The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) is an American television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic-themed programming. It was founded by Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, PCPA in 1980 and began broadcasting on August 15, 1981, from a garage studio at the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama, which Mother Angelica founded in 1962. She hosted her own show, Mother Angelica Live until suffering a major stroke and other health issues. Repeats now air as either the Best of Mother Angelica Live or Mother Angelica Live Classics. She now leads a cloistered life at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama and rarely appears on television in new programming.

Regular programs include a daily Mass, a taped daily praying of the Rosary, and daily and weekly news, discussion, and educational programs for adults and children. Christmas and Easter programming; the installation Masses of bishops and cardinals; coverage ofWorld Youth Days; and papal visits, deaths, funerals, conclaves, and elections are also presented. EWTN also has a presence onsatellite and shortwave radio. Spanish language broadcasts are available on all platforms. On December 8, 2009, EWTN began broadcasting in high-definition. They publish the National Catholic Register newspaper, which was acquired in January 2011.

The network has occasionally been the subject of criticism for its social, political, and theological positions. In 2000, the Holy Seeordered an apostolic visitation to investigate the network. Believing that it could possibly endanger the network's independence and rather than risk it being placed under ecclesiastical control, Mother Angelica turned EWTN over to a board of governors composed exclusively of lay people, which assured its independence from the Holy See. The current president and chief executive officer is Michael P. Warsaw. While the network has trustees, it does not have shareholders or owners. A majority of the network's funding is from viewer donations. Its traditional plea for donations is "Keep us between your gas and electric bill".

The network maintains a web presence through its primary website, EWTN.com, and it also has a dedicated e-commerce site, EWTNReligiousCatalogue.com.

Development of EWTN 
Mother Angelica made her profession of vows in 1953. In 1962, she established the Our Lady of the Angels monastery. During the 1970s, she was an in-demand lecturer and producededucational pamphlets and audio and video tapes. She had been a guest on local stationWBMG (currently WIAT, Channel 42), and on shows on the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. After she gave an interview on then-Christian station WCFC(Channel 38) in Chicago, she decided she wanted her own network. "I walked in, and it was just a little studio, and I remember standing in the doorway and thinking, 'It doesn't take much to reach the masses'. I just stood there and said to the Lord, 'Lord, I've got to have one of these'".

Mother Angelica purchased satellite space and EWTN began broadcasting on August 15, 1981, with four hours of daily programming, which included her own show, Mother Angelica Live (aired biweekly), a Sunday Mass, and reruns of older Catholic programs such as Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's Life Is Worth Living. The remainder of the time was filled with shows produced by dioceses across the country, shows fromProtestant sources which Mother Angelica determined were in concert with Catholic teachings, and children's shows such as Joy Junction and The Sunshine Factory. About one-third of programming time consisted of secular content, such as re-runs of The Bill Cosby Show, public domain films, and cooking and western-themed shows. EWTN eventually increased its broadcast schedule to six hours per day and then to eight hours per day by 1986. Secular content was gradually reduced from 1986 to 1988, and satellite distribution was expanded late in 1987, after which EWTN acquired a far more desirable satellite channel and began broadcasting around the clock. At this point, EWTN began broadcasting the praying of the rosary daily basis and added a number of educational shows. In-house production of original programming gradually increased. The Mass became televised daily in 1991 from a chapel on the monastery grounds. Most shows from non-Catholic sources were eliminated and a more theologically conservative image gradually developed.

Radio 
Main article: WEWN
In 1992, EWTN established the largest privately owned shortwave radio station, WEWN, in the Birmingham area.

In 1999, programs included "Mother Angelica Live" and "Life Is Worth Living" with Fulton J. Sheen. WGSN in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was an affiliate.

In 2004, EWTN announced an agreement with Sirius Satellite Radio which has since merged with XM Radio to become Sirius XM Radio.

Newspapers 
Main article: National Catholic Register
In January 2011, EWTN acquired the National Catholic Register, a newspaper founded in Denver, Colorado in 1924 as a periodical for local Catholics and which became a national publication three years later. EWTN officially assumed total control on February 1.

News Coverage 
The EWTN news department produces a daily news service for television and radio, featuring news sources including Vatican Radio. They also produce The World Over Live, which covers relevant current events. It is hosted by journalist and author Raymond Arroyo, who is also EWTN's news director. The program is conservative in its political orientation and generally conservative in its religious orientation. Notable guests have included Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, author and activist George Weigel, political commentatorLaura Ingraham, conservative political commentator Pat Buchanan, and the late columnist and commentator Robert Novak, a Jewish convert to Catholicism.

