The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) is an American cable television network which presents Roman Catholic-themed programming. It was founded by Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA in 1980 and began broadcasting on August 15, 1981 from a garage studio at the Our Lady of the Angels monastery in Irondale, Alabama, which Mother Angelica had also founded in 1962.

EWTN originally aired four hours of programming per day; it began broadcasting around the clock in 1987. Shortwave radio station WEWN was established in 1992, and, in 1996, they began broadcasting on AM/FM radio. EWTN also has a presence on Sirius Satellite Radio and offers Spanish language broadcasts on all platforms. High-definition broadcasts began on December 8, 2009.^[1] EWTN is a member of the World Catholic Association for Communication.^[2][3]

In addition to regular programs such as a live daily Mass from the Our Lady of Angels Chapel (located on the monastery property) and a taped daily praying of the Rosary led by Mother Angelica and other nuns of her order, the Franciscans^[4], EWTN presents a variety of daily and weekly news, talk, and educational programs for adults and children. Special programming, such as holiday-specific programming and the recent beatification of Blessed Pope John Paul II, is presented. Mother Angelica herself hosted her own show, Mother Angelica Live until a series of health issues, including her second major stroke, forced her to curtail her schedule. Repeats of the show air as either the Best of Mother Angelica Live or Mother Angelica Live Classics).^[5] She leads a cloistered life at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, and rarely appears in any new programmings.

EWTN has occasionally been the subject of criticism for its largely conservative social, political, and theological positions. In 2000, the Holy See ordered an apostolic visitation to investigate the network. Believing that it could possibly endanger the network's independence and rather than risk it being placed under ecclesiastical control, Mother Angelica turned EWTN over to a board of governors composed exclusively of lay people^[6], which assured its independence from the Holy See. The current president is Michael P. Warsaw.^[7] While the network has trustees, it does not have shareholders or owners. A majority of the network's funding is from viewer donations. Its traditional plea for donations is "Keep us between your gas and electric bill".^[8]

Development of EWTN[link]

EWTN's main studio.

Mother Angelica made her profession of vows in 1953. In 1962, she established the Our Lady of the Angels monastery. During the 1970s, she was an in-demand lecturer and produced educational pamphlets and audio and video tapes. She had been a guest on local station WBMG (currently WIAT, Channel 42), and on shows on the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. After she gave an interview on then-Christian station WCFC (Channel 38) in Chicago, she decided she wanted her own network. "I walked in, and it was just a little studio, and I remember standing in the doorway and thinking, 'It doesn't take much to reach the masses'. I just stood there and said to the Lord, 'Lord, I've got to have one of these'".^[9]

Mother Angelica purchased satellite space and EWTN began broadcasting on August 15, 1981 with four hours of daily programming, which included her own show, Mother Angelica Live (aired biweekly), a Sunday Mass, and reruns of older Catholic programs such as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's Life Is Worth Living. The remainder of the time was filled with shows produced by dioceses across the country, shows from Protestant sources which Mother Angelica determined were in concert with Catholic teachings, and children's shows such as Joy Junction and The Sunshine Factory. About one-third of programming time consisted of secular content, such as re-runs of The Bill Cosby Show, public domain films, and cooking and western-themed shows. ETWN eventually increased its broadcast schedule to six hours per day and then to eight hours per day by 1986. Secular content was gradually reduced from 1986 to 1988, and satellite distribution was expanded late in 1987, after which EWTN acquired a far more desirable satellite channel and began broadcasting around the clock. At this point, EWTN began broadcasting the praying of the rosary daily basis and added a number of educational shows. In-house production of original programming gradually increased. The Mass became televised daily in 1991 from a chapel on the monastery grounds. Most shows from non-Catholic sources were eliminated and a more theologically conservative image gradually developed.

Radio[link]

In 1992, EWTN established the largest privately-owned shortwave radio station, WEWN, in the Birmingham area.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, programs included "Mother Angelica Live" and "Life Is Worth Living" with Fulton J. Sheen. WGSN in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was an affiliate.^[10]

In 2004, EWTN announced an agreement with Sirius Satellite Radio which has since merged with XM Radio to become Sirius XM Radio.

Newspapers[link]

In January 2011, EWTN acquired the National Catholic Register, a newspaper founded in Denver, Colorado in 1924 as a periodical for local Catholics and which became a national publication three years later. EWTN officially assumed total control on February 1.^[11]

News Coverage[link]

The EWTN news department produces a daily news service for television and radio, featuring news sources including Vatican Radio. They also produce The World Over Live, which covers relevant current events. It is hosted by journalist and author Raymond Arroyo, who is also EWTN's news director. The program is conservative in its political orientation and generally conservative in its religious orientation. Notable guests have included Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, author and activist George Weigel, political commentator Laura Ingraham, conservative political commentator Pat Buchanan, and the late columnist and commentator Robert Novak, a Jewish convert to Catholicism.

