CNA Staff, Mar 27, 2021 / 02:27 am (CNA).- It has been five years since Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, foundress of EWTN, passed away.She died March 27, 2016 – Easter Sunday – after a lengthy struggle with the aftereffects of a stroke. She w… […]
Washington D.C., Mar 18, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Darren Stern, a Catholic HVAC repairman near Baltimore, Maryland, is not shy about sharing his faith with customers.
In an interview with EWTN News In Depth that aired on March 10, Stern talked about how he provides customers with a small “wind-up Jesus” figure to keep near their air conditioner.
“Well, a lot of times I’m like, if you want this air conditioner to keep running keep this little Jesus by it because I think it’s the only thing that’s going to make it work,” Stern said. When customers ask him if their unit’s problem is “that bad,” he says he replies “it’s that bad!”
“Everybody needs a little Jesus in their life,” Stern said.
Stern says his faith carried him through his sufferings from chronic anxiety, which he says he struggled with for nearly 20 years.
“I was like a perfectionist, and I didn’t want to let people down,” Stern told EWTN News In Depth. His worry and stress affected him so much that he couldn’t eat.
“I would just keep going because it’s in my mind. It was all you could do, just keep going, just keep going, keep running,” he said of dealing with his anxiety.
Stern turned to God when all else failed. “It got so bad that I was ready to give up and I said, ‘Jesus you got to help me. I got to get through this, and I didn’t know how to get through it. I didn’t know what was going to happen,’” Stern recalled.
“When you have nothing, then Jesus is all you have, and I was down at the end,” he said.
After years of prayer, Stern said he learned to abandon himself to God. “Just talk to Him and just listen,” he said of his prayer to Jesus.
“I surrendered. I said to myself, ‘let Jesus take all the bad stuff,’” he said.
“I started embracing all that energy that just had stored up inside me, stopped worrying so much about what other people thought and about all the problems,” he said. “Just go out and do the best you can, and that’s what I kept focusing on.”
And Stern’s faith gave him hope as well. “You know I still wake up with anxiety, everybody does. You’re gonna have that, but now it’s different.”
“You know Jesus is right there, what can go wrong?”
Washington D.C., Feb 18, 2021 / 11:16 am (CNA).- A Catholic president pushing pro-abortion policies should be seen as both a challenge and an opportunity for the Church, the head of the EWTN media network says.
In an interview airing on Thursday, the 200th episode of EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, Michael Warsaw, EWTN board chairman and CEO, said that President Joe Biden’s support for taxpayer-funded abortion “is very confusing for Catholics.”
“His positions, on the life issue especially, just simply are not in line with Catholic teaching,” Warsaw said, noting that Biden and his staffers have talked about “how devout a Catholic he is.”
“I think we’ve seen our bishops try to grapple with this, I think we’ve seen the tensions within the Church as we try to deal with this, and understand what this means,” he said.
Warsaw called the political moment a challenge, but also a “great opportunity.” EWTN, he said, can be a clear voice for communicating Catholic teaching in its entirety and on the issue of life.
“I think it’s for us to re-double our efforts and our mission to be very clear—and to make very clear to all who listen—what the Church’s teaching is, and that life is the preeminent issue,” Warsaw said. “I don’t think we can say that often enough.”
President Biden has stated that his administration’s “policy” will be to “support women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States, as well as globally.” The term “sexual and reproductive health” is commonly used by international groups, including the United Nations, to refer to abortion and contraception.
On Jan. 28, Biden issued a memorandum allowing for taxpayer funding of international pro-abortion groups, and took the first step toward allowing funding of domestic pro-abortion groups in the Title X family planning program.
In addition, Biden has supported taxpayer-funded elective abortions by opposing the Hyde Amendment. The White House has reaffirmed his position in recent weeks, and on Tuesday would not guarantee that a proposed massive COVID relief bill would not include funding of abortions.
The U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB) has stated that abortion is a “preeminent priority,” because of the high number of abortions, the attack on “life itself,” and because it “takes place within the sanctuary of the family.” Archbishop Jose Gomez, president of the USCCB, noted Biden’s support for abortion as contradicting the teachings of the Church, in his Jan. 20 statement for Biden’s inauguration.
Clarity on the “preeminence” of the life issue, Warsaw said, is “what is missing, in certainly this administration, and in certain quarters of the Church where there seems to be a tendency to want to try to go along to get along.”
