Walsingham on EWTN

Did anyone see tonight's airing of the new documentary Walsingham on EWTN?

I welcome your comments on the programme - I was somewhat disappointed in it in that the documentary purposely fails to show the interior of the Anglican Shrine, particularly the Holy House and the Image of Our Blessed Mother as restored by Father Alfred Hope Patten. I suppose the sight of such grandeur and undoubtedly Catholic piety might have shocked and confused unwary viewers. The programme contains a very nice and illuminating conversation with Father Philip North, the Anglican Administrator, although in the introductory remarks to that segment of the show the commentator referred to beloved Father Patten as 'Mr Patten', a description at which he would have rightly recoiled with horror. I detected in the commentator, expectedly, a certain unspoken negativity, an attitude if you will, against the Anglicans, or more especially, a certain begrudging if not articulated animus against the English establishment's handling of RCs during and after the Reformation. That is certainly understandable, but a programme on Walsingham is probably not the most appropriate venue in which to take such a hard line, even if only expressed as an attitude, as Walsingham is a place of peace and reconciliation - which the commentator, gratefully, does in fact say. The Anglican and Roman Administrators were both positively charming and exuded a far more ecumenical and kindly approach to the subject. All in all, I thought it was a very good piece and a wonderful evangelistic tool for spreading the good news about Our Lady and England's Nazareth.

In our household we often refer to EWTN as the 'Anti-Anglican' network, as they seem to have a disproportionately large amount of programming devoted to the evils of Anglicanism. Specifically, I am thinking of the show The Journey Home, which has made Pope Leo XIII's Apostolicae Curae something of a mantra. How many times can one programme state that Anglican Orders and Sacraments are invalid? Ah, those naughty Anglicans. Someway, somehow I suspect any Church that receives this kind of consistent negative attention poses a real threat on some level to what is being claimed in opposition to it. Walsingham was, generally speaking, a lovely exception to that rule. If you have an opportunity to see it, I recommend it!

By the way - I am a Priest Associate of the Holy House of Our Lady, as you might have guessed.

God bless you!