So, why take a plane to Alabama? Well, I wouldn’t normally just wake up one day and say, “Hey! I think I’ll go spend a couple days in Alabamy!” Nothing wrong with the place, as far as I know. But it’s not usually a place that most people think of when they choose to take a mini-vacation.
I stumbled upon EWTN (the Catholic cable network) about four years ago when my local cable company started airing the channel (I watch it now via DishTV satellite - channel 261. You can also get it on DirectTV - channel 422). Just about anyone who’s watched some of the programming on the network, especially the replays of Mother Angelica’s own programs, can’t help but be drawn in by God’s love and grace (as well as Mother Angelica’s spunk, wit, frankness and gentle care & genuine concern).
Here's a very brief summary which can be better gleaned from Raymond Arroyo’s absolutely fascinating new biography entitled, “Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve and a Network of Miracles.” (A book I highly, highly recommend – giving an inspiring, thrilling yet unvarnished telling of her life and the monastery and network she founded. And the book can be purchased at just about any bookstore, including amazon.com, or directly from EWTNs website). It’s better than a bunch Dan Brown novels, and much more edifying.
In 1961, she left her Ohio convent to found Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama, to fulfill a promise to the Lord to build a monastery in the Deep South. Having bought 15 acres of land near Birmingham, Alabama, for $13,000, the small cloister raised money by making and selling fishing lures. Through the 60s and 70s, Mother Angelica would teach bible classes, print mini-books, give talks and speeches, and make appearances on TV.
In 1978 she confronts a local station manager where she was filming a series, upset that the network was going to air a blasphemous movie. So she decides to start her own TV network (after all, how hard could it be, right?). In 1980 she orders a satellite dish - a HUGE satellite dish – and applies for an FCC license. In 1981 she receives permission from Rome to carry out her television work, and later receives a blessing from Pope John Paul II. (I found it amusing that she ordered the dish and applied for the license first, and then got the okay and the blessing from the Vatican.)
Mother Angelica and the monastery were already in serious debt due to the acquisition of expense equipment and construction, when on March 8, 1981, the unassembled 33’-diameter satellite dish arrived – with the truck driver needing to collect $600,000 as a required down payment. She didn’t have the money. She went to the chapel and prayed to Jesus while the driver waited outside. Then divine providence kicked in. A phone call from a man on his yacht in the Bahamas who had been reading one of Mother’s mini-books and wanted to make a donation… for $600,000! She asked if he could wire the money right then and there. And he did.
On August 15, 1981, they flipped the switch, broadcasting only 4 hours a day into just 60,000 homes in the U.S. This fledgling network was being run out of a monastery garage turned into a makeshift studio in an Alabama backwater by 12 cloistered nuns with no television experience, $200 in their pockets, a belief in God's Providence, and the generous donations of any viewers who happened to stumble upon their broadcast while flipping the channels.
Today, 25 years later, ETWNs reach is astounding. Broadcasting 24-hours a day, 7-days a week with 80% original programming, feeding into 125 million TV homes reaching over half a billion people in over 100 countries worldwide. It has become the largest non-profit cable network in the world. In addition to television (via cable and satellite TV), there are over 180 million radio listeners (via AM/FM, Sirius Satellite - channel 160, and shortwave). The website has over 600 million viewers, disseminating news and information, Church documents, Scripture readings, prayers, devotions, instruction, as well as podcasts and streaming audio & video of many of their programs.
It is now a $2.25 million/month operation with approx. 300 employees (200 of which are in the Birmingham, AL, area). No commercials. No obnoxious telethons or fundraising campaigns like PBS or other non-profit networks. Just a simple plea by Mother Angelica and others to “remember us between your gas and electric bill.” And only two or three times in its 25 year history have they ever been in a position to make an urgent plea for donations from its viewers when the budget got really tight. The entire network, by the way, has never operated under the standard budget/business model. Relying solely on prayers, divine providence, the voluntary donations of its viewers, and any profits from the sales of various items from their religious catalog (e.g., books, videos, statues, etc.).
Some of their wonderful, inspiring and informative programs include: The World Over (a weekly news and interview program hosted by Raymond Arroyo, the author of the Mother Angelica biography), The Journey Home (hosted by Marcus Grodi, where each week he interviews people regarding their journey back to the faith as converts or reverts), Life on the Rock (geared towards young adults, hosted by Frs. Francis and Mark, MFVA), The Threshold of Hope (where Fr. Mitch Pacwa goes through some of Pope John Paul II's encyclicals, point by point), Fr. Corapi and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, programs with Scott Hahn, commentary by Fr. Richard Neuhaus, rebroadcasts of Mother Angelica Live programs, plus daily mass and rosaries, programs on Church History, the early Church Fathers and the Saints, news and events from the Vatican, and many, many others - all authentically Catholic.
Their mission? Quoting from the website:
“EWTN Global Catholic Network is dedicated to teaching the truth as defined by the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. In keeping with the Holy Father’s call for a New Evangelization, EWTNs mission is to communicate the teachings and the beauty of the Catholic Church and to help people grow in their love and understanding of God and His infinite mercy.”
So, why go to Alabama? Well, given the growth in my Catholic faith over the years, and given the fact that I studied film, theater and television when I was in college way back when, let’s just say I felt the need to come and visit EWTN – to see it up close and personal. And to come to experience the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament situated an hour north of the network - another story in its own right.
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