EWTN Family Celebration, Canton, OH, 2010 - Raymond Arroyo

Raymond Arroyo is an internationally recognized award-winning journalist producer and New York Times bestselling author he has in the past work for the Associated Press and as a Capitol Hill correspondent in addition to anchoring all of the papal coverage for us at EWTN of course the recent excellent coverage that we had of the Pope's visit to the UK and other high-profile international Catholic events which take place throughout the world ray has also been a guest on many secular news programs like The Today Show Good Morning America featured on Fox News and on CNN and is a regular participant in Laura Ingraham show on radio ray has written multiple articles for magazines such as Newsweek The Wall Street Journal newspaper The Washington Times the Financial Times and and other Catholic publications as well now of course we all know him really as the host and creator of our own EWTN award-winning international news magazine the world over live and of course highlights from the world over including Raymond's exclusive landmark interview with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger shortly before his election as Pope Benedict the 16th in addition and in many ways so important Raymond is the noted biographer of the New York Times bestseller Mother Angelica the remarkable story of a nun her nerve and a network of miracles and this is her Network we're celebrating today as well as mother the editor of mother Angelica's little book of life lessons also every day spirituality mother Angelica's private and pithy lessons from the scriptures and last but not least in fact it's the latest and one you should pick up the prayers and personal devotions of Mother Angelica and of course Raymond we'll be around if you'd like to get one of those books signed by him this afternoon and I would go to say that Raymond Arroyo is a Catholic media maven engaging the culture of the world over all it is seen and unseen and in between and what all that means and now direct from the John Paul to Center in Washington DC live it's Raymond Arroyo good morning great to see you oh thank you it's very kind of it's nice to see so many of you I when I drove up and saw everybody having their cheeseburgers outside I thought I'll never get them inside but I want to tell you in to echo what Doug said a moment ago I come to honor Mother Angelica not to bury her too many people I think you can applaud there has been some a little bit of confusion I think because of the nature of what we're doing here this is this is a celebration of mother's life and legacy it is by no means the final word on that life and legacy and a lot of reporters this week have called me were you there when mother passed away what did she what were her last words did she say anything I said what are you talking about I just saw the woman last week anyway I will tell you all about that a little later but she is alive and well you can take it from me I want to start with something that I suppose seems apparent it all began here in Canton Ohio in southeast panic in South East Canton to be specific on April 20th 1923 it was here that a little plump Italian girl had her first appearance and that appearance would alter the history of the country and the world and the church Rita Antoinette Rizzo came into the world forgotten but not entirely ignored you know when my biography of Mother Angelica was first released a novelist friend of mine read the manuscript and he said you know what I love about the book he said I love that this incredible figure came from this forgotten American Hamlet where no one was looking for greatness he said it reminded me of another dusty city named Bethlehem and I think that's that's right there's something there now some might be tempted to rush ahead and focus on the media empire that Mother Angelica founded on the religious orders she began on the teachings that have touched people all over the world but if you'll indulge her biographer for a moment I'd like to back up a little bit I'd like to take things a little earlier and offer my own tribute to mother by focusing on what I like to call the kanten years because it's my belief that all that followed everything she would become everything she would give the world had its origin and its foundation right here in this place it all began here Mother Angelica grew up just off Cherry Street not too far from here now this was at the time Canton's red-light district it was a notorious district distinguished by gangland violence racketeering joints roving prostitutes this nun did not grow up in Mayberry and that's a good thing thank God because she absorbed at a very early age and she didn't forget the lessons she would learn on those streets her grandfather Anthony Gian Francesco owned a saloon at the corner of Liberty and 11th Street 11th Street is just out the door here mother told me this wonderful story she said I couldn't have been more than four or five and my grandfather didn't want me in the saloon so he gave me a little mug of beer with a big collar on it and this is during Prohibition incidentally okay and he said go out to the curb there and enjoy yourself so I'm out there I'm eating my pretzels I'm drinking my beer and up comes the Salvation Army Band well they're praying all kinds of Psalms over this fallen child they're beating their drums and singing they must have thought what a scene this was his kid drinking beer in front of a saloon and I remember yelling up to my grandfather hey grandpa there's a band down here little Rita literally had a front-row seat at humanity unvarnished human nature at its rawest form