should not happen. But it can happen and it is not illegal. There are times when there are no priests to celebrate a mass, for whatever reason. It may be something as simple as Father being away for the day. The parish has to provide mass on Sundays. That’s law.

I know that our guys close down the parish when we have community meetings, unless they can get a priest to cover them. The community meeting takes priority over the parish. That’s because we’re religious.

This has nothing to do with EWTN, but just to clarify, the priest in this accident was a diocesan priest. Diocesan priests are not consecrated religious. They are secular men. They do not make any vows. They promise obedience to their bishop on pastoral matters only. They also promise to remain celibate, not the same as the vow of chastity made by religious, which implies community life. Any diocesan priest can have as much money as he can make through honest means. This may be through his work or it can be a family inheritance. He may come from a wealthy family. If I were not a Franciscan, if I were Donald Trump’s son, and if I wanted to be a priest, I could join a diocese and I would still have my father’s money. There is no prohibition in Church law on this matter. That’s also a lot of ifs. LOL

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks for clearing this up, brother (as you do so often 🙂 ). Pax†
 
Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, a voice of Catholic orthodoxy was badly needed in the United States. This voice had to transcend dioceses and parishes, because dioceses and parishes often taught (and still teach, unfortunately) things that aren’t what the Church teaches. That voice was Mother Angelica. I am very grateful for what she did. I wish they’d do some things differently on EWTN- while they have many great things, I wish they’d do more of them rather than show certain things several times a day.
 
If I had a voice I would like to see them do several things:
  • Daily news instead of weekly
  • A program on religious vocations: profiling different forms of consecrated life and different communities, maybe once per week
  • Youth concerts: there are many good and entertaining Christian music groups that most kids never get to hear
  • More moveis and less talk shows
  • Move the good stuff from the wee-hours of the morning to a time that most people are awake: shows on chastity, marriage, NFP, Gospel of Life
  • Profile different ministries in the Church: we have a lot of good things happening that most Catholics don’t know about, leaving many to believe that nothing good is happening
  • A series on good Catholic spirituality
One can dream, can’t one? 😃

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
Thank you for the clarifications and distinctions in this reply. For purposes of context, I mentioned the Veterans Day Mass issue and the flying priest in response to questions or request for elaborations. These were observations made over time perceived through the memories and expectations of an inadequate and malnourished faith. It is very confusing to listen and watch EWTN, and wonder why such a presentation was not made at local parish when younger. I feel so annoyed and irritated at the local parish after having learned the faith by EWTN, and this has made me doubt it because of that inner antagonism.
 
OraLabora said:
Nonsense. The US Church is not the Church. Maybe the US Church would have been more “Protestantized”. But you’re a drop in the sea actually: 70 million among 1 billion, or 7% of the total. Yes, it is still 4th largest Catholic population in the world, but it is still only 7% of the total.

How, pray tell, do the rest of the world’s Catholics (93%) manage without EWTN???
Click to expand...
Well how about the shortwave station hmmmm??: That station covers virtually all the globe and is bringing the Catholic Church to many areas not able to hear the Truth of the Catholic Church any other way.
 
CatholicFireman said:
Brother JR, they did, if fact, have a series on religious orders, however, only men’s orders:

ewtn.com/series/2009/Religious-Orders-Men.htm
Click to expand...
I remember this series. It was a lecture series. I believe. I was thinking of having interviews or shadowing a religious. Not too long ago, Fr. Benedict Groeschel and Fr. Richard Ho had a very good show on the Missionaries of the Poor. This past week, Fr. Mitch had two Dominican Friars. It was interesting, because in both programs, there were different diocesan priests who asked the same question, “What do brothers do?” They have no clue, because religious life is not taught in the seminary. If you do not belong to a religious community, your knowledge of religious life is limited to the few regular priests that you meet or religious sisters. The concept of religious men is completely lost on you.

