February 3, 2002

Most of us are sadly familiar with horror stories about the decline of school standards in our nation. In one study, the majority of high school students included California among the original thirteen colonies. Education in basic doctrines of the Faith has not been much better. For various reasons, not least of which was wrong theories of how to teach the catechism in recent decades, a whole generation has grown up in need of the basics. The good news is that the Church has access to unprecedented means of communication. Our own parish takes instruction seriously, and the numbers of young and old who are seeking it is increasing. Television, too, can be the vehicle for truth as well as trash.

On the Feast of the Assumption in 1981, a small community of Poor Clare nuns in Alabama launched a Catholic satellite television network with seed money of six hundred dollars. Now the Eternal Word Television Network is seen throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Save for the staff of professional technicians, the clerical and lay hosts of the various programs volunteer their services for what has become the largest religious television network in the world. All this has been funded by viewers themselves, while multi-million dollar bureaucratic attempts to develop programming have fizzled. The content does not water down or trivialize the teaching of Christ, and the fullness of Catholic doctrine is broadcast daily, with the Holy Mass, Papal addresses, daily news updates, the Rosary and other devotions. While Manhattan is one of the areas that has not had cable access to this network, this barrier may soon be broken.

It has been my privilege to broadcast programs regularly on EWTN for fourteen years, and it is gratifying to meet people all over the world who have become a kind of extended parish. Every so often I tape a series of a dozen or so programs on various themes. Because of parish life, it is not easy to get to the studios down south. This week, the technical crew will be in the parish for some filming on Monday and Tuesday. You may see cameramen taking pictures in the church briefly, but most of the work will be done in the Lower Hall. Spreading the Gospel this way will also make our parish known to people from many nations, some of whom may have a chance to visit us when in Manhattan on holiday or business.

Fr. George W. Rutler