the good the bad and occasionally the very ugly and if you thought mother Angelica's family was a kind of retiring sober pious lot think again her mother Mae was a tempestuous emotionally fragile manically depressed woman she had a will of iron mother angelica told me how Mae Rizzo on one occasion began prowling the house looking for a gun to shoot her mother-in-law I'm not making this up you didn't want to get on her bad side I tell you now Mae's marriage to John Rizzo mother Angelica's father quickly deteriorated he abandoned his wife and child and began dating women around now at the time this was considered scandalous today it would get you a talk-show but at the time and even today to most of us this is scandal this scent may result watching her husband run around with these other women sent her right over the edge it turned little Rita into an adult far before her tongue she became the emotional crutch for her mother the support suddenly this child became the rock of the family Rita became the mother of the house May's greatest cheerleader and defender and before you judge her too harshly there are a couple of things you should know about Mae Rizzo and again it's the way in which God lairs and creates and shapes a life Mae Rizzo everyone I interviewed told me she was a dazzling storyteller she could hold people in thrall for hours with her stories she would just spin these things came naturally to him I believe her daughter probably inherited the gene I've never seen anybody in the history of television because they don't exist that does an hour of television two hours a week with absolutely no script at all this was all extemporary when you when you see those Mother Angelica live shows she would sit in the chair three minutes before she came out she'd flip open the Bible where we can talk about tonight oh yeah that's good and the show just came out I believe she got a little bit of that from a Rizzo she she I believe also learned something else from her mother her mother was an entrepreneur when John Rizzo walked out on the family Mae Rizzo started a dry-cleaning business she started a tailor shop and Rita was right there next to her delivering clothes bundling clothes wrapping them up making deliveries getting receipts so she learned all of that and you see how mother Angelica's understanding of heartache her entrepreneurial spirit her way with a story it all began here something else emerged from young Rita and her time here in Canton pain and suffering you can imagine what Rita was going through her mother was a basket case the father is gone she's not doing well in school at all it was a trial and all of his created stomach abnormalities she was very nervous and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her stomach they finally diagnosed her with pitocin of the stomach a fallen stomach searching for relief Rita's mother took her to the home of a local mystic here in Canton Ohio Rhoda wise according to the papers and wives herself she saw Jesus st. Torrez of lassoo they would literally walk into her bedroom and converse with her she experienced the healing as a result of that interaction she also on fridays would bleed from her hands in her head and her feet she was a stigmatise every Friday during Lent she would bleed hundreds would come to see her to get a glimpse of her stigmata to talk with her to have her pray for them and Rita also went seeking a cure she went reluctantly though she didn't have much faith she told me that she really only went because her mother was so excited about it and anything that would please her mother Rita was happy to comply with so she went along now wise did not touch Rita she didn't lay hands on her she'd merely instructed her to pray a 9-day novena and asked st. Teresa bless you for healing they all prayed the prayer nine days later she woke up and she was fine the stomach was cured this was a pivotal event because it revealed God's love for little Rita it was the first time she realized that there was a father in heaven if not on earth who cared about her intensely loved her and was watching personally after her welfare it would change her life and shortly after that perhaps at that moment she fell madly in love with God with our Lord and desired to be with him to enter a religious community now I mentioned Rhoda wise for a couple of reasons she was the first person who showed Mother Angelica she didn't tell her she showed her that pain could redeem that pain though not welcome could be used by God for infinite good and that sometimes this is how God deals with his beloved ones that suffering offered up to God could provide provide astounding results and that lesson stuck this poor woman brought awhile she went through hell terrible terrible surge repeated surgeries on her abdomen exposed wounds then she had a little time where she thought she was out of the woods things were getting better she goes to a Christmas party with her husband and falls into an open drain and rips her leg open which becomes infected I mean a woman it was one disastrous occurrence after another one physical cross after another and yet this is the instrument that God would use to I think reveal to so many but particularly to this young girl to Rita Rizzo that Christ's passion was real that Christ Himself was not a concept or a theory or a picture but a reality a living reality a God who moved through the lives of his people and could be seen and felt she had never experienced anything quite like Rhoda wise before she would never forget this lesson Rhoda wise also if you think about it she's the first person that Mother Angelica comes in contact with who claimed divine