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Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles | ||
| Author: | Raymond Arroyo | ||
| ISBN: | 0385510926 | ||
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The extraordinary saga of Mother Angelica, founder of the multimillion-dollar Eternal Word Television Network and “the most influential Catholic woman in America” according to Time magazine In 1981, the year after Ted Turner founded CNN, a simple nun, using merely her entrepreneurial instincts and $200, launched what would become the world’s largest religious media empire in the garage of a Birmingham, Alabama, monastery. Under her guidance, the Eternal Word Television Network grew at a staggering pace, both in viewership and in influence, to where it now reaches over a hundred million viewers in hundreds of countries around the globe. Born Rita Rizzo in Canton, Ohio, in 1923, Mother Angelica was abandoned by her father and raised in poverty by a mother who suffered from suicidal depressions. As a young woman, Rita developed severe abdominal pain that doctors dismissed as a “nervous condition,” but when she sought the prayers of a local mystic, her symptoms disappeared. Awakened to the power of prayer, she vowed to dedicate her life to God and became a cloistered nun, expecting to spend her life hidden from the world. But Rita’s faith soon compelled her to unlikely endeavors, from establishing a monastery in Alabama to starting the world’s first Catholic cable network. Relying solely on “God’s providence,” Mother Angelica built an empire without concern for budgets or fund-raising campaigns, achieving what even the highest levels of the Catholic Church had been unable to do. Raymond Arroyo combines his journalist’s objectivity and eye for detail with more than five years of exclusive interviews with Mother Angelica. He traces Mother Angelica’s tortured rise to success and exposes for the first time the fierce opposition she faced, both inside and outside of her church. It is an inspiring story of survival and proof that one woman’s faith can move more than mountains. Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles FROM THE PUBLISHER In 1981, the year after Ted Turner founded CNN, a simple nun launched the world's first Catholic cable channel in the garage of a Birmingham, Alabama, monastery, using her entrepreneurial instincts and $200 for seed money. Under her guidance, the Eternal Word Television Network grew by leaps and bounds. Today, EWTN offers twenty-four-hour television programming and AM/FM radio broadcasts in both English and Spanish, reaching more than 184 million viewers and listeners in 160 countries. Raymond Arroyo's engrossing biography, reads like a novel. Born Rita Rizzo in Canton, Ohio, in 1923, she was abandoned by her father and raised in poverty by a mother who suffered suicidal depressions. As a young woman, Rita developed severe abdominal pain and large protrusions. After doctors dismissed the problems as a "nervous" condition, Rita sought the prayers of a local mystic, and her symptoms disappeared. Awakened to the power of prayer, she vowed to dedicate her life to God. She became a cloistered nun, expecting to spend her life hidden from the world. But her faith compelled her to unlikely endeavors, from establishing a monastery in Alabama to starting the network. Relying solely on "God's providence," Mother Angelica built the empire without concern for budgets or fund-raising campaigns. She had accomplished what the highest echelon of the Catholic Church had been unable to do. FROM THE CRITICS Library Journal "Improbable but true" describes much of the life of Franciscan nun Mother Angelica (Rita Rizzo), who became a pioneer in cable religious broadcasting by establishing the Eternal World Television Network (EWTN) in 1981. Today, the network reaches more than 80 million households in upwards of 100 countries. Though she claims to have been the beneficiary of several unexplained healings throughout her life, she officially ended her career in live programming four years ago, when a series of strokes took its toll. Arroyo, news director and lead anchor at EWTNews, here offers an unauthorized but authoritative account of his former cohost that updates Dan O'Neill's 1986 Mother Angelica: Her Life Story. He incorporates a number of radio interviews, including probably the last one Angelica herself will be able to give. Readers will enjoy her ever-humorous, feisty, and down-to-earth personality, as well as her words to the ordinary person in the pews on a wide range of moral and personal issues. This engagingly written work is recommended for public, academic, and religious collections.-Anna M. Donnelly, St. John's Univ. Lib., NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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