Where are the women on EWTN?

[snowgarden]

I've never been one to want women priests, but I must say that the lack of women on EWTN discussing their memories of the Pope has given me pause. I am grateful that Mother Angelica has been able to participate in the Rosary, prayer services and the Mass and the Sisters, too. However, everytime I see the "Memories of John Paul II" montage and see all the faces of the men of EWTN interspersed with images of the Pope, I feel for the first time as though women are being left out in this area and in the live broadcasting segments. Can't they even included an image of Mother Angelica and run a comment from the many hours of tape they have of her? What about the few women who do have shows on EWTN like Johnette Benkovich or Rosalind Moss? I am not a woman's libber and do not downplay the importance of the male priesthood, but this has only served to enforce in my mind that women religious and laity need more of a presence on EWTN, now more than ever.

[leo123]

I think it's important to remember that valuable memories aren't distributed according to gender. Infact they are not distributed at all, some people will have certain things they want to tell the EWTN audience, the fact they these may be predominantly men isn't a cause for alarm or discomfort.

I also think it's VERY important to have a lot of priests on EWTN, now more than ever, due to the shortage of young men joining the priesthood. Why then should a significant number of priests on EWTN be lead you to believe women are negatively being maginalised.

[snowgarden]

Originally Posted by leo123

I think it's important to remember that valuable memories aren't distributed according to gender. Infact they are not distributed at all, some people will have certain things they want to tell the EWTN audience, the fact they these may be predominantly men isn't a cause for alarm or discomfort.

I also think it's VERY important to have a lot of priests on EWTN, now more than ever, due to the shortage of young men joining the priesthood. Why then should a significant number of priests on EWTN be lead you to believe women are negatively being maginalised.

I don't want to come off as women being marginalized. I respect the men. I certainly hope there are more vocations and I know that there will be as the Holy Spirit works on those that are being called as we speak (or type!) It's just that a woman's thoughts and impressions can offer a different perspective that adds to the viewers reflections. I do not have children and sometimes I am sensitive when women offer their opinion and begin by saying "As a mother..." It hurts me, but in fact deep down I realize that they do have a perspective that I do not have unfortunately. It's just that I'd love to hear more stories of how this great Pope touched women's lives...either to seek a vocation or to follow his teaching on family life. Perhaps on their future shows as they are taped this will come out, but I'd love to hear it now.

[leo123]

Originally Posted by snowgarden

It's just that a woman's thoughts and impressions can offer a different perspective that adds to the viewers reflections.

I definately agree, I have learnt a lot by keeping quiet when my mother, sister or fiance are speaking. And I also agree when you say that you want to hear what women thought of John Paul 2; he was after all a champion of the dignity of females and the ideologies of true feminism. God Bless.

[Marie]

Don't know and don't care. I am glad EWTN coverage is available and am glad to see all the men discussing it. I just think it strange anyone would be discussing woman vs. man at this time.

[wisdom 3:5]

I'm not disturbed at all. Women, generally, are better at expressing themselves at emotional times. Men OTOH have been taught to "be tough" and "don't cry" etc. I think its a great example to men that there are men who can bring something personal to people.

[cecelia]

Must everything be glimpsed, viewed, analyzed, dissected within the reductive categories of race, class, and gender? "Catholic" means universal, and, as such, Catholicism is a represention of our Heavenly Father who comprises all, is all, beyond all, beyond ethnicity, beyond male and female. It's bad enough that the commentators who are in the most part invincibly ignorant are looking at the papal conclave as a horse race, and is viewing the legacy of our beloved Holy Father in terms of liberal and conservative, but we Catholics who know better should eschew such labels when discussing our Faith. We should take care to ground and reference our discussions in supernatural spiritual terms. All that to say, we have discussion of the Holy Father's death, legacy, and successor taking place on EWTN by priests,Godly, manly priest, the leaders of our Church. We should heed the words of our spiritual fathers and embark into the world emboldned and ready for the task at hand. I go forth, not as a black Catholic woman, but as a Catholic ready to stand on my Confirmation and spread the truth of Catholicism. I am in no way concerned about issues of race, sex, and class as ways to view Catholicism. That woman are not discussing the pope's legacy right now on EWTN changes nothing about Catholicism or EWTN as its rightous conduit. Bringing into gender to suggest that there might be a lack of awareness which now needs some enlightening just creates a problem where there is none.