communication so it would be perfectly normal for her as she got went on in life to converse with Jesus directly to feel his presence directly at times mother to said she saw the baby Jesus she saw God in various incarnations saints and angels it familiarized her with this mystical appreciation and spirituality that otherwise would have been deprived to her there's something else about Rhoda that I was thinking of as I passed the house the other day you have to go back to the 1930s and 40s and realize there were hundreds and hundreds of people packing into that house particularly on good Fridays during Lent I've seen the pictures they're just mobs of people outside the house and they would stream in and Miss wise would sit on a chair and Rita would sit next to her she watched how Rhoda dealt with an adoring public people who wanted to touch and feel and be prayed for the way she cared and and took time with each person these two were lessons I believe Mother Angelica consciously or unconsciously absorbed and in later life put into use I can remember many a night after the live show with her when she was bone tired I mean the woman had the braces and running around the network in her monastery and backed out to the network at night she'd do the live show she was just exhausted she had been up since 5:00 she didn't sleep particularly well and I remember one evening all the people who had seen the show she met with everyone in the room in the studio but there was another couple of bus groups that were watching in another building and we went up a side door and her car was there and she was about to get into the car and I said well go ahead now because you know the bus is coming do you want to you know ever he's gonna see you they've got all excited go go now you're tired and she sat down in the car and then the bus pulled up and people were beating on the windows of waving and they wanted to see her the doors of the bus come open people start streaming out it's ten o'clock at night and I said we'll go ahead close you know go ahead she put her hand up on the rim of the car and pulled herself up she said they've come a long way they're tired we'll go see him I said you've come a long way you're tired you need to go home but she didn't she stayed she sat on the hood of that car and signed autographs and took pictures and prayed with people for another hour and again it's testament to her consideration her kindness her understanding her heart for the people the people who had come not to see her to see what God had done with her I think she's a witness we'll talk about that a little bit following following this healing Rita fell madly in love with God and you know how love is it's sudden it's uncontrollable it's overwhelming and it was like that it was a thunderclap in the life of this girl totally transformed her she trusted him completely she allowed his Providence to take her places she never imagined she was working at the time at the Timken roller bearing company here in town in the ad Department curiously enough she did layouts commercials she knew how to sell products these two would be important lessons foundations that she would need for the mission that God would call it to later in life you see how the pieces start coming together in this life it's the same with all of us we don't often stand back far enough to take a peek and see but you see how God puts all of these little pieces into place and his design becomes manifest becomes clear privately she'd begun begun a regimen of praying the ways of the Cross at Saint Anthony's Church at Sacred Heart Parish here in town she would receive her vocation there she would eventually make the decision to enter a monastery there in 1944 of August she would enter that monastery it all began here and it wasn't easy it wasn't easy for me to leave her mother they were very close she was an enormous support system for her mother so she wrote a letter to May she dropped it had it delivered to the house as she boarded a bus for Cleveland Ohio to enter the monastery there well you can imagine her mother went to pieces but she felt she had to go as she told me once once I get an inspiration I never questioned it I know myself and I believe if God wants it he has a plan if you're following God he never shows you the end and it's always a walk of faith Franciscan virtue is to follow the Providence of God and God's providence goes as far as you go that's the scary thing about it if you don't go he won't go and go she did eventually a new monastery sprang up here in Canton Ohio Santa Clara Mother Angelica sister Angelica then would be its founding member but cloistered life was not always smooth you know we had these rosy pictures of what claw if only I could live in a cloister how perfect it would be let me tell you as the sisters here can attest it's really a microcosm of the world in there you know it's all the same difficulties foibles human struggles confusion personality conflicts it's just you're all confined together you know I'm gonna read you this little excerpt I came across this the other day I haven't read it in years and it made me laugh but it gives you it illustrates what life was like in the monastery of Santa Clara at the time I want to say at the time because I don't want the nuns there now to think I'm talking about them I'm not this is the ninth 1947 okay through the makeshift wooden grille in the O'Dea living room John O'Day on the house that was donated to the nuns that was a chapel it was turned into a chapel Mae Francis who was mother Angelica's mother wrote a wise and other guests watched the nuns gather on the cloister side of the chapel sister