In the one show with Fr. Richard, the priest who asked the question was shocked to find out that only 1/10 religious in the Missionaries of the Poor is a priest and they only allow the one to be ordained so they can have liturgy in their daily life. They refer to him as a priest-brother. He was even more shocked when Fr. Benedict explained that in the Franciscan tradition, men do not become brothers and then priests, but they continue to be brothers until they die, even if they are ordained, because the Franciscans do not distinguish between the ordained and the non-ordained. We call them clerical-brothers or simply, the clerics.

Father went to give examples of how in Franciscan houses of men they don’t have communion rails and how the chapels usually have a lot of room around the altar to allow the entire community in the sanctuary, to stress the brotherhood between the ordained and the non-ordained and how this was done from the time of Francis. The listener was equally surprised to hear that some communities do not allow their ordained to celebrate daily mass. Only one priest can celebrate mass. The others have to attend mass with the non-ordained.

These things sound crazy to some people, because they don’t know that these are practices that go back for centuries or they don’t know that religious brothers were the first religious around. Later, priests would leave their dioceses and their parishes and ask for admission to these brotherhoods, in pursuit of the consecrated life. Eventually men like Dominic would combine the two vocations (priesthood and religious life) by founding a religious order for priests.

There are many forms of religious life. This great diversity is unknown by the average Catholic. It would be great to see communities such as the Missionaries of the Poor, Brothers of the Good Shepherd, Franciscan Brothers, Christian Brothers, Alexians, Trappists, Brothers of Peace, Missionary Brothers of Charity (Mother Teresa’s brothers), and hundreds of other communities of male religious that are not clerical, even though some do have priests in the minority. I have often wondered what the average layperson knows about us. I know that where I live and work, the people know us and appreciate us. They often come to us for spiritual direction, marriage counseling, material assistance, retreat work, preaching and so forth. However, this is very limited to one neighborhood and one ministry. There are so many vocational options.

The same is true for women. There are sisters, nuns, secular institutes of consecrated women, consecrated virgins, hermits, lay associations, secular orders and each is very different.

My idea was a program where you invite one community per week. You would not have to repeat any program for at least three years, since there are more than 52 such institutes of men and women.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
I always thought that if my vocation wasn’t marriage I’d be a religious brother (more contemplative/cloistered). One other thing I noticed differently is how the Carthusions lay reclined on the alter rather than kneel (if I’m correct).

I see what you mean. I would like to see those shows on EWTN too (I saw the EWTN Live with the Dominicans, also. He also had the Carmelites form Wisconsin).

Pax†
 
CatholicFireman said:
I always thought that if my vocation wasn’t marriage I’d be a religious brother (more contemplative/cloistered). One other thing I noticed differently is how the Carthusions lay reclined on the alter rather than kneel (if I’m correct).

I see what you mean. I would like to see those shows on EWTN too (I saw the EWTN Live with the Dominicans, also. He also had the Carmelites form Wisconsin).

Pax†
Click to expand...
I guess you heard the diocesan priest ask, “What do brothers do?”

Many brothers are contemplative, but most are very active in the daily operations of the Church. They run schools, hospitals, chanceries, pregnancy centers, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, retreat houses, homes for the dying, bishop’s offices, parishes (yes they can be parish administrators), teach theology in seminaries, run universities, go to the missions and serve the poor, youth ministry, hospice, nursing homes, preach missions, train lay ministers, run religious education programs, write books, scientists, medical doctors, lawyers, gardners, cooks, carpenters, mechanics, engineers, accountants and more.

At EWTN the brothers serve as technicians, accountants, directors, camera men, writers, maintenance men, researchers, spiritual directors to pilgrims, hosts to visitors, or care takers of the grounds. They only have few ordained friars. The majority are not ordained.

If you watch the mass, you don’t see the community. The focus of their life is community. Only the brothers who are reading or serving are present. There is a separate community mass, without the laity. This is an ancient Franciscan custom.

