From: ajpg1322@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Angelo J. Paguia)
Subject: Re: EWTN
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 05:35:42 GMT

elendil@mintir.new-orleans.la.us (Edward J. Branley) writes:

>Was wondering if anyone had any opinions regarding EWTN and its programming.
>We're just starting to get EWTN for more than prime time.  What I've seen of
>it, I'm not overly impressed.  The daily Mass from Mother Angelica's monastery
>in Alabama is ok, but some of the lecture shows are downright boring.  So, I'm
>hoping that some of you are familiar with some of the priests they have doing
>these shows, that way I can find out the easy way if any of these guys are
>worth watching.


>|Edward J. Branley         elendil@mintir.new-orleans.la.us|
>|Seashell Software, Metairie, LA            +1-504-455-5087|

I had heard about EWTN before and had seen Mother Angelica once when
I was in Boston for a conference. It was a pleasant surprise to find
that it now reaches Northwest Indiana where a friend I just visited
lives. I saw a few hours of it and found it good. I must admit that
it is lacking a little bit in elan, but thought that focussing on the
gospel was what was important. I really liked Fr. Rutler's discussions
and some other ones whose names I can't remember.

Another consideration to ponder is that there is a lot of nominal
Catholics (only by name and not by practice) and Catholics converting
to Fundamentalism for lack of the most basic knowledge of the Catholic
church and its scriptural basis. This is a common selling point of the
Fundamentalists and the weakness that they prey on. Hence, this show
seeks to bridge that ignorance, and does not yet have the finances nor
the capability to cater to people on this net. I must admit that the
level of knowledge about the church and its scriptural studies and 
bases demonstrated by people on this newsgroup is much higher for me
and for a lot of people that I know.

A few of the EWTN guests and speakers are known in theological circles
and religious circles:

Fr. Michael Manning once had an unsuccessful start at his own nation-
wide network before EWTN. After that, he kept his supporters in contact
(like my sister) through the mail. He is very inspiring to listen to--
what I remember of his shows since I have not seen him on EWTN yet but
saw in other postings here that he is in there, too.

(Carl?) Keating, guest on "Defending the Faith" Tuesday night, has
published a few books on Catholic beliefs, one of which I scanned some,
on the Catholic response to the Fundamentalist challenge, and saw some
other books at a Catholic bookstore on general doctrine.

Alan Schreck (Schreeck ?), guest on same show as above, has published
on the Catholic church's history and also on some general doctrine.
He has a good pocketbook reference to the history of the Church with
a section summarizing quite a few of the important encyclicals. I almost
bought it just this Monday, but I ran out of money.

These are the people I recognized on only about 5 or 6  hours of watching
at my friend's place. I'm hoping to find EWTN on my cable when I get
home tonight (I just blew in from vacation.).

I think it's worth it.

Peace,
Angelo
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