Angelica knelt adapt read you her head piously Bend she was about to take her first profession in the monastery sieve her habit intruding on the peace the choir director Mary of the Cross began heatedly arguing music technique with her sister organist voices slowly escalated suddenly the two nuns were at each other the organist refusing to play Mary of the Cross threatening to toss her into the snow if she didn't and I'm sitting there trying to recollect myself from my vows Mother Angelica told me the people must have thought we were nuts the nuns returned to their corner the organist resuming her somber melody and Mary of the Cross taking her place at the parade new moments later a bug scampered across the floor of the chapel Mary of the Cross rose up lifted the kneeler with both hands and pounded the ground attempting to annihilate the bug like a madwoman with a jackhammer she repeatedly wielded the prayed you hurling it and herself at the crawler the organist thinking this an underhanded critique of her playing pounded louder on the keys sister Angelica could not believe which she termed the shenanigans she was witnessing then the bishop walked in sopping wet and complaining about his car which had stalled several blocks away in the snow the Bishop requested a change of socks the Abbess instructed sister Angelica to go fetch him a pair when she returned to her place at the opening of the grill the bishop laid a fitting crown of thorns atop the head of sister Angelica then she go then he goes to put the wedding ring on you know they put the ceremonial wedding ring on their hands and the ring didn't fit on her finger this is the way of Mother Angelica tempestuous funny dramatic a little painful there were emotional strains and there were also physical ones sister Angelica found it hard to walk she was in and out of the hospital in the early 1950s which is something I discovered in working on the book attraction that minor surgeries they tried everything they could she was cheap she was beginning to double over and couldn't stand erect she told me later I've been sick all my life I don't remember a day I haven't been sick with something I think our dear Lord's hand was on me though I've had cross after cross after cross from the earliest time I can remember but it kept me dependent on the Lord's to do whatever he asked me to do the pain was a safety for me because I could never give myself credit for anything accomplished it's a protection it's like a shield for me in 1953 her dance with pain and Providence and God's will resumed she was scrubbing a floor in the Canton monastery right over here 1953 one of the nuns a Joan Frank who's here I think she's here today she was in the monastery at the time and cleaning the floor with mother instead of putting the the soap on you know a little bit she decided to hit the whole floor with soap then she brought this scrubber out and went across the floor and it's spun out of control and slammed her against the wall and it irritated a spinal defect making it impossible for her to walk and she was forced to undergo surgery in 1956 and it was a pretty serious heard they were fusing the spine together because it was the only way for her to you know to be erect in the hospital bed the doctor came in and said there's a good chance you won't walk again there's a 50/50 chance that this may not work and in her panic in her desperation she made a deal with God she said if you let me walk again how build a monastery to your honor in the south now she did walk again with the aid of crutches and a brace that ran down her back in both legs leading her to comment later when you make a deal with God be very specific and you should be you know all of this almost didn't happen all it almost didn't happen you know what we later discovered and those of you read the book know the reason she went down to Birmingham Alabama she wanted to pray for the racial situation there to bring the racial tensions down she'd been reading about the unrest the bombings happening they called it bombing ham at the time so she wanted to be a vimana steri in the midst of all of that and bring blacks and whites together to have an interracial monastery that was the first vision didn't pan out that way but that was that's the reason she went to that particular spot but none of this almost happened EWTN her monastery all of us together today is this almost didn't occur at all because in 1956 when she raised the possibility of building a monastery in the South another sister sister Mary of the cross of the stamping pray do that one wanted to start her own monastery in Minnesota so you have this stalemate the Abbess decided to set up a contest he's at each of she said each of you write your bishop you in Minnesota you in Birmingham and whoever writes back first that sister may begin work on a foundation she sent the letter up and thankfully hers came back first mother was cute when she told me about the way it came in she said Oh mine got there about four days before hers now as you can imagine this did not make relations happy and peaceful in Santa Clara but mother took it in stride as she would throughout her life she said I'm not here to win friends and influence people I'm here to do God's will now the accomplishment of that will if that bugs some people well that's their problem I like that philosophy sisters who were there at the time remember a bubbly vivacious Angelica a young nun who was as funny as she was industrious she was always into something always building and leading and moving new projects we got to rebuild the wall we've got to fix this up we got to redo the pipes we'll do this we'll do