November 19, 2006
A Visit with Mother Angelica
This past week I had the great blessing of visiting with Mother Angelica at the shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama. After visiting the marvelously beautiful shrine, we met Mother at the room with the grill dividing the cloistered sisters from the visitors.
Mother was in great form; she laughed a great deal and was able to communicate, even at times in complete sentences. She has done the miraculous work of establishing the largest religious television network in the world. She has also established a cloistered convent, which now numbers over thirty sisters—most of them young. The convent also has two other foundations. She also established the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word with over twenty-five friars. You may have had the opportunity to read Raymond Arroyo’s book on Mother Angelica. You would really enjoy this book.
I offered Mass at the shrine in the morning and left for a busy day of television at EWTN in Irondale, Alabama. I was accompanied on this journey by a volunteer, Timothy Pida, who has worked for years for the Missionaries of Charity and has very generously helped me for the better part of this year. We both came away with a profound sense of gratitude for all that EWTN does for souls and for the church, and also grateful that we had spent this precious time with this great woman.
Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR
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