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EWTN: A Network Gone Wrong
How the Eternal Word Television Network is contributing to the spread of "silent apostasy" in the Roman Catholic Church.
- GenresCatholic
276 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
36 people want to read
About the author
Christopher A. Ferrara
15 books33 followersA Roman Catholic attorney, pro-life activist, and journalist. He is the founder and current president of the American Catholic Lawyers Association. He is also a regular columnist of The Remnant, a traditionalist Catholic newspaper.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 30, 2021
Excellent study of how this supposedly "Catholic" television network is corrupting the Catholic faith. Of course, the book's criticisms of EWTN could just as well be applied to any conciliar parish, diocese, or the New Church as a whole. For example, chapter 10 documents that many experts in the conciliar church (including cardinals!) explicitly stating that the Old Covenant is still in effect and can lead to heaven; this has lead to "Seder suppers" in some modernist parishes, including the supposedly "conservative" bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska. All this in violation of two millennia of clear Catholic teaching, dogma, and tradition (so much for the indult position that conciliar bishops can be trusted to safeguard the Catholic faith).
December 19, 2021
As an employee of EWTN this book is written by someone with an ax to grind. Was there 10 years and cried when I moved on as some of my cherished friends were there.
If someone gives you this book keep it by the fire place to start a fire with the pages.
If someone gives you this book keep it by the fire place to start a fire with the pages.
May 18, 2024
A SHARPLY-WORDED ACCUSATION OF CURRENT EWTN PROGRAMMING AS ‘HERESY’
Christopher A. Ferrara is an American Traditionalist Catholic author, pro-life activist, and founder and president of the American Catholic Lawyers Association. He is also a regular columnist for ‘The Remnant’ newspaper.
He wrote in the Preface to this 2006 book, “Over the past forty years a growing number of Catholics have come to recognize what is manifest: that the post-conciliar crisis began with, and has resulted from, a host of previously unheard-of ecclesial innovations, imposed in the name of the Council, which have provoked confusion and disorder and led to a massive turning away from the Faith---an apostasy---in the Catholic Church. The theme of this book is that the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) both exemplifies and promotes these ruinous novelties, and thus has contributed to the crisis itself… with the departure of its foundress, Mother Angelica, from a leadership role, EWTN has taken a sharp turn toward what Pope St Pius X condemned as the heresy of Modernism… While EWTN was once a sign of hope for a Catholic restoration, it has become instead a major factor in the Modernist innovation of the Church… a mixture of truth and error orthodoxy and heresy… EWTN now function as an organ of what is aptly dubbed ‘New Church’---a kind of faux church that exists parasitically within the host organism… The author will show that … this development was predicted in the Third Secret of Fatima, as Pope Pius XII indicated in a stunning prophecy…” (Pg. vii)
He continues, “Nor should anyone who might wish to respond to this book waste his time demonstrating that certain elements of what EWTN presents are soundly Catholic… this is so… but is in fact the crux of the problem… it combines things of the Faith with things inimical to the Faith, thus attacking the integrity of… ‘the Catholic name.’ … Those who direct EWTN may believe they are doing a service to the Church… It is the author’s conviction, however, that if they consider… what they are promoting, they will no longer have the refuge of good faith… it is an act of charity… to oppose errors…that threaten the integrity of the Faith and therefore the welfare of souls.” (Pg. viii-ix)
In the first chapter, he suggests that by 2001, “Mother Angelica … had already been driven from her position of control over the network she founded by an episcopal power play orchestrated with the assistance of a Vatican congregation… the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated life and Societies of Apostolic Life… [sent] Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez… to Alabama to investigate the entire EWTN operation. It quickly became apparent that the aim of the visitation … was to establish that Mother Angelica’s order, the Poor Clares, owned EWTN’s assets… If it could be established that Mother’s order owned the assets, then the whole EWTN enterprise could be subjected to ecclesiastical control, including the possible appointment of a ‘progressive’ replacement for Mother Angelica herself.