that a doer a captivating storyteller as well someone able to inspire young women young novices particularly a band of emotionally tender novices who we're having a tough time with the rigidity of life then she understood those who were emotionally fragile those who needed a little help she had a lot of training taking care of Mae Rizzo her mother it shows you again the way God works how he shapes how he molds in 1958 her Abbess wanted her to erect a grotto to Our Lady in the back yard of the monastery and Angelica got right to work she picked up the phone and solicited help from all quarters everybody she knew contractors builders people who were into brick called everybody no one would help her so she went to her Abbess and she said Mother Abbess I I know I know some other people who might be able to help and that was I don't care who you call just get it done get them get the work done so she picked up the phone and she called a pool hall in South East Canton over here she got a fellow on the line and say hey when did you get out of jail that was the beginning the opener and she said look I'm having a little trouble down here I need some of the boys to come help me and they did they came out now look people say oh look at this she's consorting with these terrible people she's you know some have even suggested I heard in recent days some foolish person said oh the Mafia helped her build everything she built oh please please I'm gonna read you a little story that's cute she did call the head of the syndicate here in Canton whose name shall remain nameless because I value my life and hey I'm IMing Sicilian so I know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna out my people but um he she said she called the head of the local syndicate and she said she wanted she needed $600 for hemlock trees she wanted to line the path of this grotto and he said all right I'll write you a check for it she said no no I don't want you to do that I want you to get checks from all the boys and give them to me and I'm gonna put their names on a piece of parchment I'm gonna roll it up and I'm gonna put it inside the statue of Our Lady he said are you nuts oh you can't do that and she said nobody's gonna see it's gonna be buried in concrete like you're gonna be one of these days if you don't straighten up the mob boss said nothing see what you can do she said and she placed a Sacred Heart badge in his pocket few days later the limo pulls up he gets out and gives her a stack of checks and he asked her and this is key she said or he said rather do you really want people like me to buy these trees and she said yes I do I need people like you to buy these trees so that one day if you're in a lot of trouble you'll remember the Lord and you'll remember his mother there is nothing wrong you know I I get a little impatient when I hear some of this stuff Mother Angelica weather over the television airwaves or in her personal life made Redemption and Christ's promise available to all people no matter who they were particularly those who were struggling and had no other outlet somebody else did the same thing he was also criticized for running around with fornicators and tax collectors and terrible people it's the one Mother Angelica follows this is part of the mission of the church to reach out to those who are truly suffering lost if you can't put a hand out to them what are you doing we're not here to make the saved feel good it's it's about throwing that safety line out and that's what she's done for all these years where there's a little girl or in her personal life or later via television all these experiences would serve her well when she sat in front of that television camera when she looked into that lens and she spoke unscripted all those many years she understood the heartache she understood the confusion she understood the the strains and the blessings that the working people were encountering each day people like us she was street smart street savvy she spoke the language of the street language that she picked up right here on the streets of can Jesus in the book of Matthew says because you have so little faith I tell you the truth if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move here to there and it will move nothing will be impossible for you that is what Mother Angelica had the faith of a mustard seed tiny but it has grown these many many decades it has grown and that seed has now become this great towering tree whose limbs reach up to heaven and it cast long shadows shadows that cover her friends her former co-workers her community millions around the world who only know her image and voice even though she hasn't spoken publicly for almost a decade that is the power of faith faith one afternoon she told me my life has been a life of faith and I believe in my heart that I know when Jesus asks me to do something I have to do it I only have to try to do whatever he asks of me he is the one who leads the way and he moves one step at a time that's why when people ask how'd you get this Network I always say it evolved it was never planned it was an act of God our witness is the total Providence of God this work evolved as long as we kept up with God and the work of Mother Angelica continues to evolve today to this very hour though she resigned from active leadership in 2001 her apostolate EWTN and the vision she had to provide light to those in darkness hope to those lost in a cycle of hopelessness that goes on you know I saw her a few weeks ago I'm happy to report she was communicative she was happy she was still the spunky saucy number i've come to know and love she's sitting up and and she has a joy and