mother angelica

Beggars on their knees cause consternation on Helsinki streets
East Europeans have been driven here out of abject poverty at home




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By Kimmo Oksanen

A euro coin rattles into Mariana Moldovan's cardboard cup on Keskuskatu in downtown Helsinki.
A pair of brown eyes looks up from ground level next to Mariana.
They belong to her 2-year-old daughter Angelica.

The temperature is a less than balmy +4°C, and there is a light breeze from the north-west to add a touch of bite.
It must be chilly down there on the pavement.
"I can't just walk past when someone is asking me for money", says Terttu Kirjavainen by way of explanation for her alms. "Nobody's going to be sitting out here in this just for fun. The Finnish authorities ought to be doing something."

Who are these beggars who are showing up increasingly prominently in the city's streets? Where do they come from? Why didn't they get up and leave when the summer came to an end?
Should I give them some money, or keep my hands in my pockets?
Are these possibly the same people who have allegedly been stopping cars on the highway and trying to sell trinkets as gold?
Are they criminals, like the Barcelona crowd, who make out as if they are selling roses but deftly lift your wallet while you are off-guard?
Or are they victims, pawns in a bigger game, whose earnings off the street go to line the pockets of some bigger fish?

Many claim to have seen a big van bring them to their pitches and drop them off, and then the beggars set themselves up suitably at intervals of a couple of hundred metres from each other.
For many, the sight of these beggars brings to mind the familiar organised - and even violent - gangs of beggars seen in the metropoles of Southern Europe, and they worry lest such a phenomenon might be taking root here in Finland.

Who are they? On Mannerheimintie, right in front of the Old Student House that is for most locals the geographical ground zero of Helsinki, there sits an elderly man who nitroduces himself as Solo.
Solo says he is from Slovakia and he is begging in Helsinki because he needs money for gasoline. The conversation is carried on in Italian, and is rather laboured: both sides are struggling to find words.
"Gasoline, back Slovakia", says Solo.
Between heavily-lined cheeks and a pair of handsome dark eyebrows are two genial eyes, and his smile is irresistible.
But where is the car, and where is the driver?
"I don't understand your question", replies Solo.
There is EUR 1.70 in coins resting at the bottom of his cardboard coffee cup. It won't take him many kilometres, even in a diesel.

Not far away, on the corner of the block occupied by Stockmann's department store, a man rather younger than Solo squats on his knees.
He introduces himself as Tomas Solt, a Hungarian from Budapest.
"There is no work in Budapest", Solt says in explanation for his presence in Helsinki.
But Tomas - surely you don't have any work here, either?
"This is my work", Solt explains being on his knees next to yet another disposable coffee cup. His cup is empty. Not a cent.

And the next guy? A moment ago I saw him further down Mannerheimintie, but now he has moved onto Aleksanterinkatu, to a pitch out in front of the World Trade Center building.
Miklos Kovoca says he comes from Romania. "There is no work there", he adds as his reason for coming to Finland.
On the other hand, Miklos has a wife and a two-year-old child back home, whom he misses, and to whom he sends back money.

On Keskuskatu, around half a dozen beggars have gathered in a small group.
It turns out that they are all from Romania and are all members of the same extended Moldovan family.
"A flood took their home. The government in Bucharest has done nothing tro help them. They are just cheats and bandits", explains a passer-by who stops and interprets the family's story.
The passer-by has lived in Finland for 12 years and speaks the language. When he refers to cheats and bandits, the "they" does not mean the beggars, but the Romanian state authorities.
"These people don't want anything from Finland except a job."

The group huddled on the corner of Keskuskatu and Kaivokatu, by the Ateneum Art Museum, includes Angelica's mother Mariana, her grandmother Verginia Moldovan, her father Musca Trandafir, a pregnant young woman named Suras Moldovan, the woman's husband Marius Moldovan, and Mihaiela Stoica.
Two-year-old Angelica has apparently spent the last few chilly nights outdoors. Her mother Mariana starts to cry at what the child has to go through.
So why don't you approach the Finnish authorities, then?
"They daren't. They are afraid that if they do, they'll just get picked up and deported straightaway", the interpreter explains the beggars' reluctance to come in from the cold. We recently got a call from another publication asking us how we are handling the postal rate increase.

You've noticed the cost of your stamps rising steadily. So have publications. One Catholic publication that will now only publish online cites increased postal rates as a factor. So does another ― a weekly ― that will now publish every two weeks.

Some call the postal rates unfair and seek to curb them. It isn't right, they say, to go after the little guys ― the non-profit publications ― for new postal increases. That may be the case. But it may also be the case that all the new letter and package carriers have done such an effective job at winning the business of the "big guys" that we little guys are all the postal services have left.

Whatever the reason, though, the postal rate increase is real, and it is difficult.

Our answer to the question what we will change because of it is: nothing, yet. We are holding on. We are still reaching you weekly with the Catholic Church's wisdom on the cutting edge issues of our time, and we are still providing you that weekly connection to exactly what Pope Benedict XVI is doing in Rome.

