A priest recently told me that many priests don’t like EWTN because it’s pro-pre-Vatican II? When I responded, “so then it’s a little to the right?..”, he said “a little?!”
What do you hear/think?
It’s been my experience that EWTN is
very “pro-Vatican II.” Sometimes it’s a bit more “pro-Vatican II” than I like. It seems they’re always having programs about the documents of Vatican II, the documents of John Paul II (The Threshold of Hope, and the many programs they’ve had about Theology of the Body). Many of their prominent speakers seem obsessed with the writings of Vatican II, of John Paul II, and other post-conciliar documents. When they refer to earlier writings, it seems mostly to be a reference to further explain a Vatican II document or one of John Paul II’s writings. These types of programs do very little for me, but if they inspire someone else to grow closer to God, more power to them.
Mother Angelica called for Catholics to learn, teach, and preach what the Church teaches- not their customized version of it. There were- and still are (unfortunately)- **many **people who want to change the Church- to ordain women, to allow married men to become Latin Rite priests, to blur the distinctions of gender- in scripture, sacred music, and in everyday life, to hide the uniqueness and awesomeness of our faith in the name of ecumenism and secularism. Unfortunately, many of these people are clergy and religious- bishops, priests, deacons, sisters, and brothers. These people did not like Mother Angelica and EWTN because it spread the message they were rejecting- the message that they were hoping would become just a useless relic of the past that the sooner is forgotten about, the better.
Personally, I think God used Mother Angelica and EWTN to save the Church. I pray that EWTN continues to work towards accomplishing its mission, and I hope someday to see Mother Angelica canonized (I don’t mind if that takes a long time though- after all, I’d like her to stay with us for awhile longer).
