Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun

by William Donohue

Like most Catholics, I know Mother Angelica through EWTN (Eternal World Television Network). Now, thanks to Ray Arroyo's inspiring portrait of her, I know her much better. The subtitle of Mother Angelica accurately reads, The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles. Yes, it is all that and more—it is a gripping tale of a woman who suffered greatly yet always managed to beat the odds.

Born Rita Rizzo, and reared in Canton, Ohio, Mother Angelica experienced poverty, a broken home, maltreatment, multiple physical ailments, jealously, back stabbing, betrayal—she was even shot at—but nothing could stop her determination. It does not exaggerate to say that the object of her determination never had anything to do with her—it always had to do with God.

In her lifetime, Mother established the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration and gave birth to the Franciscan Friars of the Eternal Word and the Sisters of the Eternal Word. She built the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, as well as the largest shortwave network in the world and the world's first Catholic satellite network. Not bad for a high school graduate who had everything going against her.

Her father was abusive, both physically and verbally, and eventually abandoned her (he tried to reconcile with her later in life). It took such a toll on her that she wondered why God would ever subject a little girl to such a miserable family. It also meant that she missed out on what other kids were used to, so much so that one of her cousins would later say of her, "She was an adult all her life. She never had a childhood."

The nuns she met in school were anything but kind. Their opposition to divorce unfortunately led them to oppose the children of divorce, and this was something the young Rita couldn't bear (the priests her mother encountered were just as condemning). Some family members were just as cruel, including an uncle who verbally beat up on her mother so badly that Rita literally threw a knife at him.

Yet there were miracles. There was the time when, at age eleven, she was crossing a street only to see two headlights staring her right in the face. She thought she was dead. Incredibly, she was able to jump high enough that she avoided being hit. The driver called it "a miracle," while Rita and her mother dubbed it a graceful "lifting."

Her stomach ailments were so bad that she was forced to wear a corset. The doctors tried to help, but to little avail. Then she met a stigmatic, Rhoda Wise, and that's when things began to change. One day, when she was 20, a voice told her to get up and walk without the corset, and she did just that. Immediately, her suffering was relieved. Her doctor, of course, insisted it had to with his treatments, but Rita knew better.

Her mother wasn't too happy when she learned that Rita had decided to enter a Cleveland monastery. After all, she had first been abandoned by her husband, and now her daughter was leaving her as well. But in time she would come to accept it. As for Rita, her failing knees (and the five stories of steps she had to traverse at the monastery), led to her being dispatched back home to Canton.

After nine years in the cloister, Sister Angelica took her solemn vows. Her legs and her back were so twisted she could hardly walk (she wore a body cast), leading her to beg God to allow her to walk again in exchange for a promise: she would build a monastery in the South. What she wanted was a "Negro apostolate," a cloistered community in service to poor blacks. After undergoing spinal surgery, and after being rebuffed initially by her bishop, she got her way; approval was given to build a monastery in Birmingham. Then came to the hard part—coming up with the bucks to pay for it.

In 1959, the year before she became Mother Angelica, she spotted an ad in a magazine for fishing lure parts. She decided that the nuns would go into the fishing-lure business, thus was St. Peter's Fishing Lures born. In 1961, Sports Illustrated honored her with a plaque for her "special contribution to a sport." Remarkably, this half-crippled nun with no business experience was able to garner national attention for her entrepreneurial acumen. It was just the beginning.

Building a monastery in the South in the early 1960s, especially one that would service African Americans, was not exactly a popular enterprise. It didn't take long before local opposition mounted, even to the point of violence: Mother Angelica was shot at one night by one of the protesters (he barely missed).

Amidst what seemed like eternal struggles to keep the revenue coming, Mother started the Li'l Ole Peanut Company. Score another hit: By the end of 1968, she paid off all the monastery debt. Over the next decade, she would write books and give talks, managing to walk with an artificial hip.

In 1978, her life was forever altered when she was introduced to a TV studio in Chicago. Instantly, she got the bug: she had to have one of her own. Then came the first of many disappointments dealing with the bishops. When she contacted them about a Catholic TV show, none replied. Undeterred, she secured funding from New York philanthropist Peter Grace, and in 1981 got a young lawyer and Catholic deacon, Bill Steltemeier, to craft a civil corporation called the Eternal Word Television Network. Bill would remain a loyal and talented ally throughout the tumultuous times to come.