History of programming[link]

In its early history, EWTN broadcast Catholic-produced programming from a wide variety of Catholic sources. This ranged from Catholic charismatic programming such as Fr. Michael Manning, to shows focusing on social reform and social justice, such as Christopher Closeup, to doctrinal teaching shows hosted by various clergy.

In the early 1990s, EWTN began producing more of its own shows. This marked a distinctive conservative shift in the network's overall orientation, with programs featuring topics on social reform and justice gradually being phased out and replaced with general doctrinal teaching and discussion programs. This shift was apparent in the daily televised Masses, which, in 1992, began incorporating Latin into the liturgy and gradually no longer featured contemporary music. Some non-televised Masses are in all English. On Christmas Eve 1993, Mother Angelica and the nuns of her order reverted to traditional habits.

Among its notable weekly programs are The Journey Home, Sunday Night Prime (formerly "Sunday Night Live with Fr. Benedict Groeschel", and Life on the Rock. The Journey Home, hosted by Marcus Grodi, is aimed at converts to the Catholic faith. Grodi himself is a former Presbyterian minister who converted to Catholicism in 1992.^[12] Although most guests are former Protestants, former adherents of non-Christian faiths (such as Judaism and former atheists have occasionally appeared. On Sunday Night Prime, Fr. Groeschel, who, in addition to being a trained psychologist, is also the director of the Office for Spiritual Development for the Archdiocese of New York, discusses the Catholic faith with viewers from both perspectives. Life on the Rock is hosted by Fr. Mark Mary, MFVA and Doug Barry.

EWTN HD, a high definition simulcast of EWTN, became available to affiliates on December 8, 2009. CEO Michael P. Warsaw said "We chose to launch HD in December so we could bring our viewers all the beautiful images of the Christmas season using the most advanced technology. We are proud to say that we are the only Catholic television network available in this format."^[13] The HD feed first became available to Comcast customers in Richmond, VA and vicinity on May 11, 2010.^[14]

In October 2011, EWTN became available through the Roku streaming player. The player provides six live channels of EWTN for free (including English, Spanish and German languages), allowing users to watch the channel on their television. In addition, select EWTN programs can be viewed as a video on demand option as well as a live feed of EWTN Radio is available.^[15]

Often, EWTN airs special programming: holiday-specific programs as well as coverage the deaths of popes; papal conclaves, elections, inaugurations and visits; Easter, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses; the installations of bishops, archbishops, and cardinals; and World Youth Day.

Criticisms[link]

As previously noted, EWTN has occasionally engendered criticism.

In one notable incident, in a 1993 episode of Mother Angelica Live, Mother Angelica harshly criticized a mimed re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross at the World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado which was attended by Blessed Pope John Paul II. Mother Angelica was particularly upset that a woman was playing Jesus. Controversial archbishop Rembert Weakland of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee called Mother Angelica's comments "... one of the most disgraceful, un-Christian, offensive, and divisive diatribes I have ever heard".^[16] Mother Angelica responded by saying, "He didn't think a woman playing Jesus was offensive? He can go put his head in the back toilet as far as I am concerned"!^[17]

In 1997, Mother Angelica publicly criticized Cardinal Roger Mahony, then the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, for his pastoral letter on the Eucharist called "Gather Faithfully Together: A Guide for Sunday Mass", which she perceived had a lack of emphasis on transubstantiation^[18]: "I’m afraid my obedience in that diocese would be absolutely zero. And I hope everybody else’s in that diocese is zero".^[19] Cardinal Mahony regarded her comments as accusing him of heresy.^[20] Mother Angelica later issued a conditional, albeit reluctant, apology for her comments.

In 1999, Bishop David Foley of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, Alabama issued a decree prohibiting priests in his diocese from celebrating Mass ad orientem ("to the east"; that is, with the priest and the people facing east) under most circumstances.^[21] Although the decree did not specifically mention EWTN, the wording of the decree, which stated that "...any Mass that is or will be televised for broadcast or videotaped for public dissemination", supporters and critics alike generally agreed that the decree was written with EWTN specifically in mind. Bishop Foley stated that the practice of having the priest's back to the people "amounts to making a political statement and is dividing the people."^[21]