“In desperation, Mother made a prudential decision that in retrospect was a huge mistake:… Mother surrendered all control over EWTN to the lay people who run it today… she resigned a CEO… Mother Angelica thought she could defeat them by a strategic retreat… however, Mother’s retreat was actually a complete rout… EWTN’s programming now exhibits the same emasculation and liberalization … that we see everywhere today… No longer, then, does EWTN exhibit the kind of anti-Modernist fervor we witnessed when Mother blasted … all the American bishops for allowing woman to perform the role of Christ during the Stations of the Cross at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993.” (Pg. 2-6) He adds, “post-Mother Angelica EWTN has not only accommodated itself to the Modernist revolution… but has also become a positive promoter of that same revolution. And it has done so under the guise of being traditionally Roman Catholic, continuing to capitalize on Mother Angelica’s name…” (Pg. 7)
He notes, “it is necessary to address a threshold objection … ‘Why criticize EWTN, when EWTN is the most Catholic thing out there?’ … If ‘the most Catholic thing out there’ turns out, upon close examination, to be a mixture of truth and error… then one must avoid [it] like the plague, because one’s faith will tend inevitably to be undermined by exposure to this heterodox mixture.” (Pg. 8)
He defines apostasy as “‘an act of the will in rebellion against God’s commandments’… In this sense, even those who profess to be Catholics may… be apostates because of their rebellion against the Church’s teaching on the divine commandments. It is in this broader objective sense that I use the term ‘apostasy’ in this book, rather than the formal canonical sense of a ‘total repudiation of the Christian faith.’” (Pg. 20)
Later, he adds, “Perhaps one could call what EWTN presents a king of ‘moderate’ Modernism, but a moderate Modernist is a Modernist nonetheless.” (Pg. 53) He notes, “And this is not to mention EWTN’s avid promotion of the ‘liturgies’ at World Youth Days, during which scantily clad teens gyrate to rock music at so-called Pontifical Masses, which are conducted like Broadway-style rock musicals.” (Pg. 67)
Of Fr. Benedict Groeschel, he calls him “one of EWTN’s ‘superstars’… who seems to think that Roman Catholicism consists of Catholic doctrines and dogmas as modified by his folksy ‘wisdom.’ If Catholic teaching just doesn’t SEEM right to Fr. Groeschel… he will simply ‘fix’ it to suite his opinions…” (Pg. 78)
He asserts, “the only ‘calling’ the Jews have today is the same as that of all men: to recognize Christ as Messiah and to follow Him in His Church… Only the Jew who converts to Christ can be grafted back into the olive tree. The New Israel, the new chosen people, consists only of those who belong to the Mystical Body.” (Pg. 129) Later, he adds, “That the creation of a man-made state by secular Jews… represents the fulfillment of God’s prophecies … is an outrageous … falsification of Scripture….” (Pg. 143)
He notes that “while the Novus Ordo liturgy is now subject to a rampant ‘inculturation’ in order to introduce pagan rituals abandoned centuries ago by Indian converts, the traditional Roman rite of Mass…is kept under lock and key and its use… strictly forbidden without special permission… Another major example of how EWTN turns a blind eye to paganism … is its coverage of the World Day of Prayer for Peace in January 2002… The even featured such shocking spectacles as … a Voodoo practitioner… who was allowed to sermonize on world peace from ahigh wooden pulpit suitable for a cathedral… The faithful Catholic cannot fail to be outraged at the sight of such things, but EWTN resolutely refuses to see anything wrong with them.” (Pg. 155-156)
He argues, “When John Paul II kissed the Koran … not only our faith but our reason should have told us that a scandal had occurred, for … a book which blasphemes Christ ought not to be venerated by the Vicar of Christ… By wrongly elevating the Pope to the status of an utterly inerrant and impeccable demigod, EWTN and other New Church ‘papalators’ placed upon John Paul II a burden… no Pope should carry. Such papalatry sets up the faithful for confusion and disillusionment when a Pope errs… in a matter of prudential judgment … Some misguided Catholics… conclude that any Pope who does err in some word or deed affecting the Catholic Church has ceased to be the Pope; they become ‘sedevacantists’…” (Pg. 163)
He charges, “EWTN’s program of ‘sexualizing’ Roman Catholicism does not end with its promotion of a nebulous ‘theology of the body’ and the cult of NFP [Natural Family Planning]. The most subtle of EWTN’s theological sexualizers is … Scott Hahn… an engaging writer and compelling speaker, [who] has become a veritable lay ‘doctor’ of New Church theology… Hahn is EWTN’s theological superstar…” (Pg. 190)