[Tantum ergo]

I think it's still early days, after all. Right now we are bound to see more men--and I'll actually give a big cheer to that, because I have thought for some time now that more men need to be involved in the Church, in my area anyhow and others as well. After all, we need the various priests and clergy who are bound to have more knowledge of the papacy, of what was done by our beloved John Paul the Great as a pope, bishop and priest and as a young man, of what is GOING to happen at the conclave, etc.

It hasn't even been a whole week yet. As we move on, I think we are going to see more women and their perspectives--after all, JP had so much to say, and said it so beautifully, about the dignity of women.

But I certainly would like to see more men continue on showing themselves as leaders and being more involved in daily Church life. I think that the American Catholic Church in several geographical areas has been "imbalanced" in its membership. That this can happen, and has happened many times--often after wars, when men have been killed and thus more women than men in a certain population demographic are "available"--does not lessen the impact. The fact that many women make wonderful leaders and do much good in their church doesn't make it "OK" for the men of those churches to abrogate THEIR responsibilties (again, probably for multifactoral reasons).

[BayCityRickL]

Originally Posted by Tantum ergo

I think it's still early days, after all. Right now we are bound to see more men--and I'll actually give a big cheer to that, because I have thought for some time now that more men need to be involved in the Church, in my area anyhow and others as well. After all, we need the various priests and clergy who are bound to have more knowledge of the papacy, of what was done by our beloved John Paul the Great as a pope, bishop and priest and as a young man, of what is GOING to happen at the conclave, etc.

It hasn't even been a whole week yet. As we move on, I think we are going to see more women and their perspectives--after all, JP had so much to say, and said it so beautifully, about the dignity of women.

But I certainly would like to see more men continue on showing themselves as leaders and being more involved in daily Church life. I think that the American Catholic Church in several geographical areas has been "imbalanced" in its membership. That this can happen, and has happened many times--often after wars, when men have been killed and thus more women than men in a certain population demographic are "available"--does not lessen the impact. The fact that many women make wonderful leaders and do much good in their church doesn't make it "OK" for the men of those churches to abrogate THEIR responsibilties (again, probably for multifactoral reasons).

I agree entirely, and let's remember two things: For some reason, Mother Angelica was the star of the network for a very long time. I didn't see any woman even being groomed to take her place. And, now, the nuns have moved, what, fifty miles away into a brand new monastery. I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem that there is even a plan to fill in the void that Mother Angelica left with the presence of another nun in the programming. I was crestfallen when the nuns moved away and the quality of the music during the daily Mass dropped by orders of magnitude. The music went from uplifting and beautiful to the dreary Gregorian chant.

Mother Angelica has left such a gap in the programming, that tapes of her old programs are running in prime time, further reinforcing the obviously erroneous impression that no one can do any better than she did.

The other thing I was going to say is that in the short production time that EWTN had to deal with the passing of John Paul the Great, AND given the lack of any central women in the wings, they simply have filled the air with anything they can piece together--Another lack of planning evident in the administration of the network.

[Lucania]

Originally Posted by snowgarden

I've never been one to want women priests, but I must say that the lack of women on EWTN discussing their memories of the Pope has given me pause. I am grateful that Mother Angelica has been able to participate in the Rosary, prayer services and the Mass and the Sisters, too. However, everytime I see the "Memories of John Paul II" montage and see all the faces of the men of EWTN interspersed with images of the Pope, I feel for the first time as though women are being left out in this area and in the live broadcasting segments. Can't they even included an image of Mother Angelica and run a comment from the many hours of tape they have of her? What about the few women who do have shows on EWTN like Johnette Benkovich or Rosalind Moss? I am not a woman's libber and do not downplay the importance of the male priesthood, but this has only served to enforce in my mind that women religious and laity need more of a presence on EWTN, now more than ever.

