Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles

I am so glad that I now own a copy of this great book about an amazing woman with awe-inspiring faith. She lived as Jesus said and accomplished amazing things. All the while knowing and giving credit to Our Lord, because she knew it was His work through her actions. Terrific read!

Anyone who has surfed the television channels in the last ten years has passed over a grandmotherly woman in full religious habit - either laughing in a down-home way, speaking earnestly about the love of Jesus, or peddling piles of religious articles. The name of Mother Angelica is known to a wide swath of the American population, which is no mean feat for someone without an agent to keep a glossy visage strategically positioned in the magazine racks.Now whether you love her, hate her, or are in different would be based on your view of the Jesus Christ and His Church - the love of which together form the backbone of her worldview, the reason for her work, and the object of her total fealty since 1945. Those who believe that the true Church was founded on the apostles, that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ, and that the Magisterium is a vibrant and infallible guide to truth usually see Mother's mission in a straightforward way. They interpret her struggles as roadblocks allowed by God but stirred up by the Fallen One, her victories as God's sign of approval, and her personal suffering as her own Way of the Cross - a sign of privilege uniting her more deeply to her Spouse. On the other hand, those with another definition of "church" balk at the idea of a cloistered nun without visible oversight meddling in communications, catechesis, and the realm of the clergy. Who does she think she is? To whom is she accountable? Why can't she do things "by the book"?Raymond Arroyo, well-known to the viewers of the Eternal Word Television Network paints a thorough and unflinching portrait of this woman, born Rita Rizzo in Canton, Ohio in 1923. Although the reader may begin by being distracted by the author's own remarkable personality and relationship to the story, his gift of storytelling quickly allows him to recede into the background and for the captivating tale to unfold. There was nothing romantic about her childhood, with its backdrop of poverty, abandonment by her father, her chronic illness, and her dingy Italian ghetto. Her remaining parent was her mother, Mae - fragile, depressed, suicidal, and utterly dependent on Rita for so many things.Arroyo allows the poignant saga to breathe forth - through ordinary life, struggles, insults, brokenness, and shards of god-light at every turn. There are two distinct treasures that flow from these pages. First, one is privy to the enormous transformation in this woman that took place over the decades; and secondly, one can see how God can work miracles with any willing instrument. To look at the former, one must consider the steady, consistent steps taken over the months, the years, and the decades. The Rizzo's were not a believing pair - yet they found deep faith. They never had a traditional home, yet Mother became one of the most visible advocates of Pope John Paul II's writings on the family. Mother joined a convent and was convinced for years that it needed innovations to add relevance, yet decades later she would reject those very notions and reintroduce the most time-honoured traditions as a source of theological stability.To look at the second angle, the magnificence of God in this story, one is brought to Our Lady's Magnificat: "The Almighty has done great things for me ... He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly." Young Rita - already infirm in her youth - suffers more physical setbacks over the course of her life. Deprived of a father's love, maternal affection, and any semblance of good health, God nourishes her soul with Divine Love while allowing her physical capacity to come and go. She experiences miracles of healing, of meeting exorbitant financial needs, and of allowing souls to be touched through her apostolate. For her part, she placed no limits on God, repeatedly seeing just what He could do - especially in the creation of EWTN despite her tremendous inadequacies.The reader is winded just following the afflictions, the injuries, the physical deterioration, and the personal attacks, and yet amidst them witnesses the growth of Mother's little apostolate into the worldwide communications network, defying both business protocols and human logic. Most painful is the bitter acrimony between the fiery nun - in love with Christ and dedicated to spreading the Gospel - and her own bishops who could not fathom such audacity and "narrowness."One easily calls to mind the greatest of saints - Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila - who stepped outside the normal confines of their vocation to be the prophets God called at critical historical junctures, and it is in this term "prophet" that the disparate definitions of the Church (offered at the outset) must be weighed. Surely she was without oversight, surely she spoke her mind - wryly, but even recklessly at times, and surely she undertook a mission directed by a Voice reserved for her alone. Whatever legitimate concerns the bishops may have had were belied by a rancor and vindictiveness, which makes it nearly impossible for the reader to imagine an authentic desire on their part to share her endeavor. Additionally, according to this well-documented account, her own shepherds revealed a remarkable insipidness towards guarding the deposit of faith, ultimately perceiving the network as more of a threat than a gift. Frustrated, wounded, and even heartsick at times, Mother Angelica remained faithful to her mission and filled a gaping spiritual void with EWTN's solid programming and access to the Universal Church.As we idly flip the remote, past the network built on faith, determination, and miracles, it is so easy to take it for granted. With hundreds of stations, why shouldn't there be one dedicated sharing to the Catholic faith? How big a deal is it, really? Now we know the price Mother Angelica paid for that spot - it was only every ounce of strength since she took her vows, a total oblation of one saucy bride for the Bridegroom she cherished, and Who accepted the gift of both EWTN and Rita Rizzo on the altar of sacrifice.[...]

