3.2.20
A Catholic Child Activist writes in with this story about Mother Angelica’s old Ohio Parish where she was a child:
***
I have a strong devotion to Mother Angelica (My middle daughter’s name is Regina Angelica) & was looking forward to visiting the Church where she was baptized & went to elementary school that is along the way.
I went to the website, clicked on “history” and saw absolutely NO mention of her at all! When I called & questioned the secretary, she said, “Oh, she attended here before the new building was erected. Besides, we can’t mention every good person who attended this parish.”
“She may be one of many good people who attended your parish, but, she is the ONLY woman from your parish who founded THEE GLOBAL Catholic Television Network: EWTN. That’s at least worth mentioning on your website, dontcha think? Seems to me like ya’ll are embarrassed of her,” I said.
Taken aback, she half-heartedly tried to convince me that “Oh we’re not embarrassed of her.” Clearly, she was not used to this line of questioning concerning Mother. I ended the call with, “Well, that position is hard to defend considering you do not acknowledge her at all has having been a part of your history.”
Perhaps someday when the infernal smoke clears over the current papacy, and notable Catholics are honored for their important contributions to Catholicism in Tatters, Mother Angelica will get her due at her former church. Certainly it is worth noting that Mother Angelica was a member of a church. The woman brought back so many people to the Catholic faith, who had wandered away, and instructed millions on true Catholicism. I owe my faith to Mother Angelica and the network, and know my enthusiasm for my faith would perhaps not even be present without EWTN, especially as it was in the 1980’s and 1990’s, very tradition-minded. That is what spoke to me, as well as so many others.
But today we recognize that Catholicism is not as popular with our clergy, and they are indeed embarrassed by, not just Mother Angelica, but Catholicism itself and many times it appears they are embarrassed by Christ Himself. It only seems fair that now, I am embarrassed by the Catholic Church and the clergy, because they have examined Catholicism and found it wanting.
What a lost opportunity for that parish.
Sadly, they don’t realize what they have
or the woman they had praying there.
Anyway, their ignorance does not reflect badly
on Mother Angelica. By the grace of God,
she did her very best and brought
countless souls to God. God bless her soul.
Thank you for linking our website to your blog. My name is Kelli, and I’m the one you spoke with that day. As I attempted to explain to you over the phone, we are far from ashamed of Mother Angelica. In fact, I tried to guide you to St. Rafael’s bookstore because they’ve organized a tour of all the significant locations for Mother Angelica throughout Canton including our church, the Rhoda Wise house and Poor Clare’s Monastery where she first became a nun. There is so much more to her than what happened here; we’re just a step in her journey. The goal of our website, though it does need a LOT of work, is to keep current ministry and scheduling information only because it has limited capabilities. Adding Mother Angelica to our website would only duplicate the information that the EWTN historians and St. Rafael’s staff have compiled. God Bless, and I hope we see you when you have the chance to travel to Canton.