He rejects the ‘cool Catholicism’ illustrated ty “EWTN’s most popular show: ‘Life on the Rock’… which is supposedly designed to confirm teenagers in the Faith, is filled with rock music from beginning to end… Apparently EWTN thinks that teenagers best respond to the Gospel when it is accompanied by pounding drums, wailing electric guitars, and whining vocals. The running theme … is that Catholicism is ‘cool’… On one recent episode the host… declared that ‘about the coolest ting you can do is to become a Catholic priest.’” (Pg. 204) He adds, “The supremely ridiculous Stan Fortuna, the so-called ‘rapping priest,’ gave a sidewalk talk… riddled with crass … language---including plenty of ‘yos’ and double negatives… A worse looking spokesman for ‘discipline’ could hardly be imagined. And this was a PRIEST.” (Pg. 205-206) He continues, “Karl Keating of … Catholic Answers, is another self-appointed New Church inquisitor of … others he deems ‘extreme traditionalists.’” (Pg. 217)
He points out, “The world … praises the late Pope [John Paul II] for reasons unrelated to his office as the Vicar of Christ. He is praised for his effect on social and political relations in the world… But whenever the papal office AS SUCH was actually exercised authoritatively during John Paul’s reign, the world is not silent or even critical. Hence there was … only criticism, for the Pope’s definitive ending of the debate on women’s ordination and … moral questions as contraception, abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual ‘marriage’ and adoption. Then again, the world is … praising the Pope’s personal opposition to the death penalty, a view he never imposed upon the Catholic faithful and which represented a departure from the constant teaching of the Church.” (Pg. 238) He summarizes, “the world lauds one Pope along because it perceives that during his reign alone, the Catholic Church finally agreed with the world’s condemnations of her… But EWTN is undeterred, as it joins the world in clamoring for the elevation of one Pope above all others…” (Pg. 242)
He concludes, “As the Third Secret of Fatima unfolds throughout the Church and the world, let those responsible for EWTN, let every Catholic in every nation, heed those signs and work for the salvation of souls and true reform in the Church, before an ever greater chastisement is visited upon us all.” (Pg. 261)
Ferrara’s critique will be warmly welcomed by Traditionalists, but will seem quite ‘immoderate’ to more ‘mainstream’ conservatives (e.g., those who love Scott Hahn and Fr. Groeschel).
Christopher A. Ferrara is an American Traditionalist Catholic author, pro-life activist, and founder and president of the American Catholic Lawyers Association. He is also a regular columnist for ‘The Remnant’ newspaper.
He wrote in the Preface to this 2006 book, “Over the past forty years a growing number of Catholics have come to recognize what is manifest: that the post-conciliar crisis began with, and has resulted from, a host of previously unheard-of ecclesial innovations, imposed in the name of the Council, which have provoked confusion and disorder and led to a massive turning away from the Faith---an apostasy---in the Catholic Church. The theme of this book is that the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) both exemplifies and promotes these ruinous novelties, and thus has contributed to the crisis itself… with the departure of its foundress, Mother Angelica, from a leadership role, EWTN has taken a sharp turn toward what Pope St Pius X condemned as the heresy of Modernism… While EWTN was once a sign of hope for a Catholic restoration, it has become instead a major factor in the Modernist innovation of the Church… a mixture of truth and error orthodoxy and heresy… EWTN now function as an organ of what is aptly dubbed ‘New Church’---a kind of faux church that exists parasitically within the host organism… The author will show that … this development was predicted in the Third Secret of Fatima, as Pope Pius XII indicated in a stunning prophecy…” (Pg. vii)
He continues, “Nor should anyone who might wish to respond to this book waste his time demonstrating that certain elements of what EWTN presents are soundly Catholic… this is so… but is in fact the crux of the problem… it combines things of the Faith with things inimical to the Faith, thus attacking the integrity of… ‘the Catholic name.’ … Those who direct EWTN may believe they are doing a service to the Church… It is the author’s conviction, however, that if they consider… what they are promoting, they will no longer have the refuge of good faith… it is an act of charity… to oppose errors…that threaten the integrity of the Faith and therefore the welfare of souls.” (Pg. viii-ix)
In the first chapter, he suggests that by 2001, “Mother Angelica … had already been driven from her position of control over the network she founded by an episcopal power play orchestrated with the assistance of a Vatican congregation… the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated life and Societies of Apostolic Life… [sent] Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez… to Alabama to investigate the entire EWTN operation. It quickly became apparent that the aim of the visitation … was to establish that Mother Angelica’s order, the Poor Clares, owned EWTN’s assets… If it could be established that Mother’s order owned the assets, then the whole EWTN enterprise could be subjected to ecclesiastical control, including the possible appointment of a ‘progressive’ replacement for Mother Angelica herself.