On January 1, 2006, a book critical of EWTN and Mother Angelica, EWTN: A Network Gone Wrong by Christopher Ferrara, was published. According to the book's promotional website, "Basing itself on extensive evidence taken from EWTN’s own content, and comparing that content to the perennial belief and practice of the Church, the book shows that EWTN’s 'moderately Modernist' version of the Faith is precisely what St. Pius X had in view when he condemned Modernism in all its forms, including what His Holiness called 'the Modernist as reformer'".^[22]

Apostolic Visitation[link]

In 2000, the Holy See ordered an apostolic visitation of EWTN. Archbishop Roberto González Nieves of San Juan, Puerto Rico was sent to investigate. Nieves determined that there were three distinct problems: the actual ownership of the network, the monastery's right to give property to EWTN, and, since she had never been elected, the legitimacy of Mother Angelica's authority.^[23]

To prevent the Holy See from making changes, Mother Angelica resigned her positions on the EWTN board and turned it completely over to lay people, which severed official connection with her monastery and assured that the management of EWTN were not directly dependent on the bishops or the Holy See.^[24][25]

Viewership statistics[link]

EWTN boasts that it has become the largest religious media network in the world. As of February 2008, its programming reached more than 146 million homes in 127 countries and 16 territories on more than 5,200 cable systems, wireless cable, direct broadcast satellite, low power television, and individual satellite users. A 1994 National Catholic Reporter cover story claimed EWTN employed 124 people and received annual donations totaling approximately $25 million, of which approximately $8.5 million goes toward operating expenses.^[26]

A partial listing of EWTN programs[link]

• Mother Angelica Live Classics
• Daily Mass
• Life on the Rock
• My Little Angels
• We Are Catholic
• The Carpenter's Shop
• Adventures in Odyssey
• The Joy of Music, starring concert organist Diane Bish
• EWTN Live - Fr. Mitch Pacwa SJ
• The Journey Home - Marcus Grodi
• Pope Fiction - Patrick Madrid
• Pequeño Jesús
• Now That We Are Catholic
• Jesus Christ - True God/True Man - Raymond D'Souza
• The World Over Live - Raymond Arroyo
• Web Of Faith - Fr. John Trigilio & Fr. Robert Levis
• G. K. Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense - Dale Ahlquist
• Household Of Faith - Kristine Franklin & Rosalind Moss
• The Abundant Life - Johnette Benkovic
• Does The Church Still Teach This? - Fr. Shannon Collins FME
• Sunday Night Prime - Fr. Benedict Groeschel
• Catholics Coming Home - Msgr. Frank E. Bognanno
• Threshold Of Hope - Fr. Mitch Pacwa S.J.
• Defending Life - Fr. Frank Pavone and Janet Morana
• EWTN Bookmark - with Doug Keck
• Forgotten Heritage - with Fr. Owen Gorman and Fr. John Hogan
• Catholicism on Campus - with Msgr. Stuart Swetland
• Finding God Through Faith and Reaso' - with Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D
• The Pure Life - with Jason and Crystallina Evert
• Crash Course in Catholicism - with Fr. John Trigilio and Fr. Ken Brighenti
• The Quest for Shakespeare - Joseph Pearce
• Reasons For Our Hope - Rosalind Moss
• Council of Faith: The Documents of Vatican II - Fr. John Trigilio
• Council of Faith: The Post-Consiliar Documents - Fr. John Trigilio
• Reclaiming Your Children For The Faith - Fr. Robert J. Fox
• Super Saints - hosted by Bob and Penny Lord^[27]
• The Friar
• "Genesis to Jesus" - with Scott Hahn and Rob Corzine

See also[link]

• Catholic Media Network
• CatholicTV
• H2onews
• International religious radio broadcasters
• International religious television broadcasters
• National Catholic Register (owned by EWTN)
• Salt + Light Television
• Vatican Radio

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• EWTN Facebook page
• EWTN News
• EWTN Radio on Sirius
• EWTN Twitter page
• EWTN: Catholic TV in India Information About Receiving EWTN Transmission in India.
• Archive Audio of Mother Angelica Live
• Archive Audio of Household of Faith and Now That We're Catholic
• Archive Audio of Historic Catholic Converts to Catholicism
• Archive Audio of Catholic Doctors of the Church
• Archive Audio of Catholic Priesthood Through the Ages
• Archive Audio of Defenders of Faith in Word and Deed
• The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery
• The Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word
• Accusations of Neo-Modernism
• Myspace page
• Rebuttal of critical claims made by Traditionalist groups against the network
• Priests for Life (EWTN Supporters)
• EWTN North American Satellite Operations

This article is for the NFL tight end. For the author see Robert Royal (author)