But interiorly, I have noticed a few changes. For one, we are praying for the apostolate with a new intensity. I can really relate to what Mother Angelica always talks about: taking a step out in faith and trust. The Church has been calling for our kind of apostolate for years, and so we know it's something God wants. So we pray for the graces to do it.

A second change you have probably noticed already. We are asking for your financial support more than we ever did before. And many readers are responding.

Thank you for participating in the great task we have ― and please keep us in your prayer book and your checkbook as we continue to step out in faith. Mother Angelica
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Mother Angelica, PCPA, born Rita Antoinette Rizzo April 28, 1923 is an American Catholic nun and founder of the Eternal Word Television Network.

Contents
1 Early childhood
2 Reports of miracles
3 Early adulthood and religious vocation
4 Early religious life
5 Final vows and leadership in the convent
6 Founding of Our Lady of the Angels
7 Founding of EWTN
8 Trivia
9 References
10 External links



Early childhood
The future Mother Angelica was born Rita Antoinette Rizzo on April 28, 1923 in Canton, Ohio. She was the only child of John and Mae Helen Rizzo (nee Gianfrancesco). Her father abandoned the family when Rita was very young, and her parents divorced in 1929. Her mother maintained full custody of Rita, but struggled with chronic depression and poverty. Her local maternal grandparents kept Rita at times.

Rita's childhood was marred by poverty and unhappiness as she grew up during the Great Depression. Looking back upon this time in her life, Mother Angelica described herself and her mother as being "like a pair of refugees. We were poor, hungry,un-educated, and barely surviving on odd jobs before mother learned the dry cleaning business as an apprentice to a Jewish tailor in our area. Even then, we pinched pennies just to keep food on the table."[1]

Due to the many responsibilities at home which fell upon young Rita, her school work suffered greatly. Rita also suffered from prejudices because of her parents' divorce. During this difficult period, Rita found much consolation in reading the Scriptures, often repeating the words of the 23rd Psalm: "I will fear no evil." By the age of 16, Rita realized that her mother's dry-cleaning job was a dead end so she began searching for work for her mother. Through Rita's efforts, her mother got a better job that provided some relief from their dire poverty.


Reports of miracles
By 1941, a stomach ailment from which Rita had suffered since 1939 demanded medical attention. By November of that year, x-rays revealed serious abnormalities in her stomach and intestines. The pain continued to worsen, with no alleviation. Doctors were unable to do anything to relieve her suffering or remedy the ailment. Once again, Mae and Rita turned to their faith.

At this time, Mae heard of a local woman by the name of Rhoda Wise. Wise was a convert to Catholicism who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Wise claimed that her cancer had been healed after she was twice visited by Jesus, once accompanied by St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Shortly afterwards, Rhoda received the stigmata. On January 8, 1943 Mae and Rita visited with Wise to ask her for her prayers. Rita promised the Lord that, if she were healed, she would share this devotion with others.

After praying the novena, Rita still suffered from severe abdominal pain. She went to bed the night of January 17, 1943, with doubts about the entire episode. During the middle of the night, she experienced the worst stomach pain ever, although it lasted only a moment. The next morning, Rita found that she had no pain whatsoever. She believed that God had performed a miracle. This experience profoundly touched Rita's life and led her to a very deep love for God. Mother Angelica traces her lifelong commitment to God to this healing.

Reports of miracles later in her life have often been reported by Catholics and non-Catholics. The most famous took place in the midst of the Roger Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, controversy in 1998 when she suddenly recovered from a long term injury to her legs. It was widely reported by secular and religious news sources such as Catholic World News (see Miracle cure for Mother Angelica?). There were people who witnessed the event that had on-the-spot conversion experiences.


Early adulthood and religious vocation
After graduating from high school in 1941,Rita tried many odd jobs. Rita began working at Timken Roller Bearing Company. Following work each day, she would stop at a local parish and pray the stations of the cross and attended Mass.

One evening in the summer of 1944, Rita stopped at a church to pray. Kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament, Rita felt God was calling her to be a nun. She sought guidance from a local parish priest who encouraged her to begin visiting convents. Her first visit was to the Josephite Sisters in Buffalo, New York. This active order felt, however, that Rita was better suited for a contemplative order. She also visited Saint Paul's Shrine of Perpetual Adoration, a facility operated by an order of cloistered contemplative nuns, located in Cleveland, Ohio. When visiting this Order, Rita felt as if she were at home. The Order accepted her as a postulant, asking her to enter on August 15, 1944.

The one heartache that Rita suffered was leaving her mother who was very much opposed to her daughter's pursuing the religious life. So Rita secretly planned her departure. On August 14, she wrote her mother a letter. When Mae found it on the morning of August 15, Rita had already arrived at her destination. In part the letter read: "When you receive this letter, I will be in Cleveland. I have entered the Adoration Monastery at 40th and Euclid. You know it better as St. Paul's Shrine.... Something happened to me after my cure. What it was, I don't know. I fell completely in love with Our Lord. To live in the world for these past nineteen months has been very difficult. I love you very much and I have not forgotten what you have done for me. Please trust Him ... I ask your blessing that I may reach the heights I desire. I love you very much."