“In desperation, Mother made a prudential decision that in retrospect was a huge mistake:… Mother surrendered all control over EWTN to the lay people who run it today… she resigned a CEO… Mother Angelica thought she could defeat them by a strategic retreat… however, Mother’s retreat was actually a complete rout… EWTN’s programming now exhibits the same emasculation and liberalization … that we see everywhere today… No longer, then, does EWTN exhibit the kind of anti-Modernist fervor we witnessed when Mother blasted … all the American bishops for allowing woman to perform the role of Christ during the Stations of the Cross at World Youth Day in Denver in 1993.” (Pg. 2-6) He adds, “post-Mother Angelica EWTN has not only accommodated itself to the Modernist revolution… but has also become a positive promoter of that same revolution. And it has done so under the guise of being traditionally Roman Catholic, continuing to capitalize on Mother Angelica’s name…” (Pg. 7)
He notes, “it is necessary to address a threshold objection … ‘Why criticize EWTN, when EWTN is the most Catholic thing out there?’ … If ‘the most Catholic thing out there’ turns out, upon close examination, to be a mixture of truth and error… then one must avoid [it] like the plague, because one’s faith will tend inevitably to be undermined by exposure to this heterodox mixture.” (Pg. 8)
He defines apostasy as “‘an act of the will in rebellion against God’s commandments’… In this sense, even those who profess to be Catholics may… be apostates because of their rebellion against the Church’s teaching on the divine commandments. It is in this broader objective sense that I use the term ‘apostasy’ in this book, rather than the formal canonical sense of a ‘total repudiation of the Christian faith.’” (Pg. 20)
Later, he adds, “Perhaps one could call what EWTN presents a king of ‘moderate’ Modernism, but a moderate Modernist is a Modernist nonetheless.” (Pg. 53) He notes, “And this is not to mention EWTN’s avid promotion of the ‘liturgies’ at World Youth Days, during which scantily clad teens gyrate to rock music at so-called Pontifical Masses, which are conducted like Broadway-style rock musicals.” (Pg. 67)
Of Fr. Benedict Groeschel, he calls him “one of EWTN’s ‘superstars’… who seems to think that Roman Catholicism consists of Catholic doctrines and dogmas as modified by his folksy ‘wisdom.’ If Catholic teaching just doesn’t SEEM right to Fr. Groeschel… he will simply ‘fix’ it to suite his opinions…” (Pg. 78)
He asserts, “the only ‘calling’ the Jews have today is the same as that of all men: to recognize Christ as Messiah and to follow Him in His Church… Only the Jew who converts to Christ can be grafted back into the olive tree. The New Israel, the new chosen people, consists only of those who belong to the Mystical Body.” (Pg. 129) Later, he adds, “That the creation of a man-made state by secular Jews… represents the fulfillment of God’s prophecies … is an outrageous … falsification of Scripture….” (Pg. 143)
He notes that “while the Novus Ordo liturgy is now subject to a rampant ‘inculturation’ in order to introduce pagan rituals abandoned centuries ago by Indian converts, the traditional Roman rite of Mass…is kept under lock and key and its use… strictly forbidden without special permission… Another major example of how EWTN turns a blind eye to paganism … is its coverage of the World Day of Prayer for Peace in January 2002… The even featured such shocking spectacles as … a Voodoo practitioner… who was allowed to sermonize on world peace from ahigh wooden pulpit suitable for a cathedral… The faithful Catholic cannot fail to be outraged at the sight of such things, but EWTN resolutely refuses to see anything wrong with them.” (Pg. 155-156)
He argues, “When John Paul II kissed the Koran … not only our faith but our reason should have told us that a scandal had occurred, for … a book which blasphemes Christ ought not to be venerated by the Vicar of Christ… By wrongly elevating the Pope to the status of an utterly inerrant and impeccable demigod, EWTN and other New Church ‘papalators’ placed upon John Paul II a burden… no Pope should carry. Such papalatry sets up the faithful for confusion and disillusionment when a Pope errs… in a matter of prudential judgment … Some misguided Catholics… conclude that any Pope who does err in some word or deed affecting the Catholic Church has ceased to be the Pope; they become ‘sedevacantists’…” (Pg. 163)