History of programming 
In its early history, EWTN broadcast Catholic-produced programming from a wide variety of Catholic sources. This ranged from Catholic charismatic programming such as Fr. Michael Manning, to shows focusing on social reform and social justice, such as Christopher Closeup, to doctrinal teaching shows hosted by various clergy.

In the early 1990s, EWTN began producing more of its own shows. This marked a distinctive conservative shift in the network's overall orientation, with programs featuring topics on social reform and justice gradually being phased out and replaced with general doctrinal teaching and discussion programs. This shift was apparent in the daily televised Masses, which, in 1992, began incorporating Latin into the liturgy and gradually no longer featured contemporary music. Some non-televised Masses are in all English and some have more contemporary music. On Christmas Eve 1993, Mother Angelica and the nuns of her order reverted to traditional habits. From 1992 on, The Latin portions of the mass included the Gloria, introduction of the Gospel readings, the Sanctus, and the rest of the mass after the Great Amen, beginning with the Lord's Prayer.

Among its notable weekly programs are The Journey Home and Life on the Rock. The Journey Home, hosted by Marcus Grodi, is aimed at converts to the Catholic faith. Grodi himself is a former Presbyterian minister who converted to Catholicism in 1992. Although most guests are former Protestants, former adherents of non-Christian faiths (such asJudaism and former atheists have occasionally appeared. Life on the Rock is hosted by Fr. Mark Mary, MFVA and Doug Barry.

EWTN HD, a high definition simulcast of EWTN, became available to affiliates on December 8, 2009. President and CEO Michael P. Warsaw said "We chose to launch HD in December so we could bring our viewers all the beautiful images of the Christmas season using the most advanced technology. We are proud to say that we are the only Catholic television network available in this format." The HD feed first became available to Comcast customers in Richmond, VA and vicinity on May 11, 2010.

In October 2011, EWTN became available through the Roku streaming player. The player provides six live channels of EWTN for free (including English, Spanish and Germanlanguages), allowing users to watch the channel on their television. In addition, select EWTN programs can be viewed as a video on demand option as well as a live feed of EWTN Radio is available.

Often, EWTN airs special programming: holiday-specific programs as well as coverage the deaths of popes; papal conclaves, elections, inaugurations and visits; Easter, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses; the installations of bishops, archbishops, and cardinals; and World Youth Day.

Criticisms 
Doctrinal disputes 
In a 1993 episode of Mother Angelica Live, Mother Angelica harshly criticized a mimed re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross at the World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado, which was attended by Pope John Paul II. Mother Angelica was particularly upset that a woman was playing Jesus. Controversial archbishop Rembert Weakland of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee called Mother Angelica's comments "...one of the most disgraceful, un-Christian, offensive, and divisive diatribes I have ever heard". Mother Angelica responded by saying, "He didn't think a woman playing Jesus was offensive? He can go put his head in the back toilet as far as I am concerned"!

In 1997, Mother Angelica publicly criticized Cardinal Roger Mahony, then the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, for his pastoral letter on the Eucharist called "Gather Faithfully Together: A Guide for Sunday Mass", which she perceived had a lack of emphasis on transubstantiation: "I’m afraid my obedience in that diocese would be absolutely zero. And I hope everybody else’s in that diocese is zero". Cardinal Mahony regarded her comments as accusing him of heresy. Mother Angelica later issued a conditional, albeit reluctant, apology for her comments.

In 1999, Bishop David Foley of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, Alabama issued a decree prohibiting priests in his diocese from celebrating Mass ad orientem ("to the east"; that is, with both the priest and the people facing east) under most circumstances. Although the decree did not specifically mention EWTN, the wording of the decree, which stated that "...any Mass that is or will be televised for broadcast or videotaped for public dissemination", supporters and critics alike generally agreed that the decree was written with EWTN specifically in mind. Bishop Foley stated that the practice of having the priest's back to the people "amounts to making a political statement and is dividing the people."

On January 1, 2006, a controversial book critical of EWTN and Mother Angelica, EWTN: A Network Gone Wrong by Christopher Ferrara, was published. According to the book's promotional website, "Basing itself on extensive evidence taken from EWTN’s own content, and comparing that content to the perennial belief and practice of the Church, the book shows that EWTN’s 'moderately Modernist' version of the Faith is precisely what St. Pius X had in view when he condemned Modernism in all its forms, including what His Holiness called 'the Modernist as reformer'".