“We can’t pursue some sort of artificial unity, just for the sake of unity, when there are fundamental issues here—the issue of life—that we have to speak out on, and continue to speak out on, and continue to engage on,” Warsaw said.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, appeared on EWTN Pro-Life Weekly with Warsaw, and said that the pro-life movement “shouldn’t be distracted with all the disappointments of late.”
“Our greatest strength is in what we’ve already accomplished in the last six years, and that is through the Supreme Court, over 230 new judges across the federal court system, and all of the massive number of pro-life pieces of legislation coming up from real people in real states that want their voices and their opinions expressed in the law,” she said.
A top priority, she said, is to “make sure that the filibuster stays in place” in the Senate. If the filibuster is abolished, she said, then a simple majority vote in the chamber could increase the number of Supreme Court justices and allow for more pro-abortion justices and federal judges.
The late Mother Angelica, foundress of EWTN, “was very clear” in support of the life issue, Warsaw said.
“I think because of her own personal sufferings and the depth of that suffering, and all the things that she went through in her life—physical sufferings, emotional sufferings, all of these things—yet she was able to do these remarkable things through God’s providence,” Warsaw said.
“And I think that gave her just a unique insight when it came to the issues of life, and the value of life, and the importance of every life. And the meaning that every life created by God brings,” he said.
He cited Mother Angelica as inspiration for the pro-life movement today, to remember that “all is not lost” and “this is not a time to be down.”
“It’s a time to push forward. It’s a time to be even more vocal, and even stronger and more strident in our fight for life,” Warsaw said.
CNA Staff, Feb 16, 2021 / 12:39 am (CNA).- EWTN host Raymond Arroyo is releasing a new children’s book recounting the legend of The Good Thief, one of the men crucified alongside Jesus on Good Friday. “The Thief Who Stole Heaven,” written by Arroy… […]
Washington D.C., Feb 4, 2021 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- With a pro-abortion administration and a pro-abortion majority in the House, the pro-life movement will be “tenacious,” a leading pro-life member of Congress says.
“We will be t… […]
Birmingham, Ala., Dec 30, 2020 / 08:25 am (CNA).- EWTN Global Catholic Network announced a new lineup of shows aimed at growing its programming and expand its reach on television, radio, and through its digital and news platforms.
Among the new television projects is EWTN News In-Depth which will begin production in January. This new weekly, one-hour news discussion program will offer the Catholic perspective and analysis on the top stories of the week and will be hosted by Montserrat “Montse” Alvarado, a Hispanic Catholic who also serves as Vice President and Executive Director of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. The program will welcome newsmakers, experts, and correspondents from EWTN’s global news bureaus in a discussion of current events in the Church, politics, and culture from the lens of the Catholic faith.
EWTN Radio will expand to two hours the daily broadcast of The Son Rise Morning Show beginning in January. Produced by Sacred Heart Catholic Radio Network, The Son Rise Morning Show is hosted by Anna Mitchell, and covers current affairs, inspirational interviews, and prayer. This expanded version of The Son Rise Morning Show will replace Morning Glory in the radio lineup.
EWTN Radio also recently added a new weekly program Beloved and Blessed with Kimberly Hahn. The show speaks to the desires and strengths of women in all walks of life. Beloved and Blessed replaces Church Alive.
EWTN Radio is also announcing Father Brian Mullady, O.P. and Father John Trigilio as additional hosts of the popular daily program Open Line.
The Network’s 2021 plans include further strategic investment in its news gathering operations in the U.S., and around the globe so that EWTN news outlets can cover even more topics of interest and concern to Catholics throughout the world. Developments include continued expansion of the ACI Africa news services launched in 2019 from Nairobi, Kenya as well as additional projects in the Middle East and Europe.
The new year will also see the continued expansion and development of EWTN España, a new television service customized for viewers in Spain which launched in mid-December.
For more information on EWTN programming and content, please go to www.ewtn.com
CNA Staff, Dec 7, 2020 / 06:15 am (CNA).- A new EWTN channel in Spain will begin broadcasting television programs Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
The station’s president, José Carlos González-Hurtado, told ACI P… […]
CNA Staff, Nov 12, 2020 / 09:15 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served as apostolic nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016, has denied claims in the Vatican’s McCarrick Report which […]
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