Matt C. Abbott
TV nun: archbishop can 'put his head in the back toilet'
By Matt C. Abbott
I have great respect and admiration for Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN. In fact, call me a fan. She's been faithful, smart, blunt, inspirational, and downright funny at times.
Catholic journalist and EWTN news director Raymond Arroyo's 384-page biography of the hugely influential cloistered nun — Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles — does a great job of illustrating her many trials and travails, from childhood up to the present. (She has suffered from a series of debilitating strokes in the last few years.)
Two of my favorite excerpts:
A very good book. Get it if ya can.
© Matt C. Abbott
I have great respect and admiration for Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN. In fact, call me a fan. She's been faithful, smart, blunt, inspirational, and downright funny at times.
Catholic journalist and EWTN news director Raymond Arroyo's 384-page biography of the hugely influential cloistered nun — Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles — does a great job of illustrating her many trials and travails, from childhood up to the present. (She has suffered from a series of debilitating strokes in the last few years.)
Two of my favorite excerpts:
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"World Youth Day [1993] was the turning point for the network and for Mother," [EWTN producer] Chris Harrington opined. In that short half hour in Denver, Angelica had summoned an orthodox crusade, challenging those who felt disenfranchised and confused by the continuing changes within the Church to stand firm and to cede no further ground. The official response to Mother's outburst was swift. During a phone call on August 15, the president of the National Conference Bishops, Archbishop William Keeler, told Mother she had "overreacted." Days later he would urge EWTN to shelve the editorial and suspend reruns so as not to fan the flames of controversy. But the flames had already been fanned.
In a blistering editorial, Archbishop Rembert Weakland wrote that the "senseless and heartless condemning of one another" had to stop. He then proceeded to condemn Mother Angelica's "vitriolic" commentary: "For a half hour she ranted and raved about all the abuses since Vatican II, according to her own personal judgment which, of course, she equates with that of the Holy Father," Weakland wrote. "It was one of the most disgraceful, un-Christian, offensive, and divisive diatribes I have ever heard."
"He didn't think a woman playing Jesus was offensive," Mother said of Weakland's criticism. "He can go put his head in the back toilet as far as I am concerned." (pp. 243-244)
Though [Father Robert Bonnot, an official with the U.S. bishops' conference] didn't recollect the exact nature of the conversation, he told me, "If her stance was being selective about which bishops could be allowed to speak, I am quite confident that our stance and policy was: We see the bishops as entrusted with leadership in the Church and no bishop on principle should be excluded."
As the phone call continued, Mother Angelica got "louder and louder," according to her sisters. One by one, the nuns gravitated into the hall, listening to the conversation as if awaiting the final twist of a radio drama. Though Mother respected the office of the bishops, she could not bring herself in good conscience to relinquish her network to individuals or ideas opposed to the Magisterium — bishops or no.
"And who are you to decide which bishop should be aired?" Father Bonnot asked.
"I happen to own the network," Angelica responded curtly.
"Well, you won't always be there."
"I'll blow the damn thing up before you get your hands on it," Angelica shouted, as if speaking to the deaf. "I've chosen my Magisterium; you choose yours!" Slamming down the receiver, to the delight of her nuns, she terminated the conversation. (p. 211)
A very good book. Get it if ya can.
© Matt C. Abbott
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