7 August 2005

EWTN Live


After the McWane Center we visited EWTN. EWTN stands for Eternal Word Television Network and has a huge operation spreading Catholic programming via Satellite television, radio and the Internet. You can watch EWTN TV via the internet for free and the children like watching the children's programming on weeknights at 4:00pm (in Sydney it would be at 6:00pm) and on Saturday mornings from 9:00am to 11:30am (Sydney it is only 6:00pm to 7:00pm). The children do not always get to watch the shows, but they do learn a lot of faith related material in an entertaining format when they do.
They enjoy "Adventures in Odyssey" and lots of special shows and segments including one called "Hey Brother Leo!". Brother Leo points out how ordinary things demonstrate the existence of God and order in the universe. Today he had a box containing all the pieces of a car and tipped them all out. He said all these pieces are combined to make the car. The Church is the same - needing all it's parts to make the whole. He referred to St Paul's teaching of us all being members in Christ's body. These segments may be short and sweet but the children often surprise us repeating the contents and showing us their understanding of the concepts.
Brother Leo led us on the daily tour which begins at 2:30pm each weekday and we were able to see the production rooms, computer and editing areas and the satellite control rooms. The transmissions are beamed up to the Satellite 24 hours a day in multiple languages simultaneously. (Ironically they share the same satellite as MTV.) After the tour the children took the opportunity to say "Hey Brother Leo" and ask for a photo.
If you get the chance to visit Birmingham Alabama, it is worth your time to see how a little nun (Mother Angelica) with a big faith in God was able to grow a 24 hour a day television and radio network broadcasting around the world from a converted garage and a $400 stake. "The faith of a mustard seed ..."

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