What you say about the Carthusians is true. They do recline over the altar. If you ever attend a mass inside a Franciscan house, you will see everyone around the altar, not the priest on one side and the friars on the other. That’s a remnant from the days when we had choir stalls on either side of the altar so that you were seeing the mass from the sides, not from behind the priest. We never had the model of looking in the same direction as the priest. That was something new introduced in the 1960s or 70s, I’m not sure exactly when. It did not last long. Few friars liked it, because it was not our custom. Different provinces had different customs. In some provinces you knelt during the canon, but on either side. In other provinces you stood and everyone genuflected or bowed at the elevation.

Some communities of men wore their cowls until the beginning of the canon and again after communion. I wear it only during the Liturgy of the Hours, not at mass, because we go to mass at a parish. The laity may be distracted by that. There are many rich traditions in the different communities that are never seen in a parish, because the parishioners would be very confused. For example, we kiss the floor entering and leaving, if the Blessed Sacrament is present. Also, if the Blessed Sacrament is present, we take off our shoes and go barefoot.

Because we serve the unborn, we found that we had to do something to help poor mothers provide blankets for their babies. We cut our habit shorter. It goes down below the knees. The wool that we save is then sewn into blankets and given to the poor. Some Trappists wear a blue habit down to the knees for work and the white and black habit when they’re not doing manual labor. The Dominicans throw their front scapular over their heads when they prostrate. The Missionaries of Charity sleep on floor mats. The Missionaries of the Poor sleep in dormitories in bunk beds. Everyone has to go to bed at the same time. We sleep on racks with a mat, instead of matress. The money saved from that is used to provide for the unborn.

It would be great to show these things.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
RoyNeary2001 said:
This seems like EWTN is working within the Church, but outside the lines so to speak. I become more aggrevated listening to EWTN, not so much for the content, as for why nothing like this was ever heard within the local parish. This puzzles me because I become annoyed through memories of the past in light of what is heard today.
Click to expand...
I think I can understand your frustration. However EWTN is here now. It has revitalized our parish. RCIA is full of not only future converts but adult cradle catholics. We are now talking about a parish or deanery apologetics class. We’ve had Bible studies as well. Our twined parish schools were the only schools to have an increase in students in the diocese.

There are some who only want to feel good when they go to church. There are some who only want to be right. There are some who can’t handle any kind of change and some who demand more change.

EWTN follows Church teaching and that is good enough for me.
 
vsedriver said:
I think I can understand your frustration. However EWTN is here now. It has revitalized our parish. RCIA is full of not only future converts but adult cradle catholics. We are now talking about a parish or deanery apologetics class. We’ve had Bible studies as well. Our twined parish schools were the only schools to have an increase in students in the diocese.

There are some who only want to feel good when they go to church. There are some who only want to be right. There are some who can’t handle any kind of change and some who demand more change.

EWTN follows Church teaching and that is good enough for me.
Click to expand...
We also have to remember that the Catholic Church never had a strong adult religious education ministry. She felt very safe in Roman Catholic Europe and its colonies and Eastern Catholic, East, for lack of a better term.

It was not until the communication explosion that Catholics were exposed to so many dangerous ideas and ideologies.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
I believe EWTN is privately owned and Mother Angelica went to great lengths to keep it this way. If it was run by a diocese it would probably be the usual gray mish mosh.
 
jameslasner said:
I believe EWTN is privately owned and Mother Angelica went to great lengths to keep it this way. If it was run by a diocese it would probably be the usual gray mish mosh.
Click to expand...
It depends on how you’re using the word “private”. Canon law defines it a little differently from the rest of the world. Then again, Canon Law defines a lot of things differently, doesn’t it. LOL

All joking aside. EWTN is what Canon Law calls “a public association”, just like Catholic Answers. This means that it must meet the approval of the local bishop in order to use the name Catholic. Most people do not realize this, but there is a difference between an organization run by Catholics and a Catholic organization. No organization may call itself Catholic without the expressed and written permission of the local bishop or the pope himself. EWTN has the permission of the local bishop to call itself Catholic. The local bishop has the power to retract its Catholic name. They always had the local bishop’s permission. Therefore, they were always under the authority of the local bishop.