Robert Royal

Royal (left) with Angelo Crowell
No. --     Free Agent
Tight end
Personal information
Date of birth: (1979-05-15) May 15, 1979 (age 33)
Place of birth: New Orleans, Louisiana
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Weight: 257 lb (117 kg)
Career information
College: LSU
NFL Draft: 2002 / Round: 5 / Pick: 160
Debuted in 2003 for the Washington Redskins
Career history
Washington Redskins (2002–2005) Buffalo Bills (2006–2008) Cleveland Browns (2009–2010)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Second-team All-SEC (2001)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2010
Receptions 128 Receiving yards 1,271 Receiving average 9.9 Receiving touchdowns 14 Stats at NFL.com

Robert Shelton Royal (born May 15, 1979) is an American football tight end who is currently a free agent of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Louisiana State.

Early years[link]

Royal attended Edna Karr High School in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was a standout in football and basketball. In football, as a senior, he posted ten sacks and 80 tackles.

Professional career[link]

Washington Redskins[link]

Royal was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft.

Buffalo Bills[link]

Royal signed with the Buffalo Bills as an unrestricted free agent on March 11, 2006.^[1] He was released by the Bills on February 26, 2009.

Cleveland Browns[link]

After his release from the Bills, Royal was signed by the Cleveland Browns on March 5, 2009.

The Browns released Royal on February 9, 2011.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Buffalo Bills bio
• Cleveland Browns bio

This biographical article relating to an American football tight end born in the 1970s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Joseph Pearce
Joseph Pearce in 2007
Born	1961 (age 50–51) East London, England
Occupation	Biographer
www.staustinreview.com/star/contributors/joseph pearce/

Joseph Pearce (born 1961) is an English-born writer, and as of 2004^[update] Writer in Residence and Professor of Literature at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida; previously he had a comparable position, from 2001, at Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He is known for a number of literary biographies, many of Catholic figures. Formerly aligned with the National Front, a white nationalist political party, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1989, repudiated his earlier views, and now writes from a Catholic perspective. He is a co-editor of the St. Austin Review and editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press. He also teaches Shakespearian literature for Homeschool Connections, an online Catholic curriculum provider.

Life[link]

Pearce was born in East London, and brought up in Dagenham, England. At the age of fifteen he joined the National Front (NF), a far-right political party opposed to a multi-racial and multi-cultural England. He was closely involved in NF organisational activities and first came to prominence in 1977 when, at the age of sixteen, he set up Bulldog, the paper of the organization. Bulldog became associated with some of the most virulent NF propaganda and Pearce was twice convicted under the Race Relations Act of 1976,^[1] serving time in prison in 1982 and 1985–1986.^[2] In 1980, Pearce became editor of Nationalism Today, in which he argued vehemently in favour of racial preservation, producing a pamphlet entitled Fight for Freedom! on this theme in 1982. He was a frequent visitor to Northern Ireland and he maintained regular contact with the Ulster Defence Association^[3]

Pearce attributes his subsequent religious conversion from a culturally-Protestant agnosticism to Roman Catholicism in part to reading G. K. Chesterton, whose biography he later wrote. He now repudiates his former views, saying that his racism stemmed from hatred, and that his conversion has completely changed his outlook.^[1]

As a Catholic author, he has focused mainly on the work of Catholic English writers, such as Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. His book Literary Converts, published in 1999, captures this interest and showcases the process of conversion of many writers who became convinced Catholics.^[4] Pearce has also promoted the social doctrine of the Church, in particular Distributism as a Catholic economic system. His main contribution in this area has been his book Small is Still Beautiful, which takes up the theme proposed earlier by E. F. Schumacher in his book Small is Beautiful.^[5]

Publications[link]

