I worry a lot about the “Internet personas” of priests (and other professions).
It seems like quite a number of the EWTN priests or “Internet celebrity” priests fell from grace at some point. One has to wonder if the public acclaim went to their head a little bit. I think many if not most or all of them were basically holy, well-meaning men at least to start - I do not get the impression they were just cold-blooded psychos in it to get famous.
I was a fan of Police Chief Oliver of Brimfield, Ohio before he fell off the pedestal too. It’s a shame, especially considering he came from a dysfunctional family and became a police officer because he looked up to them and found them reassuring in the face of what he was having to deal with.
We really need to pray very hard for anyone who gets a big Internet following, and the more so for priests. The devil sees they are reaching a lot of people and tries extra hard to bring them down.
It seems to me to be rather a miracle that Mother Angelica stayed so down to earth in the face of her celebrity. To me, that’s a sign that she will one day be a great saint. I hope it won’t take too long so I can see her canonized.