Eternal Word Television Network
EWTN - or The Eternal Word Television Network - is a television and radio operation that broadcasts Catholic religious programming, via satellite and shortwave radio.
EWTN began in 1981 and transmits 24 hour programming to 104 million homes in 110 countries and 16 territories on cable, satellite, and low power TV.
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In the beginning
The founder of EWTN, Mother Angelica, founded Our Lady of Angels Monastery near Birmingham, Alabama and began developing short written religious teachings. As these short books became more popular, Mother Angelica's fellow nuns looked at technology to enable worldwide distribution.
Television
Mother Angelica began receiving requests for speaking engagements, which turned into a video series of her talks taped at a local Birmingham television station. Eventually, she built a TV studio on monastery property in Irondale, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. This developed into the worldwide brodcast center that EWTN is today.
Radio
In 1992, EWTN established the largest privately owned short wave radio station in the Birmingham area. The station broadcasts Catholic programming 24 hours a day in English and Spanish. In 1996, EWTN launched a free satellite-delivered AM/FM radio network to stations worldwide, also in English and Spanish.
In 2004, EWTN announced an agreement with Sirius Satellite Radio, which allows Sirius to carry EWTN programming.
News
The EWTN News department produces a daily news service for the television and radio network, featuring news sources including Vatican Radio.
Criticism
Critics of the network say it displays a highly intolerant attitude towards non-Catholics. Critics say EWTN treats Protestants as heretics, saying that Protestants are only concerned with "misguided" personal interpretations of the bible and not with "the fullness of truth" that EWTN claims lays solely within the Catholic Church. EWTN portrays Atheists as either closet Theists to selfish or afraid to embrace religious responsibility, or simply as hedonists. New Age groups are considered to be in touch with Satanic or Demonic sources. Judaism is viewed as an incomplete religion, lacking Christ and the Gospel.
Some of these positions are simply opinion, based on honest religious principles or standpoints, but other positions may be perceived by many as slander and prejudice.
Critics also say that EWTN does this while vehemently accusing groups with opposing viewpoints of being anti-Catholic, ignoring its own anti-Protestant et al sentiment. EWTN contains many programs attempting to debunk religions and groups with opposing viewpoints, such as Lutherans or Pro-Choice activists, while at the same time it invokes, according to critics, the "anti-Catholic" card when anyone criticizes the Catholic Church, i.e. critics claim that EWTN will call Baptists heretics and then will call Baptists anti-Catholic for criticizing Catholicism, hence EWTN will be accusing Baptists of being prejudiced or bigoted against Catholicism and hence anti-Catholic, while EWTN itself will at the same time be holding an anti-Baptist position.
Catholics who disagree with certain Church doctrines, such as those who advocate the use of birth control and the ordination of women, also feel that the network does not respect their views. However, EWTN maintains that it only broadcasts orthodox Catholic Teaching and has neither the duty or the motive to advocate positions contrary to the doctrines of the Church.
Programming
- Mother Angelica Live
- Daily Catholic Mass
- Life on the Rock with Fr. Francis Mary
- EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa
- The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi
- The World Over with Raymond Arroyo - News
The network also airs coverage of Church events worldwide, documentaries, music specials, the Rosary, and other devotional segments.