Now, how do I know this? Very simple. I’m a Franciscan. The Rule of St. Francis says that we may not preach in any diocese without the permission of the local bishop. To begin her ministry, Mother Angelica had to get the permission of the local bishop. He always held the controls, because he always had the authority to retract the permission.

In addition, when Mother asked for permission to start the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, the permission was restricted. A woman may never govern a community of Franciscan men. The Capuchin Franciscans were brought in to get them started. Mother was the inspiration. She provided the framework for their constitutions, which the Capuhcin Franciscans approved and which they then provided the formation for the first friars.

When Fr. Angelus Shaughnessy, OFM. Cap. was recalled to the motherhouse, the new community needed a new superor. The local bishop became its superior general and one of the friars was elected as the Community Servant. The friars are a diocesan association under the jurisdiction of the local bishop.

When Mother and the Poor Clares surrendered the ownership of EWTN (Mother could not own it. It was owned by the Poor Clares), but when they surrendered ownership, it was passed to a lay board, but with restrictions. The Friars must be on that board. This is where the local bishop enters the picture, again.

The friars are a diocesan association, under the jurisdiction of the local bishop. The local bishop is the one who gave EWTN the title Catholic and he can take it away. Therefore, the local bishop is not far removed from the governance of EWTN.

He is not the owner. He is the ecclesial authority that allows them to use the title Catholic and who allows the friars to serve on EWTN. He can pull the title and the friars from EWTN at his discretion without any explanations or apologies. He can also pull the deacon who is the VP of EWTN. The deacon is part of his diocesan clergy.

It’s a little presumptuos to believe that any organization can be Catholic without any episcopal authorization. What is true is that EWTN is not owned by the diocese or by the USCCB. It is a lay 501(c)3. For legal purposes, it is its own agency. For ecclesial purposes, it depends on the local bishop and the Franciscans for its Catholic name. The truth is that EWTN has proven to be more Catholic than any other organization in the American Church, so why fix what is not broken?

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
JReducation said:
We also have to remember that the Catholic Church never had a strong adult religious education ministry. She felt very safe in Roman Catholic Europe and its colonies and Eastern Catholic, East, for lack of a better term.

It was not until the communication explosion that Catholics were exposed to so many dangerous ideas and ideologies.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
Click to expand...
Exactly, as an adult I felt totally unarmed when confronted by non-Catholic Christians and non-Christians. Now I can carry on a discussion that often disarms my questioner. In fact, a friend who was evangelical for years is on the edge of converting. She only hesitates because her husband is the son of a evangelical minister and is afraid it will cause family strife.
 
Thank you, Br. JR. You’re a great teacher. You’ve given us some very interesting and needed background on EWTN and Catholic institutions in general.
 
vsedriver said:
Exactly, as an adult I felt totally unarmed when confronted by non-Catholic Christians and non-Christians. Now I can carry on a discussion that often disarms my questioner. In fact, a friend who was evangelical for years is on the edge of converting. She only hesitates because her husband is the son of a evangelical minister and is afraid it will cause family strife.
Click to expand...
Before speaking to EWTN, I can see how your friend’s situation is a real sticking point, especially if the father-in-law is a good person whom you don’t want to hurt. I’m a convert from Judaism of over 35-years, but I had to walk into the Catholic Church very gently, because my Jewish family is wonderful. It was important that they understood that I was not rejecting any of them. I finally told my mother that I found it easy to believe and follow Jesus, because he was the perfect Jew. That confession threw her for a loop, but it was not taken personally, which is what I wanted to avoid. It worked.

Years later, read the writings of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Dear Remembrances, she put it similarly to her family and friends. “Our Huguenot ancestors rebelled against a church where they could not find Christ. I’m not betraying their faith, but following in their footsteps. I too am following Christ and it is into the Catholic Church where he is leading me.”

Back to EWTN

EWTN is very timely, because as the communication explosion took place, many Catholics, such as you, faced a whole new world of ideas and ideologies that they never knew existed. Remember that these ideas were thrown around in academic circles at the great universities and centers of culture, not in the local neighborhood. Even The Modernist Movement was a movement of the academic elite, not the common man, Catholic or other. Most people did not know that these ideas and ideologies existed.

