Eternal Word Television Network

EWTN—or The Eternal Word Television Network—is a television and radio operation that broadcasts Catholic religious programming, via satellite and shortwave radio.

EWTN's views on non-Catholics

EWTN adheres strictly to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, thus its attitudes and views of non Catholic individuals or organizations would reflect the Church's teachings on such matters. They indeed believe that Protestants, Orthodox, and non-Christians can and often do attain salvation based on what they know and understand, though they affirm that all non-Catholics lack the complete Truth. For more on this, see the section on Salvation in the article on the Catholic Church. EWTN has a negative view of progressive Catholics who they regard as "Cafeteria Catholics". They further have a great disdain for Catholics who don't accept all of the Church's teachings.

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EWTN has all along adhered to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church but initially they were very inclusive and ecumenical in attitude in their early years. In their programming they always leaned toward finding common ground with other Christians. They also ran a wide variety of Catholic produced programming from various Roman Catholic sources. This ranged from Charismatic Movement programming such as Father Michael Manning to shows focusing on social reform and justice like Christopher Closeup to teaching shows hosted by various priests and bishops some of which were on the progressive side. When they had to program 24/7 and lacked the resources to produce their own shows they took shows they would today not even consider. The Mass they ran was completely in English as well. While still somewhat conservative they seemed more mainstream back in the 1980's.

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In the early 1990's EWTN began producing more of their own shows. They also began running the Mass daily. Their attitude also began to change in response to progressive attitudes within the Church. They began preaching against "relativism" as well as people who do not follow Church teachings. They also began to demonstrate disdain to the way Mass was being celebrated in various parishes. They argued that many churches no longer celebrated the Mass in a reverent manner. As a result they began mixing Latin into their own Masses. They still celebrated the Novus Ordo Mass but a few common prayers would be said in Latin. They also cut the hymns to just the opening and closing songs. In between they used Gregorian Chant. Many of these changes reflect the actual instructions of the Second Vatican Council, set in the constitution on the liturgy "Sacrosanctum Concilium".

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Also at this point Mother Angelica and her order of nuns switched their clothing to the pre-Vatican II traditional habit.

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While they accept Vatican II teachings they allege that many Catholics abuse these reforms. While they accept the validity of an all-English Mass they point to the fact that the Vatican II text Sacrosanctum Concilium instructed that Latin be retained in portions of the Mass. At the same time they affirm that Sacrosanctum Concilium allowed parts of the Mass to be said in the vernacular.

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EWTN has many programs directed at countering Protestant beliefs, such as "The Journey Home" in which converts to Catholicism, mostly from Protestantism, state their reasons for converting to Catholicism. They say that Catholicism is the source of Christian truth, and that Protestant beliefs are often incomplete, based on faulty interpretations of history and the Bible. This has become their overall attitude.

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While they are loyal to Church teachings, they affirm certain practices are the only right way to do things and other ways are deficient. They also reject most locally produced diocesesan programming from other regions. EWTN though has its own order of priests that they use to host their shows. They also use priests from conservative religious orders as well as more conservative diocesan priests to be guests on their shows and even host some of their programming.

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At one point they even became critical of some bishops and archbishops they believe compromise the truth too much. They also interpret teachings with a traditional/conservative slant. Of those Catholics in communion with the Church, EWTN is regarded as a traditional Catholic organization that falls between what one finds in many parishes nowadays and traditional Catholics who only celebrate the Tridentine Mass.

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