A real page turning book.

Anyone who still believes that the Catholic Church holds women down and doesn't allow them to reach their full potential needs to read this book.Most Catholics have at least heard of Mother Angelica, the feisty cloistered nun who founded EWTN, the global Catholic television network. What most people don't know is the incredible litany of trials, difficulties, near financial ruin, and near-death experiences she overcame, through the grace of God, in order to do what most considered impossible. In her own words, "Sometimes we must do the ridiculous so that God can do the miraculous."And indeed, what Mother has accomplished in her lifetime would be, according to convention wisdom, ridiculous. The child of a broken home, who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Canton, OH, Mother Angelica heard the call of Almighty God after receiving a miraculous cure of a chronic stomach ailment through the prayers of a mystic named Rhoda Wise. From such humble beginnings, Mother joined the Poor Clares of the Blessed Sacrament, a contemplative order, and by a combination of inspiration, pluck, and tenacity, became the foundress of a new monastery in Birmingham, AL. While building her monastery, Mother became aware of the awesome power of television to bring the word of Christ to large numbers of people. When shown a television studio in Chicago in the late 1970s, Mother reportedly said, "I've got to have one of these." Twenty years later, she was running a Catholic cable network that reached millions upon millions of households across the globe-as well as a short-wave radio network. At the same time, Mother was also the hostess of one of the most popular programs on her TV network.Though she started out as a thoroughly "progressive" nun, fully engaged in the deep changes brought about by Vatican II, Mother soon became disillusioned with the "Spirit of Vatican II" which went far beyond the original intent of the Council. What seemed to finally drive her over the edge was the faddish mania for "gender inclusive" translation in prayers, liturgy, and even sacred scripture. When, as part of the Pope's visit to Denver for World Youth Day in 1993, EWTN was duped into airing a Way of the Cross procession-done in mime with a woman playing the part of Jesus-Mother had finally had enough. On her live program the next night, she issued a passionate denunciation of the event, saying, "I'm so tired of you, liberal church in America....You don't have vocations and you don't even care-your whole purpose is to destroy."This event was not Mother Angelica's first tussle with Catholic hierarchy in America, but it made her a marked woman. From that point on, Mother was in the sights of certain American bishops who were keen to either drive her off the air, or take over the network she had built outright. However, she had powerful allies on her side, both in Rome, and in America. Her salvoes against the liberal dominated National Council of Catholic Bishops made her an instant heroine to the most devout Catholic laity. Meanwhile, she received encouragement from none other than Pope John Paul II himself.The truth of the matter, as is plain to see, is that EWTN has survived and thrived despite the actions of some of the most liberal American bishops. Roger Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles comes out looking particularly petty and vindictive in this book during his incessant attempts to extract an on-air apology from Mother for basically calling one of his teaching documents heretical and encouraging her viewers not to listen to him. While Mother's offense may have stepped over the line in terms of the obedience Catholics owe to their bishops, many felt that her criticism was valid and a long-time coming.Written by Raymond Arroyo, host of EWTN's news magazine program, The World Over, Live, "Mother Angelica" pulls few punches and is an inspiring and loving examination of the life, warts and all, of one of the truly great women in Catholic history. It is highly recommended to anyone who truly believes that through faith in God, men and women can move mountains.