• Skrewdriver: The First Ten Years-The Way It's Got to Be!. London: Skrewdriver Services. 1987. 
• Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton. London: Hodder & Stoughton. 1996. ISBN 0-340-67132-7. 
• The Three Ys Men. London: Saint Austin Press. 1998. ISBN 1-901157-02-4. 
• Tolkien: Man and Myth. London: HarperCollins. 1998. ISBN 0-00-274018-4. 
• Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration in an Age of Unbelief. London: HarperCollins. 1999. ISBN 0-00-628111-7. 
• Pearce, Joseph, ed. (1999). Tolkien: A Celebration. Collected Writings on a Literary Legacy. London: Fount. ISBN 0-00-628120-6. 
• Pearce, Joseph, ed. (1999). Flowers of Heaven: 1000 years of Christian Verse. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-72220-7. 
• Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile. London: HarperCollins. 1999. ISBN 0-00-274040-0. 
• The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde. London: HarperCollins. 2000. ISBN 0-00-274042-7. 
• Bloomsbury and Beyond: The Friends and Enemies of Roy Campbell. London: HarperCollins. 2001. ISBN 0-00-274092-3.  Published in the United States as Unafraid of Virginia Woolf: The Friends and Enemies of Roy Campbell. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books. 2004. ISBN 978-1-932236-36-1. 
• Small Is Still Beautiful. London: HarperCollins. 2001. ISBN 0-00-274090-7.  Published in the United States as Small Is Still Beautiful: Economics as if Families Mattered. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books. 2006. ISBN 978-1-933859-05-7.  (Book Review and Summary)
• Campbell, Roy (2001). Pearce, Joseph. ed. Selected Poems. London: Saint Austin. ISBN 1-901157-59-8. 
• Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc. London: HarperCollins. 2002. ISBN 0-00-274096-6. 
• C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2003. ISBN 0-89870-979-2. 
• Literary Giants, Literary Catholics. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2005. ISBN 978-1-58617-077-6. 
• The Quest for Shakespeare: The Bard of Avon and the Church of Rome. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2008. ISBN 1-58617-224-7. 
• Divining Divinity: A Book of Poems. Kaufmann Publishing. 2008. ISBN 978-0-9768580-1-0. 
• Through Shakespeare's Eyes: Seeing the Catholic Presence in the Plays. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-58617-413-2. 

Television[link]

Joseph Pearce is the host of the EWTN television series The Quest for Shakespeare based on his book The Quest for Shakespeare: The Bard of Avon and the Church of Rome. The show concentrates on the evidence that Shakespeare was a Catholic and consists of thirteen episodes.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Personal site
• Autobiographical page
• Saint Austin Review
• Clips of Joseph Pearce speaking about his conversion: 1, 2
• Joseph Pearce speaks about his conversion
• The Quest for Shakespeare, EWTN's page for the TV show

Raymond Arroyo is a New York Times bestselling author, and a producer. He is the news director and lead anchor of EWTN News, the news division of the Eternal Word Television Network, a Catholic broadcast network founded by Mother Angelica, a nun of the Poor Clare order. He is creator and host of the news magazine The World Over Live.

Biography[link]

Personal Life[link]

Raymond Arroyo is from New Orleans, Louisiana. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife Rebecca and their three children.

Career[link]

Arroyo graduated from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts where he studied with Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, and others. Prior to working at EWTN, Arroyo worked at the Associated Press, the New York Observer, and for the political columnist team of Evans and Novak. He is best known as host of the EWTN news program The World Over Live, where he has interviewed many Catholic figures including the first and,to this date, only English language conversation ever recorded with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would later become Pope Benedict XVI. Other interviews include Mel Gibson, who was interviewed on the set of his film The Passion of the Christ. > Arroyo's biography of EWTN's founder, Mother Angelica, was a New York Times bestseller, as were each of his following books. He is also the editor of Mother Angelica's Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality (Doubleday), "Mother Angelica's Private and Pithy Lessons from the Scriptures" (Doubleday), "The Prayers and Personal Devotions of Mother Angelica" (Doubleday), and co-author of, "Of Thee I Zing: America's Cultural Decline from Muffin Tops to Body Shots" (Threshold Editions). He has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and Access Hollywood, "Hannity and Colmes", “CNN Headline News”, and other television shows. He is a frequent guest, and occasional substitute host, of "The Laura Ingraham Show" on radio. His writings have been published by Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Financial Times, and The National Catholic Register.^[1]

Books[link]

• Arroyo, Raymond (2005). Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles. Doubleday Religious. ISBN 978-0-385-51092-9. 
• Arroyo, Raymond (2007). Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles. Image Books. ISBN 978-0-385-51093-6. 
• Arroyo, Raymond (2007). Madre Angelica: La historia notable de una monja, de su nervio, y de una red de milagros. Image Books. ISBN 978-0-385-52116-1. 
• Mother Angelica (2007). Raymond Arroyo. ed. Mother Angelica's Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality. Doubleday Religious. ISBN 978-0-385-51985-4. 
• Mother Angelica (2008). Raymond Arroyo. ed. Mother Angelica's Private and Pithy Lessons From the Scriptures. Doubleday Religious. ISBN 978-0-385-51986-1. 
• Mother Angelica (2010). Raymond Arroyo. ed. The Prayers and Personal Devotions of Mother Angelica. Doubleday Religious. ISBN 978-0-307-58825-8. 
• Ingraham, Laura (2011). Of Thee I Zing: America's Cultural Decline from Muffin Tops to Body Shots. Contr. Raymond Arroyo. Threshold. ISBN 978-1-4516-4204-9. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website