In 1993, EWTN launched WEWN, a shortwave radio station, the world’s largest privately owned facility of its kind. The money came from the late Piet Derksen, a Dutch leisure-industry billionaire who had never met Mother Angelica until he spotted her in a hotel lobby in Rome. Ask her how she came to start the shortwave operation, and she’ll tell you it was the archangel Michael—literally. She saw him on a hilltop near Irondale, and he told her to build it there. So she did, even though experts told her it wasn’t an ideal location.
And this:
She is reflecting on the 20th anniversary of EWTN—a "miracle," as she calls it—but also on the shrine itself, another miracle. "I think it is going to give people courage. They lack awe—of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. And they lack courage—they won’t fight for anything. They have no guts. I think what they experience when they walk into the church is courage. That’s why it was built."Mother Angelica gives me courage. No challenge I face comes close to the number or magnitude of challenges that she faced --willingly.
Yesterday I thought about Father Altier's homilies being on EWTN........wouldn't that be great?
another good deed by a Dutchman.