a radiance about her and I've said that before but you know when someone is confined to a room one room for any period of time there is and if you've been around people who've been ill you can see them sort of retreat from life you know there this veil drops they they become disinterested she happily bears none of those marks she is remarkably engaged and focused and intensely aware I think and concerned about what's going on about people who are visiting about the lives of her sisters and the community and that's wonderful to see you know as I left the other day I when I when I left her room my attention fell on the picture there's kind of mustard colored crude painting that once hung in Rota wises house it's Jesus with the crown of forms it's a close-up of Jesus and now it hangs over mother Angelica's bed and I thought as I was coming here to Canton there's a physical reminder of all that went before the pains the joys the blessings the spirituality that she learned here on the streets of can it's like the circle is coming all the way around again and I thought then no matter where you are no matter where you're born it all begins there as well God has a plan the thrilling example of mother Angelica's life can be yours as well each of us has the opportunity to reach the heights were shaped for if we take the time to listen to God's promptings if we take the moment to be sensitive to his will in each present moment if we have the guts to move forward and risk losing everything for that vision and that faith Mother Angelica did all that and much much more the legacy of Mother Angelica is larger than this network or even what she accomplished here in camp when I asked her what she believed her legacy was she said it was her foundation her sisters and the foundations she hoped they would go on to create and raise in her stead all over the country and the world that is happening for the rest of us I believe the legacy of Mother Angelica can be summed up in her famous line do the ridiculous so God can do the miraculous hers is an example of stubborn faith radical trust in God and a belief that no matter what happens God is with us he's watching he cares deeply it's central not only to mother Angelica's story it's central to our story as well and it is true as I've been sounding throughout this speech it does truly all begin here here in each of us now wherever we are I hope you'll embrace that challenge I hope you'll embrace her amazing witness and it's a witness that goes on and on in silence whether we see it or not and she is something to behold and God bless her thank you all for coming out today thank you for giving me a little of your time thank you oopsie it's very kind of you thank you and I know she'll be watching this so watch your questions no nasty questions anybody who has a question just come up in the middle of the aisle there's a there's a microphone you got to come out I can I can hear you because I have super life Superman like hearing but the other people and anybody else who has a question just line up in the middle there yes sir I heard there was a strange miracle that occurred when Mother Angelica needed the antenna in the early 80s so actually was 1978 Mother Angelica was trying to buy a satellite dish the big honker satellite I feel like there's an assassin up here in the stands it's disconcerting when you're on stage and you hear popping in the distance and you're me you know and I just invoked the mob and Canton I don't want to I don't No No you're free right you went through their metal detector and everything you're okay yeah I'm not Glenn Beck I don't wear a bulletproof anything I'm clean I got the Angels watching me that's that's it anyway she was looking for satellite dish and and and these things were very expensive I think it was one point five million dollars is something to buy one of these things very expensive at the time and she could not find anyone to send her a satellite dish so she finally got a list of all the executives at RCA which made were the makers of this de satellite and she went down the list and she was looking for any name that ended in a I or Oh an Italian whose arms she could twist hey you got to work with the people you know she finds a VP she gets him on the phone and he told me he said I felt like Joe Frazier in the 13th round with this woman on the phone because he picks up hello hello who's this smaller Angelica I'm down in Birmingham Alabama I'm so happy to talk to you I'm building a Catholic television network in that awesome uh-huh great what can I do what can I do for you well that's why I'm calling I need your help well what kind of help do you need but you know you make those dishes those great big dishes I need one of those and he said yeah well they're several million dollars I assume the other so I mean do you have you have collateral for this thing well that's why I'm calling you sweetheart he said well III don't know what I can do for you I can't give you the money what are you asking but well we got to work on faith you could send the satellite and then you know we can work something out so he kind of mmm turned this over and remarkably he said he just felt defeated because she wouldn't get off the phone he said look love Lulu bye I'm going to I'm going to send I'll authorize the delivery of this thing but let me tell you you must have a down payment of six hundred thousand dollars on the day of delivery do you understand that yes can you get that kind of money the Lord can do anything she hangs up the phone three wait yeah whoo and chose to you the next part of the story ladies one over here so we haven't even finished day of the