2024 EWTN ‘Family Celebration’ concludes in Toronto

Toronto, Canada, Sep 10, 2024 / 17:08 pm

More than 2,200 people gathered for the annual EWTN Family Celebration held this year in Toronto.

This year’s gathering, which took place on Sept. 7, featured various EWTN personalities, including network commentator and contributor Father Raymond de Souza; Father Chris Alar, MIC, host of “Living Divine Mercy”; “Women of Grace” host Johnnette Williams; EWTN Chairman of the Board and CEO Michael Warsaw; and EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado. 

Cardinal Thomas Collins, archbishop emeritus of Toronto, was the principal celebrant of the event’s closing Mass.

Faith before politics 

The morning program featured a talk by de Souza, known for his regular columns at the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, as well as his EWTN feature presentation “The Seven Last Words of Christ.”

De Souza highlighted the importance of putting faith before politics, offering an examination of conscience of sorts for political action.

“Paul instructs us clearly not to delight in sin. That includes not delighting in the sins of others because they will suffer bad effects from it,” de Souza reflected. “Should I be pleased if a political candidate, a performer, or prelate suffers a scandal because it benefits my preferred political candidate, performer, or a prelate? We know we shouldn’t, but the temptation is strong. We need to resist it.”

De Souza also reflected on 1 Corinthians 13 as it relates to the mission of communicators.

“All of us journalists desire to get the story right and to get the story fast. That’s our business. The two things have always been in tension,” he said. “In the digital age, getting the story fast often means getting it wrong. This applies not only to professional journalists, my colleagues at EWTN, but to everyone who uses social media.” 

“Doing all things in love means a measure of patience in an age that is very, very impatient,” de Souza continued. “Speaking in haste risks not speaking in charity.”

He also reflected on speech in regard to politics, following the standard of love offered in 1 Corinthians 13.

“Is our speech kind, even as we remain firm in the faith? Do we boast because we have been given the gift of faith, because we have a greater insight? Are we arrogant? Are we rude? Do we call other people names? Do we belittle them or demean them? Do we insult others?” he reflected. “The tide of arrogant, unkind, insulting, rude speech is a tsunami that overwhelms us. It is very hard not not to get swept up in it.”

De Souza said we should pursue Cardinal John Henry Newman’s definition of the manners of a “true gentleman.” 

“From a long-sighted prudence, [a gentleman] observes the maxim of the ancient sage that we should ever conduct ourselves toward our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend,” de Souza concluded.

‘Family Talk’

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Later in the day, a “Family Talk” session was held to discuss Mother Angelica’s legacy, share stories, and reflect on the unique mission of EWTN. The panel included Warsaw and Alvarado as well as Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word Fathers Joseph Mary Wolfe and Leonard Mary. 

“In 2001, [Mother Angelica] and I were sitting one afternoon when I asked her, ‘What’s the witness of EWTN? What is the story?’” Warsaw recalled. “And she didn’t hesitate for a minute. She said, ‘It’s not how many television satellites we’re on. It’s not how many radio stations. It’s about how we’ve done what we’ve done, which is by relying completely and totally upon God’s providence.’ And that was her witness to all of us.”

Alvarado shared her profound admiration for how Mother Angelica “invested so much time in prayer.”

“She invested so much more time in prayer than she did ‘doing things,’ the way the world would define productivity,” Alvarado continued. “So we have to take that model. And I always loved that in her witness.”

“[She] makes herself available to us in the legacy of the network but also in the virtue of these prayers,” Alvarado said. “She understood the power of generational prayers and the investment that is made in adoration and how those graces fill your life.”

Any young woman who looks at the Church and loves the Blessed Mother and encounters Mother Angelica sees her “feminine genius,” Alvarado added. 

Joy in the face of challenges

Cardinal Collins, a vocal opponent of physician-assisted suicide in Canada, said that Catholics should respond to the issue by engaging with the faith and living a life of joy. 

The cardinal noted that people have a “coldness in the soul” and “a hopelessness” that stems from a “lack of meaning” in their own lives. 

“We don’t have meaning in life if we let go of the reality of the faith that gives us guidance,” he said.

He recalled how physician-assisted suicide became accepted in Canada. “It started out with extreme cases, and that’s how they got it through the Supreme Court and through Parliament, but now it spreads, it spreads, it spreads,” he said. 

“It also has resulted in the increase in what we strangely call ‘medical assistance in dying.’ I mean, that’s not what it is. Medical assistance in dying is when you’re helping people who are dying: You help them medically, not cause them to die.”

In spite of the prevalence of assisted suicide, Collins still sees hope. 

“When you chase after nothingness, you find nothing. This is where I think it’s a bad thing, certainly,” he said. “But it’s a good thing in the sense that it shows a hunger of people for meaning and direction — and that they can find in Our Lord Jesus.”

It was an energetic and lively crowd, clapping in excitement throughout the speeches, whooping at some parts, and murmuring “awww” when Canada’s beloved Cardinal Collins had to leave the stage.

One couple in attendance, Paul Le and Anne Hoang, married for 38 years, shared their excitement about the event. 

“Actually, COVID is what brought me close to the Catholic Church,” said Le, who started listening to Collins and Bishop Robert Barron’s homilies during COVID “almost every day.” Since then, Le said, he understands the meaning of Catholicism more deeply. 

He said the global Catholic network’s Family Celebration is an “extension of my learning process.” 

When asked about his takeaways, Le said there were “many wonderful things,” including a discussion of the meaning of freedom, which Le said is “very crucial.”

“What is the meaning of freedom? And why is society in trouble now?” he said. “People say, ‘Don’t tell me what to do.’ And eventually, what they find is trouble and misery.”

“I think it will pull a lot of people back, an event like this, because I think people are hungry for something, something,” Hoang said. “And this can satisfy it.”