Mother Mary says liberals are doing the devil's work - Mother Mary Angelica, a nun who broadcasts orthodox Catholic theology over her Irondale, Alabama TV cable network, EWTN

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 23, 1994 | by Rod Dreher

A Franciscan nun broadcasting from Alabama is spreading the orthodox word -- and has liberal Catholics, including an archbishop, running for cover.

Mother Mary Angelica is the closest thing Roman Catholics have to Rush Limbaugh. A popular conservative broadcaster, she has become a holy terror to Catholic liberals and is a more influential religious leader than many archbishops.

"I will stand tall for the faith, and stand tall for real tradition," says the 71-year-old Franciscan nun. "I will not tolerate this made-up tradition, and made-up false doctrines and errors by liberal nuns and priests. I think the people should rise up and fight against their church being totally destroyed."

Others in the church are tired of the abbess's act, calling her absolutist, authoritarian and just plain wrong. Sister Mary Collins, who chairs the department of religion and religious education at the Catholic University of America, accuses her of promoting dissent under the guise of faithfulness. "I think that she is in fact dangerous, because she does not know her limitations," Sister Collins says. "She's really quite ignorant of Catholic tradition, both in practice and theology." When that criticism is repeated to Mother Angelica, she laughs: "I know enough theology to know when they're wrong, and so far [liberal Catholics] have been wrong on everything."

Mother Angelica, born Rita Rizzo in Canton, Ohio, broadcasts her plainspoken teachings daily on a half-hour program called Mother Angelica Live, aired on EWTN, the network she started on a shoestring budget in 1981. Broadcasting from a studio installed at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Ala., EWTN is carried on more than 1,000 cable networks nationwide.

"It's almost preposterous that she and her seven nuns would turn this into a major force for Catholic orthodoxy in this country," says Helen Hull Hitchcock, a prominent Catholic lay leader. "She succeeded in getting off the ground with a TV network where the bishop's conference, with all their experts and financial resources, never could."

Says the Rev. Joseph Fessio, a conservative Jesuit publisher and frequent EWTN guest, "She represents the voice of ordinary Catholics, as opposed to the voice of liturgy committees, peace and justice committees, church bureaucrats [and others]." Jeff Weber, a top official with VISN, a cable religious network that airs a significant amount of Catholic programming, characterized Mother Angelica's audience as extremely loyal. "In communities where we've gone head-to-head for channel [space], they've been very aggressive in coming out to support EWTN," Weber says.

Though she is firmly orthodox in her opinions (she recently pooh-poohed the Vatican's decision to allow altar girls to serve at mass), Mother Angelica does not fit the stereotype of a grim, knuckle-rapping nun, say those who know her. Catholic author Karl Keating described her as "always extremely kind, someone who laughs a lot and is always self-deprecating. What I have found is, orthodoxy and joyousness go together."

Much of EWTN programming focuses on relatively noncontroversial topics, such as spirituality, the Bible, inspirational stories and sawed music. Only recently has the network been involved in a direct and dramatic may with internal church struggles.

A major turning point came last summer, during the pope's visit to World Youth Day in Colorado. American bishops contracted with EWTN to carry live coverage of the event. This included a mime troupe's rendition of the Stations of the Cross that recounts Christ's path through Jerusalem to the crucifixion. Though no advance word had been given, a young woman mimed the role of Jesus. Though event organizers said this was not an attempt to send a message favoring the ordination of women, Mother Angelica said otherwise and erupted in anger on the airwaves.

"I'm tired of your inclusive language that refuses to admit the Son of God is a man," she thundered. "I'm so tired of you, liberal church in America." Mother Angelica later accused her opponents within the Catholic Church of helping to "make this nation pagan." Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, one of the country's leading liberal theologians and a frequent target of Mother Angelica's barbs, bit back, calling the nun's jeremiad "disgraceful, unchristian and offensive."

Shortly thereafter, Mother Angelica demonstrated her power at a scheduled meeting of the country's Catholic bishops, at which they considered proposed changes in the church's official prayers. An international committee appointed by the bishops recommended scrubbing the liturgy of masculine references whenever possible. Bolstered by a letter-writing campaign orchestrated by Mother Angelica, conservative bishops convinced their colleagues to postpone a decision on the changes.

Afterward, Archbishop Weakland was quoted as saying, "Something needs to be done" about Mother Angelica. But it's unlikely that she will be silenced. If anything, attacks by liberal opponents seem to make the feisty Franciscan bolder. She encourages traditional Catholics U) raise hell in their parishes against clerics and church leaders she considers unfaithful to Catholic doctrine and authority.