delivery comes here comes the flatbed truck they're bringing out the satellite dishes all the equipment oh she is beaming happy on the crutches she's practically dancing out to the delivery truck they the guy gets out the first thing is where's Mother Angelica she comes overhead no he says we need a down payment for the before I can move any of this the order the shipping order here says I got to have a down payment of six hundred thousand dollars I need that check in hand do you have that now sweetheart have you had been to a monastery before let me take you on a little tour come on let's go she tours him all around she's plying him with cannolis anything to stall she doesn't have one red dime nada nothing nothing so after this doing this dance for about 20 minutes she goes toward the chapel and she says you wait here just one second I'll be right there she goes into the chapel she kneels down she looks up at the Blessed Sacrament her Lord you husband's will recognize this approach well your satellites out front you wanted the satellite it's out front now the man needs to be paid she's your satellite I didn't want this thing you wanted it so now you're gonna have to pay for it I guess and I guess she waited for the money to fall from the ceiling which did not happen that day so she went out to turn the delivery away and this is a wonderful thing about mother and her whole approach to spirituality she would push and push and push like a Navy fleet but when that door closed when she felt there was no further that she could push she dropped it would totally drop it so at that moment she decided I'm gonna go turn this delivery away she goes out she's telling the man look I don't have the money you're gonna have to turn one of the nuns comes running over from the monastery she's his mother there's a man on the phone he won't get off the phone please come take this call he's called repeatedly we can't pray and he won't let us eat he's been calling and calling and calling he says he needs to talk to and he needs to talk to you right now you must come over and talk to him please it's an emergency he's going on and on and Jesus Mary and Joseph sister I got big business here she says mother please just take this call it'll be real fast oh just give me a minute she tells the delivery man she goes into the monastery she picks up the phone remember at the time mother was printing these little mini books they were just a little pamphlets on the religious life well one of these got into the possession of this business man he was calling from his yacht in the Bahamas this little mini book had helped him reconcile with his family get off of drugs and he decided at that point that he wanted to donate something to this little nuns book ministry so he was calling to make a donation of $600,000 what well she hears this can you send it right now she says he wired the money into the account that day I saw the receipt myself that is the money that was the down payment for the satellite that to this moment beams EWTN all over North and South America and a testament to her deep faith to the very very end that's the story yes sir I know you got a good great sense of humor so if he could tell a nice story I know it was in your book and you mention it when he met the Holy Father John Paul and when Mother Angelica met the holy when mother met the Holy Father could you tell us something but you know maybe underneath what what did she receive or what did John Paul the interaction the dynamic or how did it help her maybe with her ministry well he was very fond of mother as you know and she made a couple of visits to see him they were all they were all very tender visits mother I think was deeply touched by his sort of paternal affection for her and commented to me often how you know how fatherly he was how tender he was you see in that picture huh you know the sweet look on her she looks like a little Rita Rizzo that picture sweet but he had great you know affection for him and I think one of the highlights of her life mother was not much for honors didn't you know care for all the worldly things but I think one of the great things that she did treasure is when he told her mother Angelica's strong woman strong woman the faith and oh that made her day so no he was very supportive of the work of EWTN and and and more importantly the vision that only now if you go back as I have and you look at the articles written in the 80s even into the 90s about Mother Angelica the kalam needs the name taken in vain in so many parlance of the church deriving her as some lunatic for wearing her habit for insisting on Eucharistic Adoration reverence for the Lord in the mass the liturgical purity consistent with what the Vatican had been teaching in town from time amaura immemorial she was derided for that now we see in the flowering of these beautiful orders mother Sumpter's order the Nashville Dominicans the contemplatives all over the world Franciscan Order I just learned up here in northern Ohio you see young women coming and men they want to do the right thing and largely they are led whether they realize it or not the space that they now occupy in the church was carved out fought over and created by mother Mary Angelica the reason I'm surviving and I believe this network is surviving is because of her prayers sufferings and oblations offered in Hanceville Alabama to this moment you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 9,343

Rating: 4.9058824 out of 5

Keywords: EWTN Family Celebration, Canton, OH, 2010 Raymond Arroyo, Catholic

Id: 19NMNru5ZCI

Length: 50min 5sec (3005 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 20 2010