The other day I was watching EWTN and the Friars were on and talking about the Holy Father and showing clips of World Youth Day etc. and they did show a clip of some of the Sisters (from Mother Angelic's order) speaking of the Pope and their experiences of meeting him or being in his presence. I didn't see the whole show though. Also, they have something called I believe Remembering The Holy Father in which one particular person is giving their thoughts and comments. One of the people was Alice Von Hilldebrand. So maybe there have been other women from EWTN too but I haven't come across them yet.

[snowgarden]

Oh, well...at least I can take comfort in the story I just saw on the news. When the Pope came to Rome, he was in St. Peter's Square and, while looking at the statues adorning the place, he said "Where are the women?" A huge mural of Madonna and Child were put up...they showed it on the tv screen just now...I came back here and had to laugh..."Papa, you and me think alike! Thanks for reaching out and giving me your opinion!"

[serendipity]

Originally Posted by cecelia

"Catholic" means universal, and, as such, Catholicism is a represention of our Heavenly Father who comprises all, is all, beyond all, beyond ethnicity, beyond male and female. ...Bringing into gender to suggest that there might be a lack of awareness which now needs some enlightening just creates a problem where there is none.

The lack of women's vocie demonstrates that people care very little what women think about the Pope or the role in the Church, whether they are members of the Church heirarchy, clergy, or external people serving as informants. This is a huge part of the problems with the image of women in the Church, since the Church is suppose to be universal.

I don't count the number of women present, but if I notice there are few, it means that there are next to none and it is an issue. I am not clear onf what I think about women's ordination, abut I am not advocating it.

What I do think is important is that women have been neglected by the Church, as having talents that might help it. Maybe the outside world notices this too, and that's sad that the discrepancy is so visible.

The lack of women being interviewed by people who want information about "what it means to be Catholic" or "memories of the Pope," expresses a tendency for interviewers to seek out men first and predominantly, which gives the impresion that men are some how perceived more Catholic or have more to share because of their gender.

[marcadam]

Originally Posted by serendipity

What I do think is important is that women have been neglected by the Church, as having talents that might help it. Maybe the outside world notices this too, and that's sad that the discrepancy is so visible.

Is this a joke? Walk into any random parish in the US, and ask to talk to any lay minister or director. 99 times out of 100 it will be a woman.

To take what is most likely a quirk of programming schedules and schedule conflicts and assume this is nonsense.

[Lisa N]

THey do have a lot of regularly scheduled programming that is woman oriented and woman hosted. Rosalind Moss, Joanne Benkovic and others are on every week. I imagine it's just that this is really more of a news issue and they do have male news reporters (Raymond Arroyo) and spokesmen (Marcus Grodi) What I HATE seeing is all of the dissenting women on the MSM. Yikes. Sister Joan and others who really do not speak for the Catholic church are being used as representation of the woman's viewpoint with regard to the death of the Holy Father. Rather have orthodox men than heretical women anyday.


Lisa N

[snowgarden]

Originally Posted by marcadam

Is this a joke? Walk into any random parish in the US, and ask to talk to any lay minister or director. 99 times out of 100 it will be a woman.

To take what is most likely a quirk of programming schedules and schedule conflicts and assume this is nonsense.

There have been lots of real time live broadcasts without women on EWTN. If the men could be brought in so quickly, why not a token woman? Luckily, the Main Stream Media have given lots of religious and lay women, who are faithful to the church's teachings, a chance to discuss the Pope and the Church and they have represented us well to the outside world. I just wish that non-Catholics who are flipping through the dials and pause on EWTN could see that we women are the "worker bees" of the church and have lots of thoughts and stories to tell.