Informative and thought provoking.

I am halfway finished and very happy with this book, which was recommended by a friend. I have learned so much about this courageous sister!

This is a fascinating account of a true counter-cultural figure and Raymond Arroyo puts all his journalistic verve to good use in bringing his subject to life. Where this account is strong is in the depictions of a courageous woman of extraordinarily powerful faith in whose life there is a blending of the sorrowful and the miraculous. Her faith, her utter conviction and her impassioned defence of a church she saw under attack is little short of inspiring but, though Arroyo doesn’t draw too much attention to it, there are less than saintly qualities here too. Beside the fiery temperament (not helped by steroidal use in later years), Angelica’s judgement is sometimes questionable at best; bringing a vulnerable, volatile and clingy mother into the cloister when she clearly had no vocation and was temperamentally unsuited to monastic life being the prime example. While sometimes she is a champion of orthodoxy, at other times she seems merely petulant and unreasonable like the kind of old school protestants who used to chain up swings on Sundays so children couldn’t play on the sabbath. Her initial antagonism to the charismatic movement and her dislike of centering prayer both sprang from uninformed bias although her later (and by this time experience based) reservations about possible misuses of the former were wise and considered. She’s certainly no Fulton Sheen and for a woman of limited mobility, she had no problems jerking a knee! Arroyo of course is largely uncritical to the extent that he labours the role of Christ as Angelica’s Spouse in the text as if it was an honour peculiar to her rather than all professed nuns.Angelica’s faults don’t make her any less holy, they make her more human and many of them with characteristic forthrightness and honesty Angelica herself would freely admit to. When she called it wrong in the eyes of the Holy See ( on the subject of female altar servers) she accepted this with good grace and obedience to the Pope, qualities that are noticeably missing from some who now claim to be her spiritual children. Her anti-racism, her compassion for the suffering and her total lack of self-pity when she was afflicted by so many physical ailments are heroic. Her relationship with the Eucharist, and her insistence on the Presence is devout and profound.There are tantalising glimpses of Angelica’s life that the book could have benefitted from exploring further; her relationships with Rhoda Wise or the more shadowy Paola Albertini or why her original dream of a black apostolate in Alabama (extraordinary given the place and times) failed to materialise. Instead we concentrate on the battles with bishops and on EWTN, the broadcasting phenomenon that made Angelica the voice of Catholicism for many Americans ,and here a shadow falls upon the pages.While EWTN belonged to Angelica, Angelica now belongs to EWTN and it in turn it belongs to faceless media tycoons who are turning it from pious to partisan, loyal to openly disobedient and thoroughly infected with party politics and money. Her decision to give it over to corporate America may well have been her greatest misjudgement. The fact that terminology from political discourse is now used indiscriminately to discuss religious differences as if they were the same thing ( liberal v conservative) only conflates this politics = religion toxicity that is corrupting both to the extent that any racist philanderer who pays his girlfriends to abort their children need only hold a bible in his tiny hands publicly to be thought a hero of the faith. Whatever the views of those who are now using Angelica’s legacy, I think they know deep down what she’d have to say about that and will be glad she’s not here to say it.

The book did arrive.I have not wasted my time. I'm looking forward to reading about this Lady because recently i did not realise she had passed away. 4 years previous...I was watching her on TV aswell. So i looked back in time to understand why & when. Then felt the need to read her Book. If you want to read you see her as a spiritual guidance with wise words of Truth.. Hope you get to know her well. Now she's else where completeing another task...Happy Christmas 2020

How I love this book, well recommended to anyone who would like some insight into the making of a religious person. The book gives a good insight to the everyday life of the making of a good Nun. Not what you would expect; it's not dull. Well recommended. Cheers Mother Angelica you are a tonic.

Bought to pass on to friends as was a really good, interesting and inspiring read.

Really enjoyed reading about this remarkable woman, details from her childhood to her run-ins with some of the hirearchy in the Church. Book arrived in excellent condition in a couple of days.