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Mother Angelica: A Female Powerhouse in a ‘Supposedly Sexist’ Church [Catholic Caucus]
Crux ^ | March 27, 2017 | Mary Rezac

Posted on 03/28/2017 1:09:19 AM PDT by BlessedBeGod

On the one year anniversary of her death Mother Angelica, EWTN foundress and a pioneer of the New Evangelization, offers a lasting example of strong female leadership not only when it comes to breaking barriers in secular media but also in the widely patriarchal Catholic Church.


BIRMINGHAM, AL –– Mother Angelica, EWTN foundress and a pioneer of the New Evangelization, offers an example of female leadership in the Catholic Church that has left a lasting legacy on the one year anniversary of her death.

It was September 1987, and Pope John Paul II had just arrived in Los Angeles after traveling around the United States. The pope was greeted in the City of Angels by a closed-door meeting with a group of progressive bishops who had a bone to pick with several Church traditions.

One of four chosen representatives, Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, spoke to the pope about female ordination:

“Women seek…(a church) that teaches and shows by example the co-discipleship of the sexes as instruments of God’s kingdom. They seek a church where the gifts of women are equally accepted and appreciated…where the feminine is no longer subordinate but seen in a holistic mutuality with the masculine as forming the full image of the Divine,” he said.

Meanwhile in Alabama, a woman of the Church named Mother Angelica had just thrown her cable network, which reached more than 2 million homes at the time, into 24-hour coverage territory. During the 1987 papal trip, the EWTN Network took on the then-unprecedented task of live, unedited, constant coverage of the Holy Father’s visit.

And when word reached the spunky nun of the Milwaukee bishop’s remarks to the pope during the trip, she couldn’t help but chime in with her opinion.

“Women in the priesthood, that’s just a power play, that’s ridiculous,” Mother Angelica said the next day.

“As it is women have more power in the Church than anybody. They built and run the schools. God has designed that men be priests, and we can’t afford to deny God his sovereign rights,” she said, as recalled in her biography by Raymond Arroyo.

If anyone has any doubts as to whether ordination is necessary for leadership and influence in the Church, they need look no further than the media mogul nun herself to be proven wrong, said Catholic talk show host and media consultant Teresa Tomeo.

“Not only was she a prominent international media personality, because of her work on air and her great shows, but she was a foundress of a major religious network and she was a CEO of that network while being on the air, which is something that few women in the secular world accomplish,” Tomeo told CNA.

“And here she is accomplishing this in the Catholic Church, which is supposedly so sexist and backward according to the world. She’s breaking barriers that these powerful women in secular media can’t even touch.”

In 1981, at a time when women were still struggling for places of prominence in the world of broadcasting, Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation launched Eternal Word Television Network, which today transmits 24-hour-a-day programming to more than 264 million homes in 144 countries.

What began with approximately 20 employees has now grown to nearly 400. The religious network broadcasts terrestrial and shortwave radio around the world, operates a religious goods catalog and publishes the National Catholic Register and Catholic News Agency, among other publishing ventures.

Besides founding EWTN, Mother Angelica is also credited with building a monastery, a shrine, and establishing two religious orders.

Mother Angelica passed away on March 27, 2016 after a lengthy struggle with the aftereffects of a stroke. She was 92 years old.

After her passing, the praises of Mother Angelica were sung from both secular and Church media, with many recognizing her as a strong example of female leadership.

In his tribute, Crux editor John Allen wrote:

“Today there’s a great deal of ferment about how to promote leadership by women in the Church in ways that don’t involve ordination, a conversation Pope Francis himself has promoted. In a way, however, debating that question in the abstract seems silly, because we already have a classic, for-all-time example of female empowerment in Mother Angelica.”

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, remembered her as a “devout believer and media pioneer” in a statement following her death.

“Mother Angelica reflected the Gospel commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations, and like the best evangelists, she used the communication tools of her time to make this happen. She displayed a unique capacity for mission and showed the world once again the vital contribution of women religious,” he said.

Her vigorous leadership and vision in a Church with all-male clergy came from her security in knowing her identity before God, Tomeo added.

“Bottom line is that she knew who she was in Christ, she knew that she was designed in the image and likeness of God, that we’re male and female, we’re equal but we’re different,” she said.

“And she knew that God has a special role for her, and that he chose her for a specific reason, and that you can do all things through Christ as St. Paul tells us.”

Mother Angelica doesn’t stand alone in the line of formidable female figures in the Church, either, Tomeo noted. She succeeded other spiritual giants like St. Teresa of Avila and St. Catherine of Siena, and is joined by other women in the contemporary world, who are working to make a difference in the Church.

For years to come, Mother Angelica will be remembered for her authenticity and punchy humor, and her ability to preach the Gospel with love, Tomeo added.

“She was funny, she always gave me hope that no matter how many mistakes any of us make, God is always going to allow us to come home,” she said.

“I think that we have just begun to unpack her wisdom. I think…for decades and centuries, she’s going to be seen as one of the greatest evangelists in America.”


TOPICS: Catholic
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1 posted on 03/28/2017 1:09:19 AM PDT by BlessedBeGod
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To: BlessedBeGod

Glad to see Crux give Mother Angelica her due. She was a giantess, and -— though this article doesn’t mention it -— a good chunk of the USCCB wanted to shut her down. *Tried* to shut her down. She clung yo Christ and overcame them all. What a woman!


2 posted on 03/28/2017 2:02:27 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.)
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To: BlessedBeGod

Oh blechhh

The Catholic Church is not supposedly sexist

It’s not sexist

And Mother Angelica was no feminist. She founded the network for the sole purpose of evangelization. To spread the good news of Jesus with whom she had a relationship based on his teachings that she knew feobpracticing Catholicism

She depended on the sisters of her monastery which she named the queen of the Holy Angels after a woman, the mother of Jesus and she depended on the hep Oxford men such as her producer Doug kick, father Mitch pawua, Raymond arroyo, the men who built the monastery, the shrine.

These men and all men who practice Catholicism have great reverence for women

There were more men at mother Angelica’s funeral broken up over this 90+ year old than any renowned feminist would know in her own lifetime


3 posted on 03/28/2017 2:21:40 AM PDT by stanne
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Grrr to auto correct

Just saying if Mother A wanted to pretend the Church is sexist she’d have cared about not having won any mainstream awards for running the biggest network ever started. Y a woman which she did, Oprah included. But she was never recognized. She never carried a dishonest anti catholic message. All the men who helped her found the network were either devoted Catholics or converts for the most part. And there is no room for establishment feminism in those circles


4 posted on 03/28/2017 2:42:29 AM PDT by stanne
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To: BlessedBeGod

...we’re equal but we’re different,”....

(((
Exactly.
Oh...and Long Live the Patriarchy!


5 posted on 03/28/2017 5:09:30 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Vacate the chair! Ryan must go.)
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To: BlessedBeGod; nickcarraway; NYer; ELS; Pyro7480; livius; ArrogantBustard; Catholicguy; RobbyS; ...

Mother Angelica Ping!


6 posted on 03/28/2017 8:56:03 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: BlessedBeGod
If Mother Angelica had the "gift" of explaining Christ's teachings in a way that reached people (which she surely did) there's absolutely no reason for her to have remained silent.However,I don't understand where a "sexist Church" comes into the discussion.

Well,actually,I do have an idea...

7 posted on 03/28/2017 1:31:02 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Deplorables' Lives Matter)
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To: BlessedBeGod

See EWTN When you see the hand of Mother Angelica you won’t be disappointed.


8 posted on 03/29/2017 9:11:15 AM PDT by ex-snook (The one true God sent Jesus here to show us the way.)
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