Eternal Word Television Network, Inc.

Summary

Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) was launched on August 15, 1981 by Mother Angelica, a Franciscan Nun..
EWTN airs family and religious programming from a Catholic point of view. Providing more that 80% original programming, EWTN offers inspiring talk shows, entertaining children's animation, exclusive teaching series, live coverage of Church events, and thought-provoking documentaries.
Program Categories:
Live call-in talk shows, News/Current events, Children's Programming, Music & Drama, Teaching Series, Daily Devotions and Church Events, Documentaries, Spanish Programming

This organization is non-profit. Contributions to this organization are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law

Contact Information: [ Back to top ]

Organization Details [ Back to top ]

Purpose [ Back to top ]

Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), the world's largest religious cable network, airs family and religious programming from a Catholic point of view. Providing more than 80% original programming, EWTN offers inspiring talk shows, entertaining children's animation, exclusive teaching series, live coverage of Church events, and though-provoking documentaries. EWTN's programming is designed to enrich the viewer's time, not just consume it.
Programming includes:

• The Journey Home: Each week, a special guest with a story of a return to the Faith is interviewed by host Marcus Grodi and viewers; LIVE Monday at 8pm ET; reairs during the week.
• Mother Angelica Live: Features interviews with special guests and viewer phone calls; LIVE Tuesday (Family Night) & Wednesday (Guest Night) at 8pm ET; reairs during the week.
• Life on the Rock: Designed for teens, with viewer phone calls and email; LIVE Thursday at 8pm ET; reairs during the week.
• The World Over: Weekly news magazine with news summary, interviews, investigative reports and features from around the world; LIVE Friday at 8pm; reairs during the week.
• Daily Mass: LIVE daily at 8am ET; reairs at Noon & 7pm
• Holy Rosary: Three times per day.
• Children's Programming Block: Weekday afternoons, Saturday morning.

Mission Statement [ Back to top ]

Eternal Word Television Network uses the following to express its mission:

To spread the Good News of Jesus Christ world wide not just through television but also through short wave radio, AM/FM radio, and the Internet.

Program Accomplishments [ Back to top ]

• Online Services, one of EWTN's newest apostolates, provides a variety of Catholic resources to those with Internet capability. Here one has access to the Catholic Church's teachings on a wide variety of moral and theological issues made available in searchable audio and document libraries. The service offers online experts to answer questions about the Faith
• EWTN Global Catholic Radio reaches a potential audience of 600 million listeners.
• EWTN offers a satellite-delivered AM/FM radio network free of charge to radio stations worldwide for re-broadcast locally in either English or Spanish.
• EWTN News produces a daily news service for the television network, the radio network and Online Services, featuring in-depth reports and summaries gathered from worldwide news sources including Vatican Radio.

Statement of Faith [ Back to top ]

EWTN uses the following to express its Statement of Faith: Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.

Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit; the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated; the Father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite; the Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet not three eternals but one eternal, as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet not three almighties but one almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; and yet not three Gods but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords.

The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone, not made nor created but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding. So there is one Father not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less, but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal.

So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity.

History [ Back to top ]

As Mother Angelica never tires of saying, the history of EWTN "isn't what we've done, it's how we've done it." Giving all the credit to God and His Providence, she says she didn't have a plan - much less a long-range business plan - when she powered up the first transmitter in 1981. After all as Mother Angelica points out, what could a handful of nuns know about starting something that would become a global Catholic television and multimedia network? Instead, she has relied on the power of prayer - her own and those of her Sisters. No other network, emerging or otherwise, could rely on such a powerful, hidden, but very effective "business" strategy.

Attentive to manifestations of God's Will, Mother Angelica watched as certain doors in her early media ministry opened and certain doors closed. She knew God's purposes are often hidden and the faithful must simply wait, persevere in prayer, and go through those doors once the light of day - or angels' radiance - shine through them. Some might say she pushed some of those doors down but she knew that God's Providence also calls for action on our part. As the past twenty years reveal, EWTN is obviously part of God's providential plan.

Although she had no guarantee of funding, she refused to worry about the future and the mounting bills, confident that her Heavenly Father would provide their daily bread. Confidence in God brings peace; false security does not.

Mother Angelica is fond of saying "We have to be willing to do the ridiculous so God can do the miraculous." Like tying sheets from tree to tree to show God where EWTN needed a new studio. Or placing a costly short-wave radio tower on a mountain that the so-called experts said would never transmit around the world - all because of a vision of St. Michael the Archangel.

But Mother Angelica is no stranger to the miraculous. She became a nun after she prayed a novena to St. Therese and was healed of a stomach ailment. She came South to build a monastery to honor a promise she made before risky back surgery. A few years before the end of the second millennium, she threw away her crutches, able to walk after another miracle.

God's ways are often beyond our understanding. Who could have imagined what He would do with land purchased from the sale of fishing lures and a television studio converted from a monastery garage? He works in mysterious ways, indeed. As Mother Angelica never tires of saying, the history of EWTN "isn't what we've done, it's how we've done it." Giving all the credit to God and His Providence, she says she didn't have a plan - much less a long-range business plan - when she powered up the first transmitter in 1981. After all as Mother Angelica points out, what could a handful of nuns know about starting something that would become a global Catholic television and multimedia network? Instead, she has relied on the power of prayer - her own and those of her Sisters. No other network, emerging or otherwise, could rely on such a powerful, hidden, but very effective "business" strategy. Attentive to manifestations of God's Will, Mother Angelica watched as certain doors in her early media ministry opened and certain doors closed. She knew God's purposes are often hidden and the faithful must simply wait, persevere in prayer, and go through those doors once the light of day - or angels' radiance - shine through them. Some might say she pushed some of those doors down but she knew that God's Providence also calls for action on our part. As the past twenty years reveal, EWTN is obviously part of God's providential plan. Although she had no guarantee of funding, she refused to worry about the future and the mounting bills, confident that her Heavenly Father would provide their daily bread. Confidence in God brings peace; false security does not. Mother Angelica is fond of saying "We have to be willing to do the ridiculous so God can do the miraculous." Like tying sheets from tree to tree to show God where EWTN needed a new studio. Or placing a costly short-wave radio tower on a mountain that the so-called experts said would never transmit around the world - all because of a vision of St. Michael the Archangel. But Mother Angelica is no stranger to the miraculous. She became a nun after she prayed a novena to St. Therese and was healed of a stomach ailment. She came South to build a monastery to honor a promise she made before risky back surgery. A few years before the end of the second millennium, she threw away her crutches, able to walk after another miracle. God's ways are often beyond our understanding. Who could have imagined what He would do with land purchased from the sale of fishing lures and a television studio converted from a monastery garage? He works in mysterious ways, indeed.

Ministry Needs [ Back to top ]

EWTN has communicated the following needs:

Mother Angelica has always trusted that God in His Providence would inspire viewers to supply the network's financial needs. Her trademark fund appeal, coming periodically at the end of her live show, asks viewers to "remember the network between your gas bill and your electric bill." EWTN offers programming free-of-charge to cable companies and never uses advertising to generate income for the network.

Research Analysis

Transparency Grade [ Back to top ]

MinistryWatch.com 5 Star Financial Efficiency Ratings [ Back to top ]

Ranking Category	Rating	Overall Rank	Educational Media Sector
Overall Efficiency Rating		137 of 348	12 of 38
Fund Acquisition Decision		137 of 348	12 of 38
Resource Allocation Decision		of 348	26 of 38
Asset Utilization Decision		of 348	26 of 38