People lived in ghettos. Catholics on the north side of town, Protestants on the south side, Jews on the eastside and others on the west side. Then suburbia explodes. People who had never before interacted left the cities for suburbia and ended up next door to each other. Let the good times begin! 😃 Schools are integrated with children and parents from all sectors. The Catholic working class moves up to the middle class and their children enter colleges and universities. Catholics enter the political arena, unprepared for what was to come. It’s at this point that adult Catholics begin to fall apart.

I do believe that EWTN was the Holy Spirit’s life preserver for the middle class American Catholic and gradually reached other Catholics in different countries. I believe that it’s not a coincidence that it begins as a Franciscan ministry. The Franciscan Order has always placed its focus on converting Catholics more than non-Catholics. Traditionally Franciscans have done several things:
  • protected Catholics from heresy and left the heretics to the Dominicans and Jesuits
  • protected Catholics from Catholics
  • preached to the pagan
  • cultivated good relations with Jews and Muslims in order to minister to Catholics living in those areas
  • protected Jews and Muslims from Catholics
Observe that EWTN and Mother herself never attack other faiths, especially Judaism and Islam. EWTN’s focus has always been to correct and educate Catholics. People of other faiths are always welcome to listen. But when the Franciscans themselves speak on EWTN, especially Fr. Benedict G., a point is always made to mention positives about Jewish, Islamic and Protestant people. There is an unbroken and unwritten rule in Franciscanism, never to attack people of other faiths. The ministry consists in answering questions about the Catholic faith. Often, Jews, Muslims and Protestants disagree with the answer and that’s OK. The point is that they cannot say that they have been attacked. That does not happen in Francisanism. EWTN is very careful to continue to observe this tradition.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
JReducation said:
Traditionally Franciscans have done several things:
  • protected Catholics from heresy and left the heretics to the Dominicans and Jesuits
  • protected Catholics from Catholics
  • preached to the pagan
  • cultivated good relations with Jews and Muslims in order to minister to Catholics living in those areas
  • protected Jews and Muslims from Catholics
Observe that EWTN and Mother herself never attack other faiths, especially Judaism and Islam. EWTN’s focus has always been to correct and educate Catholics. People of other faiths are always welcome to listen. But when the Franciscans themselves speak on EWTN, especially Fr. Benedict G., a point is always made to mention positives about Jewish, Islamic and Protestant people. There is an unbroken and unwritten rule in Franciscanism, never to attack people of other faiths. The ministry consists in answering questions about the Catholic faith. Often, Jews, Muslims and Protestants disagree with the answer and that’s OK. The point is that they cannot say that they have been attacked. That does not happen in Francisanism. EWTN is very careful to continue to observe this tradition.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explaination. I’ve been an EWTN observer for years - but never put two and two together about the order. Fr. Groeschel made a comment this Sunday about the Jesuits (which I’ve been noticing in negative news reports over the years) and your explanation makes more sense of it.

That being said, Fr. Mitch is a Jesuit, however I’ve rarely heard him mention the order in much detail.
 
RoyNeary2001 said:
Are their any sources with credible scrutiny of EWTN to determine their consistency and efficacy in transmitting the faith? Are there any sources measuring dioceses conformity to the faith?
Click to expand...
This is an excellent question and something I want to know as well. I most certainly relate to your concerns because my catechesis was marginal at best. I ended up marrying the daughter of an evangelical bishop/elder. So our entry into the Church as a family was very cautionary, but imminent. We kept is secret for a couple of years at my wife’s request.
 
CatholicFireman said:
I always thought that if my vocation wasn’t marriage I’d be a religious brother (more contemplative/cloistered). One other thing I noticed differently is how the Carthusions lay reclined on the alter rather than kneel (if I’m correct).

I see what you mean. I would like to see those shows on EWTN too (I saw the EWTN Live with the Dominicans, also. He also had the Carmelites form Wisconsin).

Pax†
Click to expand...
You may consider joining a secular third order.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top