When word reached Rome that a cloistered abbess was traveling the country in pursuit of her broadcasting dream, she ran into trouble with both American bishops and Vatican officials. But thanks to Cardinal Silvio Oddi, head of the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, she prevailed.

It was never easy. Every time Mother Angelica thought she was in the clear, another bishop would raise objections to her venture. Indeed, the bishops tried to outdo her by launching their own effort, the Catholic Telecommunications Network of America (CTNA). It was clear from the beginning that Mother Angelica was seen as a threat: EWTN had a traditional orientation and CTNA took a modernist stance. EWTN won. CTNA collapsed.

It was not easy for the bishops to watch their own creation flounder while EWTN won the admiration of Pope John Paul II. Adding to their chagrin was their inability to get Mother Angelica to switch to a new interfaith satellite network. As to her own operations, Mother Angelica did not take kindly to those clerics who questioned her authority to showcase some bishops, but not others. "I happen to own the network," she instructed. When told that this would not be forever, she let loose: "I'll blow the damn thing up before you get your hands on it."

In 1989, a report by the bishops complained that EWTN rejected "one out of every three programs submitted by the bishops conference." The bishops and Mother Angelica were clearly on a collision course: she had no tolerance for the theological dissidence that was tolerated by many bishops and their staff. The last straw came when the bishops conference sent a show to be aired featuring a cleric promising female ordination under the next pope.

The dissent, whether voiced by the Catholic Theological Society of America, or by feminist nuns who favored gender-neutral language in the Catholic Catechism, distressed Mother badly. She even had to endure being lobbied to push for "inclusive" language in the Catechism by the likes of "conservatives" such as Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston. That he failed should surprise no one.

Mother was more than distressed—she was angered beyond belief—when a woman portrayed Jesus doing the Stations of the Cross at World Youth Day in Denver, 1993. "Try it with Martin Luther King," she said on the air. "Put a white woman in his place and see what happens."

She was not prepared for what happened next. The reaction of leading bishops to her outburst was swift and vocal. Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who like Law would later be forced to resign in disgrace, blasted her for what he labeled "one of the most disgraceful, un-Christian, offensive, and divisive diatribes I have ever heard." He had nothing to say about the incident that provoked her.

The bishops weren't finished with her. In retaliation, they recalled priests who had been assigned to work at EWTN, and attempts were made to get EWTN thrown off diocesan TV channels around the country.

Just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, Mother Angelica and Roger Cardinal Mahony locked horns. In 1997, she accused the Los Angeles archbishop of questioning the Real Presence: "In fact," she said, "the cardinal of California is teaching that it's bread and wine before the Eucharist and after the Eucharist." She added that she would not obey an Ordinary like him if she lived there, and hoped that those who did would no longer provide him with their assent.

That was it. Mahony exploded. But while demanding that Rome punish Mother Angelica—and this went on for years—Mahony's archdiocese was home to "a cavalcade of dissenters and anti-Vatican agitators." This is the stuff that drives orthodox Catholics mad.

While she survived in the end, Mother Angelica had to ward off attempts by the bishops to take control of EWTN (one archbishop allegedly told her that certain bishops "want to destroy you"). To make sure this would never happen, Mother Angelica resigned from the network in order to save it: the bishops would have no lien on a purely autonomous, lay-run, civil entity.

Twenty years ago, Ben Armstrong of the National Religious Broadcasters aptly dubbed her, "the Bishop Fulton Sheen of this generation." Cardinal J. Francis Stafford was also right when he observed that "Mother Angelica represented the plain Catholic, who is 90 percent of the Church." Let it also be said that she overcame all kinds of adversity, and she did it all—and continues to do it all—for Jesus.

from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

CatholicTV: "The World I Know" and Human Virtue

Starting in February, CatholicTV will air a new series called “The World I Know.” The series teaches virtues such as faith, hope, and kindness with a particular focus on young people. The series is unique because it stars real people in real-world situations.

CatholicTV is a nationally-broadcasted television station headquartered near Boston.

