A Note About EWTN

I find Marcus Grodi and his program on EWTN - JOURNEY HOME - intolerably boring. In fact, I find all of EWTN programming awfully boring, which is to say, lacking in real interest, which is further to say, irrelevant. It seems to be a case of the absolute lack-lustre of the visible church, which must include the Traditionalists, of which I count myself one. I think what makes Marcus Grodi's program particularly dull is the fact that it is so obviously a fun little ego-trip for every one of his guests. And each one is also pretty much the same. I may well have missed some spectacular stories of conversion, but, it seems to me, that a really interesting conversion story would not be at all focused on the person of the one converted, but on some great truth of faith, or of reason, that caused the conversion and dominated the life thereafter of the converted one. Take St. Paul. He was first and foremost, the Apostle to the Gentiles. The fact that he was a prominent teacher of the law, and even persecuted the Christians, was important only insofar as it prepared and lead up to his great mission as Apostle to the Gentiles.


Marcus Grodi's guests drip with sentiment, and this is exactly the element absent in the life of St. Paul, model of converts, if I may so call him. Now, I am sure I will be seen as a monster, though a little one, of PRIDE, if I compare my own conversion to that of the great St. Paul. Well, so be it. But I find my own story singularly lacking in anything akin to sentimentality or religious emotions and experiences. What there was of this... concerned other people. I could relate some very edifying stories of the holy people God placed in my pathway to strengthen my own weak faith. But I want to get to the main point and it is this: Our Lord said to Pilate in John 18:37 - "For this was I born, for this came I into the world, to give testimony of the Truth." I think that ought to be the "mission statement" of every Catholic, and especially of converts to the Catholic faith. I believe I was brought into this world to give testimony to the Truths about Creation, the First Principles of natural reason, and certain truths about literary theory and art in general. Aside from the these truths, my life is as boring as anybody else's. This may be because we live in a time when Creation, natural knowledge, and the entire truth-hierarchy of the natural order have taken a beating unlike any in the history of the world. That alone makes a witness to the Truths about Creation, not only interesting, but a case for martyrdom of one kind or another.


The 19th century was known for its polemical literature. It was scintillating with relevance and interest, because it directly dealt with the evils of the day - then termed rationalism - but really signified evolutionism. There was also a tremendous literature on the subject of Protestants and the eternal consequences of their failure to become Catholics. But today, all these very thorny issues have been defanged - (pardon the mixed metaphor). All acidic tonics have been neutralized. Thus, the intolerable boredom of all issues most relevant to our eternal salvation:

I must add that I am especially grateful to EWTN for providing the Chaplet of Saint Michael, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and the Rosary- so that those of us who are alone (in more ways than one) - may be able to recite these precious prayers in the company of other Catholics.