Eternal Word Television Network
From Freepedia
EWTN—or The Eternal Word Television Network—is a television and radio operation that broadcasts Catholic religious programming, via satellite, traditional broadcast television, shortwave radio and the Internet.
EWTN began in 1981 and transmits 24 hour programming to 104 million homes in 110 countries and 16 territories on cable, satellite, and low-power TV. EWTN offers a wide variety of Catholic themed programming. This includes Daily Mass from their Irondale Monastary/Studios, Talk Shows such as EWTN Live and Sunday Evening Live, Daily Rosary, Benediction, teaching programs, entertainment/variety shows, children's programming, live coverage of world Catholic events such as Bishops' conferences and Papal travels, Music shows, Youth programming, and more.
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In the beginning
The founder of EWTN, Mother Angelica, founded Our Lady of Angels Monastery near Birmingham, Alabama and began developing short written religious teachings. As these short books became more popular, Mother Angelica's fellow nuns looked at technology to enable worldwide distribution.
Television
Mother Angelica began receiving requests for speaking engagements, which turned into a video series of her talks taped at a local Birmingham television station. Eventually, she built a TV studio on monastery property in Irondale, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. This developed into the worldwide broadcast center that EWTN is today.
Development and Evolution of EWTN
EWTN signed on in August of 1981 with 4 hours a day of programming. They ran The Mass only on Sundays. They produced "Mother Angelica Live" two nights a week. They also ran reruns of pre-EWTN Mother Angelica's teaching series and talks. They filled the rest of the time with shows produced by Catholic dioceses across the country. They also ran Christian drama shows produced by the Lutheran Church such as "This Is Life" and "Patterns For Living", a drama show called "Westbrook Hospital", a few Protestant teaching shows that were in agreement to Catholic principles, and Christian Children's shows like "Joy Junction" and "The Sunshine Factory". About a third of the time EWTN aired secular shows such "Bill Cosby" (from the late 60's), public domain movies, a few cooking shows, and a few western shows.
Initially they ran the Mass once a week on Sundays. In 1986 EWTN dropped the secular shows and was completely religious at that point. In 1987 EWTN was able to get a Satellite Channel full time and went 24 hours a day. At this point they began running the Rosary daily, added far more teaching shows from across the country. They slowly began to produce more of their own shows.
In 1991 they began to run the Mass daily. They also increased production to nearly half the day. They also became more selective about their programming. They began rejecting shows they felt were "too progressive." They also dropped almost every non Catholic produced show. They began mixing Latin in the daily and Sunday Mass. Mother Angelica also began wearing the older type clothing. They changed their image to more of a traditional look and attitude which they still have today. While following church teaching all along, in the past 15 or so years they have leaned more traditional as well as conservative.
Radio
In 1992, EWTN established the largest privately owned shortwave radio station in the Birmingham area. The station broadcasts Catholic programming 24 hours a day in English and Spanish. In 1996, EWTN launched a free satellite-delivered AM/FM radio network to stations worldwide, also in English and Spanish.
In 2004, EWTN announced an agreement with Sirius Satellite Radio, which allows Sirius to carry EWTN programming.
News
The EWTN News department produces a daily news service for the television and radio network, featuring news sources including Vatican Radio.
EWTN's views on non-Catholics
EWTN adheres strictly to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, thus its attitudes and views of non Catholic individuals or organizations would reflect the Church's teachings on such matters. They indeed believe that Protestants, Orthodox, and non-Christians can and often do attain salvation based on what they know and understand, though they affirm that all non-Catholics lack the complete Truth. For more on this, see the section on Salvation in the article on the Catholic Church. EWTN has a negative view of progressive Catholics who they regard as "Cafeteria Catholics". They further have a great disdain for Catholics who don't accept all of the Church's teachings.
EWTN has all along adhered to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church but initially they were very inclusive and ecumenical in attitude in their early years. In their programming they always leaned toward finding common ground with other Christians. They also ran a wide variety of Catholic produced programming from various Roman Catholic sources. This ranged from Charismatic Movement programming such as Father Michael Manning to shows focusing on social reform and justice like Christopher Closeup to teaching shows hosted by various priests and bishops some of which were on the progressive side. When they had to program 24/7 and lacked the resources to produce their own shows they took shows they would today not even consider. The Mass they ran was completely in English as well.
In the early 1990s EWTN began producing more of their own shows. They also began running the Mass daily. Their attitude also began to change in response to progressive attitudes within the Church. They began preaching against "relativism" as well as people who do not follow Church teachings. They also began to demonstrate disdain to the way Mass was being celebrated in various parishes. They argued that many churches no longer celebrated the Mass in a reverent manner. As a result they began mixing Latin into their own Masses. They still celebrated the Novus Ordo Mass but a few common prayers would be said in Latin. They also cut the hymns to just the opening and closing songs. In between they used Gregorian Chant. Many of these changes reflect the actual instructions of the Second Vatican Council, set in the constitution on the liturgy "Sacrosanctum Concilium".
Also at this point Mother Angelica and her order of nuns switched their clothing to the pre-Vatican II traditional habit.
While they accept Vatican II teachings they allege that many Catholics abuse these reforms. While they accept the validity of an all-English Mass they point to the fact that the Vatican II text Sacrosanctum Concilium instructed that Latin be retained in portions of the Mass. At the same time they affirm that Sacrosanctum Concilium allowed parts of the Mass to be said in the vernacular.
EWTN has many programs directed at countering Protestant beliefs, such as "The Journey Home" in which converts to Catholicism, mostly from Protestantism, state their reasons for converting to Catholicism. They say that Catholicism is the source of Christian truth, and that Protestant beliefs are often incomplete, based on faulty interpretations of history and the Bible. This has become their overall attitude.
While they are loyal to Church teachings, they affirm certain practices are the only right way to do things and other ways are deficient. They also reject most locally produced diocesesan programming from other regions. EWTN though has its own order of priests that they use to host their shows. They also use priests from conservative religious orders as well as more conservative diocesan priests to be guests on their shows and even host some of their programming. At one point they even became critical of some bishops and archbishops they believe compromise the truth too much. They also interpret teachings with a traditional/conservative slant.
Programming
- Mother Angelica Live
- Daily Mass
- Life on the Rock with Fr. Francis Mary, MFVA
- EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa SJ
- The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi
- The World Over with Raymond Arroyo - News
- Web Of Faith - Father John Trigilio & Father Robert Levis
- G K Chesterton an Apostle of Common Sense - Dale Aquest
- Household Of Faith Now We're Catholic - Christie Franklin & Barbara Moss
- Abundant Life - Catholic Answers
- Rosary - Mother Angelica & The Nuns
- Benediction - From Hanceville
- Does The Church Still Teach This? - Father Shannon Collins FME
- Sunday Night Live - Father Benedict Groeshel
- Threshold Of Hope - Father Mitch Pacwa SJ
The network also airs coverage of Church events worldwide, documentaries, music specials, the Rosary, and other devotional segments.
External links
Categories: Birmingham, Alabama media | International broadcasting | Religious media | Roman Catholic media | United States television networks