Coverage of sexual abuse 
On September 4, 2012, Father Benedict Groeschel, a member of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and host of the program Sunday Night Prime, stepped down from his position at EWTN after making controversial statements concerning sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In an interview published in the EWTN-owned National Catholic Registernewspaper, Groeschel suggested that a minor was "the seducer" in "a lot" of sex abuse cases, and stated that priests accused of first-time offenses should not go to jail "because their intention was not committing a crime." Before voluntarily leaving EWTN, Groeschel released a statement saying that he did not intend to "blame the victim", affirming that sexual abuse by priests is "always always wrong" and stating that, "I deeply regret any harm I have caused to anyone." EWTN head, Michael P. Warsaw, stated that the comments "should never have been published" and did not reflect the opinions of either the newspaper or the broadcaster. Groeschel had suffered a stroke previously and has said his ways of expressing himself are not always consistent with what he intended to say. So one can derive from this statement, quoted by Raymond Arroyo on the Worldover news program, that it is also not what Groeschel meant either. 

Apostolic Visitation 
In 2000, the Holy See ordered an apostolic visitation of EWTN. Archbishop Roberto González Nieves of San Juan, Puerto Rico, was sent to investigate. Nieves determined that there were three distinct problems: the actual ownership of the network, the monastery's right to give property to EWTN, and, since she had never been elected, the legitimacy of Mother Angelica's authority.

To prevent the Holy See from making changes, Mother Angelica resigned her positions on the EWTN board and turned it completely over to lay people, which severed official connection with her monastery and assured that the management of EWTN was not directly dependent on the bishops or the Holy See.

Viewership statistics 
EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world. As of February 2008, its programming reached more than 146 million homes in 127 countries and 16 territories on more than 5,200 cable systems, wireless cable, direct broadcast satellite, low power television, and individual satellite users.

List of EWTN programs 
The Journey Home - Marcus Grodi, on Mondays
Threshold Of Hope - Fr. Mitch Pacwa S.J., on Tuesdays
EWTN Live - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., on Wednesdays
The World Over Live - Raymond Arroyo, on Thursdays
Life on the Rock with Fr. Mark Mary and Doug Barry, on Fridays
Daily Mass, on daily mornings
Benedictions and Devotions, on Sundays
Web Of Faith - Fr. John Trigilio & Fr. Robert Levis,
Sunday Night Prime with Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CSSR, on Sunday Nights
EWTN Bookmark - with Doug Keck
Mother Angelica Live Classics
EWTN Religious Catalogue
Angel Force - With the LaHood Family
The Knights of St. Michael- With the LaHood family.
My Little Angels
We Are Catholic
The Carpenter's Shop
Adventures in Odyssey
The Joy of Music, starring concert organist Diane Bish
Pope Fiction - Patrick Madrid
Pequeño Jesús
Now That We Are Catholic
Jesus Christ - True God/True Man - Raymond D'Souza
G. K. Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense - Dale Ahlquist
Household Of Faith - Kristine Franklin & Rosalind Moss
The Abundant Life - Johnette Benkovic
Does The Church Still Teach This? - Fr. Shannon Collins FME
Catholics Coming Home - Msgr. Frank E. Bognanno
Defending Life - Fr. Frank Pavone and Janet Morana
Forgotten Heritage - with Fr. Owen Gorman and Fr. John Hogan
Catholicism on Campus - with Msgr. Stuart Swetland
Finding God Through Faith and Reason - with Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D
The Pure Life - with Jason and Crystallina Evert
Crash Course in Catholicism - with Fr. John Trigilio and Fr. Ken Brighenti
The Quest for Shakespeare - Joseph Pearce
Reasons For Our Hope - Rosalind Moss
Council of Faith: The Documents of Vatican II - Fr. John Trigilio
Council of Faith: The Post-Consiliar Documents - Fr. John Trigilio
Super Saints - hosted by Bob and Penny Lord

The Friar
Genesis to Jesus - with Scott Hahn and Rob Corzine
EWTN Family Celebrations 
EWTN has been hosting Family Celebrations since 2006. Their last celebration was at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. It was their thirteenth Family Celebration they have hosted. It was on September 8–9, 2012.