Like many who entered the Catholic Church in the 2000s, EWTN was a big help to me, even if I never really had access to the network where I lived. That used to bug Marcus Grodi that I had to watch EWTN on old video tapes since I lived in an area without it. Nonetheless, I could visit the website and there was plenty of good things for someone trying to grope about for understanding Catholicism. And sometimes I might catch an episode here or there. Once on vacation, I saw Scott Hahn unpack the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a way that made sense to my Evangelical ears.
That's not to say I was in love with the network. Even in the day it seemed a bit 'corporaty' for my sensitivities, like a vast corporation rather than a ministry. When we at CHNI went to the big memorial to Mother Angelica I was both impressed and a little squeamish. Nonetheless, I felt the good far outweighed the bad.
Which goes to show I would make a miserable Leftist. For the Left, there is no outweighing the bad of rejecting sacred doctrines of the Leftist State. You conform or else. I have no doubt that EWTN has, like the Jesuits, changed over the years. It is likely too Trump friendly for my taste, and perhaps focuses an inordinate amount of time criticizing Pope Francis. Again, I don't know since it isn't available here, and I don't have cable anyway.
Nonetheless, any support of Trump or any criticism of Pope Francis would incur the merciless and unyielding wrath of those left of center. After all, it isn't just theology, sexuality, gender, bigotry, ideas of no personal responsibility, affronts to common sense and discrimination that the Left is peddling. It's also helping us understand how unfair and prone to abuse such ideas as equality, forgiveness, looking beyond the past and reconciliation have been over the years. So if you're on the Left, no need to reach out to understand or engage in some attempt at reconciling those who dissent from Leftwing conformity. You go straight to executing the guilty verdict.
So there is now a petition to get the Catholic bishops in the US to renounce EWTN and forbid any use of materials from the network. You can look at the petition here, which has 10,000 signatures apparently.
Will this do anything? I don't know. Most Catholics probably don't know much about it one way or another. It's just symptomatic of the times. These pushing the petition will likely be those coming after their fellow believers when the time comes. They have made it clear if you don't get on the good ship Liberal, then they will gladly join the Left in punishing you to the fullest extent that they can, your relationship to Jesus or the Faith being of no consequence.
It's 'Fr.' Astroturf again. I wouldn't assume the '10,000 signatories' even exist.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the site, they're now up to 11,000 and have upped the goal to 15,000. You never know. I wouldn't put anything past folks today.
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ReplyDeleteIt all started when Mother A. blasted the now-disgraced Cdl Mahoney of LA, long before the election of Francis. The stuff hit the lib-cat fan when EWTN newsman Raymond Arroyo appeared occasionally on Fox News. Yeah the critics might have a point or three (and there were mistakes like Fr. Corapi), but any viewing of the televised Masses shows you why: Novus Ordo actually said reverently, with Gregorian chant and good modern and traditional hymns, nuns in full habit (not pastel pantsuits) and no felt banners. The network does not criticize Francis, but raises the same questions you or I raise about some of his decisions (including the appointment of guys like MacElroy, who don't like EWTN).
There's also jealously: neither the US bishops nor the lib-cats have ever created anything so remarkably successful as EWTN.
The priests appearing on FOX don't bother me. After all, the networks and non-Fox cable channels never seem at a loss to find priests who will side with the political Left, even if 'religious left' is a term never used by the press. If EWTN has gotten too political, it's only keeping up with the Joneses.
DeleteI'm not a Catholic, but the amount of vitriol left-wing Catholics direct towards EWTN is ridiculous, especially when they have no problem voting for a party that supports the genocide of children. Of course, these people still haven't come to terms with the fact that the Republican Party, in spite of its considerable flaws, is much less hostile to human life than the Democratic Party. At best, they believe in a form of false balance. At worst, they're card-carrying Democrats who will gladly vote for the likes of Gavin Newsom.
ReplyDeleteSure, Raymond Arroyo is cringe. He's on Laura Ingraham's show every night of the week, and together, the two somebody manage to out-boomer Hannity. Regardless, I'm glad that conservative Catholics in America have their own television network, especially given the immense influence liberals and progressives hold over the Church. Seems like a good way of evening things out, no?
*Somehow* manage.
DeleteI notice that those on the Catholic Left tend to approach the issue in a way Pope Francis does. That is, whatever sins to the Left - and sometimes we may call them sins - never in any way should say anything about the sinner. Abortion, gay sex, rejecting the Gospel, all of these can have mitigating factors. But questioning leftwing political narratives like Global Warming or Covid lockdowns, and it's the wrath of the Thrice-Holy. In the same way, they never seem to think of their alliance with the Left as political. Using a little trick I noticed back in my ministry days, political - like the term religious - often means wrong. What they are is correct, therefore not political.
DeleteI'm not crazy about Arroyo on Fox News either...what would Mother think?!?!? Anyway, everything I need to know about that organization, which I had not heard of before today, is that the leader of it announces his him/he pronouns. Yup...
ReplyDeleteAs I said above, I've seen enough priests on other networks assuring those networks that an easy alliance exists between the real Church and the political Left, that I'm not going to sweat some other priest doing the same on an outlet like Fox. As for the Catholic Left, they are every bit as political as those on the Right. Unlike those on the Right, however, they never seem ready to admit it.
Delete"...and there were mistakes like Fr. Corapi"
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of running catechism series as being a mistake.
As far as Corapi himself is concerned, I'd like to see the man have a fair trial. Charges levelled against him dealt with his fidelity to priestly orders. Any legitimate non-disclosure agreement he would've had in force would deal with Santa Cruz Media, not Holy Orders. Any competent lawyer should've been able to present a workable case to dismiss that concern with little trouble. I have long considered that mostly a cop-out.
As for Arroyo being on Fox, ...I get it how many Catholic Democrats will be peeved. ..On the other hand, considering how major cable and broadcast news shows have actively promoted intense vice, much of it promoted by "Catholic" political figures, I think US Catholic bishops and others have little cause for critiquing Arroyo. He DOES have need to earn a living.
I don't know the specifics about things like Fr. Corapi. I do know that I have little patience for people who scream 'he's too political' when the ones screaming are just as political. The old Leftwing refusal to admit what is obvious while accusing others of the same is, to my thinking, a classic characteristic of phariseeism. Hypocrisy of the first order.
DeleteI wonder if bishop F. McButterpants is a signer of the petition.
ReplyDeleteI'm unfamiliar with that particular priest. :) Who would that be referring to?
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