He charges, “EWTN’s program of ‘sexualizing’ Roman Catholicism does not end with its promotion of a nebulous ‘theology of the body’ and the cult of NFP [Natural Family Planning]. The most subtle of EWTN’s theological sexualizers is … Scott Hahn… an engaging writer and compelling speaker, [who] has become a veritable lay ‘doctor’ of New Church theology… Hahn is EWTN’s theological superstar…” (Pg. 190)
He rejects the ‘cool Catholicism’ illustrated ty “EWTN’s most popular show: ‘Life on the Rock’… which is supposedly designed to confirm teenagers in the Faith, is filled with rock music from beginning to end… Apparently EWTN thinks that teenagers best respond to the Gospel when it is accompanied by pounding drums, wailing electric guitars, and whining vocals. The running theme … is that Catholicism is ‘cool’… On one recent episode the host… declared that ‘about the coolest ting you can do is to become a Catholic priest.’” (Pg. 204) He adds, “The supremely ridiculous Stan Fortuna, the so-called ‘rapping priest,’ gave a sidewalk talk… riddled with crass … language---including plenty of ‘yos’ and double negatives… A worse looking spokesman for ‘discipline’ could hardly be imagined. And this was a PRIEST.” (Pg. 205-206) He continues, “Karl Keating of … Catholic Answers, is another self-appointed New Church inquisitor of … others he deems ‘extreme traditionalists.’” (Pg. 217)
He points out, “The world … praises the late Pope [John Paul II] for reasons unrelated to his office as the Vicar of Christ. He is praised for his effect on social and political relations in the world… But whenever the papal office AS SUCH was actually exercised authoritatively during John Paul’s reign, the world is not silent or even critical. Hence there was … only criticism, for the Pope’s definitive ending of the debate on women’s ordination and … moral questions as contraception, abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual ‘marriage’ and adoption. Then again, the world is … praising the Pope’s personal opposition to the death penalty, a view he never imposed upon the Catholic faithful and which represented a departure from the constant teaching of the Church.” (Pg. 238) He summarizes, “the world lauds one Pope along because it perceives that during his reign alone, the Catholic Church finally agreed with the world’s condemnations of her… But EWTN is undeterred, as it joins the world in clamoring for the elevation of one Pope above all others…” (Pg. 242)
He concludes, “As the Third Secret of Fatima unfolds throughout the Church and the world, let those responsible for EWTN, let every Catholic in every nation, heed those signs and work for the salvation of souls and true reform in the Church, before an ever greater chastisement is visited upon us all.” (Pg. 261)
Ferrara’s critique will be warmly welcomed by Traditionalists, but will seem quite ‘immoderate’ to more ‘mainstream’ conservatives (e.g., those who love Scott Hahn and Fr. Groeschel).
September 27, 2025
I recommend reading this book after Raymond Arroyos book on Mother Angelica.
While this is a sad read, i believe its important to see how modernism has it's hold on all of us, ewtn included. Luckily, it seems like these days things are turning back towards Catholicism in it's fullest, in some areas at least, as we are all learning more about what the Church actually teaches, not what the liberals who promoted "the spirit of Vatican ii" said it is.
Christopher Ferrara uses literal Church teaching to back up his claims and does a good job of proving his point.
While this is a sad read, i believe its important to see how modernism has it's hold on all of us, ewtn included. Luckily, it seems like these days things are turning back towards Catholicism in it's fullest, in some areas at least, as we are all learning more about what the Church actually teaches, not what the liberals who promoted "the spirit of Vatican ii" said it is.
Christopher Ferrara uses literal Church teaching to back up his claims and does a good job of proving his point.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews