Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 3

Itirmiiiliiiin I'otl-ll'Tuld Saturday August 9 1986 A3 Mother Five years ago she put aside the peanuts and started a successful television network angelica By Carol Ann Campbell Pnt-HcraM Reporter Mother Angelica recounts the telephone conversation: "Hi I'm Mother Angelica from Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Birmingham Alabama and I'd like to build a satellite network' Silence On the other end was Robert Corasinni a high-powered communications attorney in Washington you have any idea what you are Cora-rinni asked Mother Angelica said you serious about this?" Hjr Mil hRnm Mother Angelica on the set of EWTN in Irondale doesn't put on airs when hosting a show: Tm just me she says pie books about faith In 1978 she was asked to appear on a Chicago talk show That was on Oct 19 1980 By February 1981 the white-haired Italian nun with owl-like glasses was granted a license from the Federal Communications Commission Soon the station was broadcasting across the country Next week Mother Angelica and her Eternal Word Television Network will celebrate five years on the air To believers the multimillion-dollar television station organized by a handful of cloistered nuns in the deep South is nothing short of a miracle To Mother Angelica it's the power of prayer and a bit of sense of humor How else she asks could a monastic order with no television experience and no money create the nation's largest Catholic network? nuns could never do this It has to be the Lord We're Just a bunch of dodos" she says Mother Angelica is a warm and funny Franciscan nun who sprinkles spiritual insight with one-liners Her combination of pep and prayer is transmitted through 300 cable systems "St Paul would have gone she says At a time when most religious programming spotlights preachers with fiery sermons Mother Angelica stands out For one thing Catholic For another she's neither skilled nor slick She uses no scripts or cue cards She fidgets in her seat and blows her nose on the air She scoffs if anyone suggests she has the charisma timing or talent necessary for a television personality "Oh I know how supposed to turn my head Or where supposed to put my she says "I'm just Yet Mother Angelica has managed to turn her curious network into a major force in American Catholicism EWTN airs religious programs such as in Faith" and "Catholic Beliefs and Her Angelica show features prominent Catholic theologians missionaries and lay people Last year the network that started with a few hundred dollars brought in more than $5 million in contributions and grants according to financial statement released yesterday No money goes to operate the monastery and Mother Angelica receives no salary But she's earned her share of celebrity The Washington Post called her the and the Dallas Morning News called her Newest been featured in People magazine The New York Times The Wall Street Journal and on Only the pope it seems gets more press Mother Angelica never envisioned such a future She was bom Rita Rizzo in Canton Ohio in 1923 She describes her childhood as one stricken by poverty and loneliness father walked out on the family leaving Rita and her mother to struggle in rat-infested apartments sometimes without heat or enough food She was stung by the stigma of her divorce It was a childhood without faith she says Then at age 20 Rita was plagued by a painful intestinal obstruction that left her listless and weak She says she was miraculously healed realised not only that was there a God but that he loved me she recalls Rita began praying daily She was 21 with a job working in the advertising department of a bank when she knelt before the altar at church and chose to become a nun Rita ran away to join a monastery in Cleveland Ohio and became Sister Mary Angelica In 1946 she moved to Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton Ohio Years later she injured her spine in a fall Expenses here run from $150000 to $200000 a month More than 50 staff members most young and eager help run EWTN which produces 50 percent of its own programs Mother Angelica will pitch for funds on the air when coffers dwindle hate it I hate asking for money For the first three years we never asked for money Then we started going down the drain We were forced to have a telethon I can't believe it's not worth it If it costs 2 cents per soul how much is that?" EWTN reaches 10 million homes How many tune in is anybody's guess Mother Angelica says she has no use for ratings Mother Angelica says EWTN aims its programming at Catholic viewers to deepen their faith and to encourage the fallen-away to return to church She will talk about pains frustrations and heartaches on the air an area she says other Christian broadcasters ignore have no theology of pain and healing It's all about the good life the abundant life all positive thinking That's a bunch of hogwash If I'm eating beans I'm eating beans I can't imagine it's She also hopes EWTN will explain Catholicism to people of other faiths prejudices we have among denominations is pitiful We may not all believe in the same way but we are all children of God I cannot hope that everyone will believe as I she says Mother Angelica still prays five hours a day The vocation