“The World I Know” shows faith in action from a personal, practical perspective. Each half-hour episode has three segments that present virtues in action in the school community, personal life, and in the lives of the saints among us. Shows are hosted by Salt & Light producer Mary Rose Bacani. The series teaches the virtues of fairness, conscience, faith, empathy, kindness, hope, self-control, acceptance, respect, and love.

Starting in February, “The World I Know”, will be aired on CatholicTV where available and is also streamed live (simultaneously) at www.CatholicTV.com full-screen and free of charge. CatholicTV is a non-profit corporation operating under the auspices of Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

The weekly schedule for “The World I Know” starting in February will be as follows: (Eastern Standard Time). Tuesday- 12:30PM; Friday- 8AM; Saturday 1:00AM; Sunday- 10:00PM

Catholic Charities on Poverty and Racism

Catholic Charities USA will launch a national website to engage persons of faith in the discussion of its groundbreaking document, “Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good” on Monday, January 19, the national holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The website will provide a focus, format and structure for faith-based groups to connect the legacy of the faith of Dr. King with the appeal of President Elect Barack Obama to engage faith in God and faith in our fellow Americans to form “a more perfect union.” The website www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/povertyandracism/epluribusunum, is open to the public and Catholic Charities USA invites America to join them in this essential dialogue.

“A year ago we promulgated our race and poverty paper in Detroit, Michigan at Detroit’s annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mass at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament,” comments Rev. Larry Snyder, President of Catholic Charities USA, in Alexandria, VA. “We are leading this national faith-based conversation by launching this website, E Pluribus Unum. It is CCUSA’s urgent response to fulfill our role in faith-filled citizenship and our advocacy for the poor.”

Rev. Clarence Williams, CPPS, explains that Catholic Charities USA has demonstrated its commitment to persons of all races during its 99 year history. It has called national attention to the intersection of poverty and racism. “Last year we launched the poverty and racism paper in Detroit not knowing the economic crisis would occur. The content of the paper is more timely today than then. We hope to begin healing our racial woundedness through dialogue circles and to lead America in a united resolve to reduce poverty and end racism.” Fr. Williams is the Senior Director of Racial Equality and Diversity Initiatives for the national office of CCUSA.

The E Pluribus Unum website provides a free download of the poverty and racism paper. It also offers the format for the dialogue circles and outlines the roles and responsibilities for participants in dialogue circles. Topics for dialogue sessions are based on the chapters of Poverty and Racism, Overlapping Threats to the Common Good.. Each session begins with a spiritual exercise and proceeds with a focused discussion on the history, sociology and policy insights of poverty and racism.

In April, 2008 CCUSA convened over one hundred sites across the country through a broadcast webcast in a national, interactive, live discussion on poverty and racism. In May the webcast was re-broadcast around the world to English speaking countries as CCUSA’s contribution to Racial Sobriety Month. These national and global broadcasts contributed to the structure and format of the dialogue circles on the web site.

Google God at BustedHalo.com: Young Adult Spiritual Resources

BustedHalo.com, an online resource for young adults seeking to deepen their spirituality, addresses questions encountered while attempting to form an authentic spiritual life. More than googling God, Busted Halo attempts to reveal the spiritual dimension of human life through discussions, stories, reviews, faith guides, and video and audio clips. Sponsored by the Paulist Fathers, BustedHalo.com thus creates a forum that is well balanced and thought provoking. Visit its website to see other services offered by Busted Halo Ministries, including retreats for young adults.

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About Busted Halo

Busted Halo's mission statement (from its website):We live in an age filled with seekers in their twenties and thirties who are desperately trying to find deeper meaning in their lives but whose journey has little to do with traditional religious institutions. BustedHalo.com believes that the experiences of these pilgrims and the questions they ask are inherently spiritual. Based in wisdom from the Catholic tradition, we believe that the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of all God’s people. Nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. BustedHalo.com strives to reveal this spiritual dimension of our lives through feature stories, reviews, interviews, faith guides, commentaries, audio clips, discussions and connections to retreat, worship and service opportunities that can’t be found anywhere else. We are committed to creating a forum that is: open, informed, unexpected, unpredictable, balanced, and thought-provoking. Every time we ask questions about what our lives mean and what keeps us alive, we are talking about something that’s relevant to BustedHalo.com.