An email from a good friend back home prompted me to make this brief post. It concerns the collection of articles and publications found at http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com/EWTN.php As you may know, EWTN is the Eternal Word Television Network, a popular cable subscription for many Catholic families. The linked article claims to discredit the claims made in a book, that EWTN is actually a seat of apostacy and heresy since the departure of Mother Angelica (its founder), seeking to prove that it has always been such an institution, even while she was directing it.
I do not have primary facts myself, but the article seems to be constructed in an inconsistent manner, with internal errors that point to its falsity. The most glaring error that they try to point out is that EWTN exhibits false ecumenism in its programming. Here is the response I sent to my friend on this point:
I think the most important thing to consider here is not whether this particular network is at fault, but, in our dealings with others, that we assert the most valid message that we can, enlightened by the Holy Spirit in the silence of our hearts. Ecumenism, which is the most glaring of the faults addressed in the article, must be undertaken properly (ecumenism, relations between religious traditions, can be good; the book and article accuse EWTN of promoting false ecumenism, which I have no evidence to support or reject). I do not know what correct ecumenism is. It is like addressing racism without forcing everyone to be the same, but with a consideration of morals and the order of the universe in play. It is not simply allowing practitioners or followers of other religions to continue in ways that may be immoral, but to praise individuals' pursuit of the truth (as we pray on Good Friday for the Jews and other non-believers), and to help them to attain the ultimate (final, objective) truth that Jesus Christ is God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, that we were created out of love by God, the first person of that same Trinity, and that by the sacrifice of the Son of God on the Cross, we are invited to model our lives after His, growing in Love, to one day join Him in eternal splendor.
Statements may be made off the cuff that declare in absolute terms (though mistakenly so) that Buddhists (to use an example from the article) may attain salvation, with no obligation to join the Church. Such statements are grave errors. It is certainly possible that one who has not come to the opportunity of discovering Christ's church as the one church necessary for salvation may be saved, however, should one come to such an understanding and remain apart from the church, he will certainly be judged more harshly for it. Pope Benedict XVI just beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, an Anglican convert, who, for many years, denied the legitimacy of the Catholic Church, but, who, realizing that it was within the Church that he could be guaranteed salvation, ultimately converted, setting a marvelous example for youth and establishing such a rational route by which to understand the truth of the church that many could follow after him.
So whether EWTN is a blatant propagator of apostatic teaching or a well-spring of orthodoxy, it is certainly worthy of such an attack by simple virtue of its prominence. We must listen to Christ's vicar, the successor of Peter, who informs the faithful of the proper interpretation of the full tradition of the Church in every age. Recently, Pope Benedict XVI has tried to bridge the gaps in understanding of the faithful regarding Vatican II teachings, which are widely misunderstood (I know very little of what specifically changed and why), in order to help those extreme critics to understand the fullness of the faith that was both preserved and enriched in Vatican II, and to promote a stronger church (without necessity of growth - he is quoted as saying that the church in the coming days will be smaller, yet more faithful, and that would be his preference over a larger, less faithful church).
In all things, seek the Truth, who is Love.
Love the Immaculata!
Mariam cogita, Mariam invoca
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