of the nuns she says is to pray for the people who do not pray to thank God for their blessings Prayer not television remains the essence of life at Our Lady of Angels Monastery she says "Why did the Lord put the station here? I think it was the only place Because without a lot of prayer I don't think it would have been TIIK HKTAIIA MoUnt Aufttlira'i "life Aaaivcnanr Spvrial Uw Xfcow" ain TfeanSay I ran la pm She was struck by the technology of the television studio said gotta have one of I thought 'Oh that's a dumb But I couldn't get it out of my mind just felt so sorry for the average lay person who was missing so much of the spiritual life one thing to know God and know Jesus but what do you do with it? How do you live your Christianity?" She made a tape that was aired on Pat Christian Broadcasting Network CBN asked for 60 more tapes Mother Angelica produced the programs at WBMG-TV in Birmingham One nun built the set another held the lights Later a dispute arose after WBMG aired Word" a CBS television miniseries Mother Angelica says depicted Jesus as a fake (WBMG Vice President Hoyle Broome says position was not to defend the The but to protect our right to air a CBS program and not succumb to financial pressure But we respect Mother Angelica for her Mother Angelica says she would no longer produce at WBMG leaving the nuns with nowhere else to go Meanwhile a contractor was building a garage next to the monastery Mother Angelica approached him said your plans We're going to build a television You should have seen his face said don't know anything about I said 'Neither do I That's not the point going to build The first donations came from prayer groups in Florida Today Mother Angelica walks through EWTN's studio with $10 million worth of state-of-the-art equipment Lights hang from 20-foot ceilings Fake walls and windows create sets The control room resembles a space center Mother Angelica has been on the air five years promised the Lord if I walked again I would build a monastery in the South God has always used pain in my life I guess trying to get my In 1962 Mother Angelica founded Our Lady of the Angels Monastery on 15 acres of rocky terrain in Irondale just east of Birmingham The nuns who had supported themselves selling fishing lures began roasting packaging and shipping peanuts to retail outlets Then Mother Angelica began publishing short sim- Shades Mountain Baptist plans divorce workshop GOSPEL MEETING AUGUST 10th THRU 17th 7:30 PM Weekdays 10:30 AM and 6:00 PM Sunday Aug 10th 6:00 PM Saturday 16th 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM Sunday Aug 17th RELIGION BRIEFS CONDUCTED BY JOHNNY ELMORE Evangelist of Ardmore Oklahoma CRESCENT RIDGE CHURCH OF CHRIST speakers The Bibletooes will perform at Lawler Baptist Church tomorrow at 2 pm The church is located two miles east of Sumiton on US 78 Dedication of the recent addition to the Birmingham Second Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1337 Old Springville Road in Huffman will take place at 1:30 pm tomorrow Luncheon will be served between the regular Sunday morning meetings and the dedication services The 39th Annual Day will be observed tomorrow at Chapel AME Church 3001 Fourth Ave South Jeanette Woods of New Rising Star Baptist Church will be the guest speaker at 11 am Rev Charles Marie Davis of St Matthew AME Church will be the guest speaker at 3 pm Mrs Julia Davidson of Atlanta For more information call Christine Puckett in Gadsden at 547-5818 Two church training conferences are scheduled this week at Shocco Springs Baptist Assembly in Talladega A new manual will be taught by church training leaders from Alabama and the Baptist Sunday school board in Nashville The first conference will begin at noon Thursday and end at noon Friday The second conference will begin at 5:30 pm Friday and end at 2:30 pm next Saturday Child care will be provided Call 288-2460 for more information Birmingham Aglow will meet at Highland Park Community Building 3300 Highland Ave South at 9 am Thursday The Sandra Hunter family will be the guest A Recovery will be presented by the single adult department of Shades Mountain Baptist Church on Thursday Friday and next Saturday The workshop will be conducted by Rev Dwight Kidd minister to -Tt singles at Shades Mountain Baptist Church and Rev Jimmy Parrish former staff member of Mountain Brook Baptist Church and First Bap-tist Church Jackson Miss Topics to be discussed include and There Life After Divorce for the Christian?" The workshop will be held from 7 to 10 pm Thursday and Friday at Shades Mountain Baptist Church 2017 Columbiana Road Vestavia Hills The Saturday session will be held at the Holiday Inn in Hoover from 9 am to noon IRONDALE ALABAMA 592-3838 591-1031 THE CHURCH WITH SCRIPTURAL WORSHIP AND SCRIPTURAL COMMUNION The workshop is free A continental breakfast on Saturday morning is included To register call the department at the church 822-1670 Shelby County Aglow will meet at Camp Branch United Methodist Church Tuesday at 9 am Pastor Tom Parrish will be the guest speaker A free nursery will be provided An Infinite Way lecture based on the teaching of Joel Goldsmith will be given at 7 pm Friday at the Holiday Inn Medical Center 420 South 20th St The lecturer will be Want Ads 252-141 1.