Early religious life
On August 15, 1944, Rita Antoinette Rizzo became Sister Rita. When she arrived at Saint Paul's Shrine in Cleveland and entered the Adoration Monastery of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (a cloistered contemplative order), a new chapter was beginning for Rita at age 21.

As a postulant, Sister was introduced to the ins and outs of religious life. She joined the nuns in prayer, adoration, and manual labor. Among her early assignments were working in the laundry, baking altar breads, working in the kitchen, and cleaning floors. Before long, though, Rita's knees began to cause her many problems so her work assignments had to be altered, On November 8, 1945, Rita was invested as a Poor Clare nun. She received the brown Franciscan habit and white novice veil. She also received a new name and title: Sister Mary Angelica of the Annunciation.

During her time as a novice, a wealthy couple offered their mansion to the nuns so that a new foundation could be established. Their mansion was located in Canton, Ohio, Sister Angelica's hometown.


Final vows and leadership in the convent
After the move to Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton, her knee problem was alleviated. On January 2, 1947 Sister Mary Angelica made her first profession of vows. On January 2, 1953, Sister Angelica made her solemn profession of vows.

Amid her caring for the spiritual needs of the novices and her other duties, she continued to help with the household chores. One such chore was scrubbing the floor with an electric scrubbing machine. While performing this task one day, she had a serious accident. Losing her balance on the soapy floor, Sister Angelica fell to her knees and was flung against the wall back first. Her spine was seriously injured. In the following months the injury worsened and the pain was quite unbearable. Finally nearly two years after the accident, she was hospitalized and fitted with a body cast. Six weeks of traction proved to be no help, and so surgery followed.

The night before the operation, fearing the worst, Sister Angelica made a deal with the Lord: "God! You didn't bring me this far just to lay me out on my back for life. Please, Lord Jesus, if You allow me to walk again I will build a monastery for Your glory. And I will build it in the South!" After four months of hospitalization, Mother Angelica was released, able to walk again.


Founding of Our Lady of the Angels
Keeping the pledge she made before her surgery, Sister Angelica began making preparations to establish a new monastery. After seeking all necessary permissions and raising funds by making and selling fishing lures, Mother Angelica and four other sisters headed south. Our Lady of the Angels Monastery was officially established in Irondale, Alabama on May 20, 1962.

The first postulant to be received was Mae Francis (Sister Mary David), Mother Angelica's mother. A few months later Sister Mary Veronica, the former Abbess of the Sancta Clara Monastery, transferred to Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.

In 1973, Mother M. Angelica began writing booklets on the spiritual life. She has authored 53 books. The Community took over the publishing of these books and distributed them all over the country.


Founding of EWTN
By 1976, Mother Angelica had written 50 booklets and recorded 150 audio cassette teaching tapes. When she was given the opportunity to make video tape programs for television, she realized the impact television could have in spreading the Faith. Converting a planned garage behind the monastery into a television studio, Mother Angelica founded the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). EWTN began airing programs on August 15, 1981 via satellite to cable companies and home satellite dishes. In 1992, Mother Angelica also founded WEWN to broadcast Catholic programs world-wide via short-wave radio.

EWTN has become a powerful voice for conservative American Roman Catholics, despite its location in the not-particularly Catholic state of Alabama in the Bible Belt of the Deep South. She was frequently seen on the network teaching or taking questions from viewers via telephone.She hosted the highly successful "Mother Angelica Live" television program which aired on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and is currently hosted each Wednesday night by noted Scripture scholar and long time EWTN personality, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. The show is simply titled EWTN LIVE. Mother Angelica Live Classics can be seen at 8:00pm EST on Tuesday night.

Mother Angelica has had controversial feuds with some members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Most famous is the feud over a pastoral letter written by Roger Cardinal Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles over teachings surrounding the Eucharist and the liturgy.

Mother Angelica suffered some health setbacks (especially a severe stroke) now that she is an octogenarian, but she has stabilized according to sources close to her. She was based at "Our Lady of the Angels Monastery" in Irondale, Alabama near Birmingham but moved to a more secluded monastery, which she built just recently, located in Hanceville, Alabama. The monastery can often be seen on EWTN during a live airing of Benediction and Devotions. Mother Angelica no longer makes live appearances on EWTN. Reruns of her old Mother Angelica Live show, as well as reruns of The Holy Rosary with Mother Angelica and the Nuns, appear regularly on the network. Mother Angelica Live, saw St. Michael the Archangel standing in the place where EWTN would later be founded. [citation needed] There are many Catholics who believe Mother Angelica is a modern day saint and attribute their renewed faith to her show and prayers.