The Money Magisterium: Wealth, Media, and the Narrowing of the Catholic Church
On the convergence of media, money, and politics in constructing a particular Catholicism.
They say you should not meet your heroes. But you should definitely meet your references. One of the best things that happened to me this year was meeting Dr. Steve Millies at the Association for the Sociology of Religion conference in Chicago.
A close friend of mine is studying with Dr. Millies in the Doctor of Ministry program at Catholic Theological Union, and our text thread has been shaped by his teaching. Through that, I came across a post about EWTN, which deepened questions I was already wrestling with after reading Millies’ essay The Catholic Brand Is Under New Ownership (NCR, 2023). Both sharpened my sense of how Catholic media and donor networks present themselves as defending the faith while in fact remaking it in the image of wealth.
I had already presented on the dangers of this system at academic conferences, and part of what made Dr. Millies and I connect in Chicago was a shared concern about these dynamics. We both see the concentration of Catholic money and media as one of the most pressing forces reshaping the Church today.
Millies argues that EWTN functions less as a ministry than as a catechesis business. Over the past twenty years, it raised more than a billion dollars, far more than its modest cable revenues. That wealth gave it independence and allowed it to broadcast directly into parishes and homes, bypassing the authority of bishops. Mother Angelica’s fights with Bishop David Foley and Cardinal Roger Mahony revealed how emboldened she became. Even Pope Francis publicly criticized EWTN for being “funded by wealthy conservatives” and for promoting division (America, 2021). NCR described its voice as “powerful, partisan, and problematic” (NCR, 2020).
What EWTN most effectively sold was one narrow vision of Catholicism. It insisted there was only one authentic way to be Catholic, a claim both historically inaccurate and theologically shallow. Yet backed by money and media power, it shaped a movement that resisted Pope Francis and erected an alternative authority structure inside the Church.
EWTN is not alone. The Napa Institute, Word on Fire, and Legatus extend the same project in different forms.
The Napa Institute positions itself as the gathering place for Catholic elites. Every summer, it convenes hundreds of wealthy donors, bishops, business leaders, and apostolate directors in Napa Valley. The pitch is clear: bring money together with influence, share meals and liturgies, and align priorities for culture and Church (Catholic World Report, 2016). Napa does more than host retreats. It forges donor networks that fund ideologically coordinated initiatives. In 2021, revelations of Koch-linked funding sparked backlash from Notre Dame professors, showing how Napa’s reach extends beyond Church walls into public scholarship and debate (NCR, 2021).
Word on Fire works toward the same ends with a different strategy. Founded by Bishop Robert Barron, it has become one of the most powerful Catholic media brands in the United States. Between 2018 and 2022, donations grew nearly 500 percent, giving Word on Fire a scale rivaling many dioceses (NCR, 2023). Its polished books, films, and courses present Catholicism as a sleek brand identity.
Barron often casts himself as a kind of second coming of Fulton Sheen, the mid-century bishop whose preaching on radio and television made him one of the most visible Catholics in America. The comparison, however, underscores the differences. Sheen engaged questions of war, nuclear threat, and social justice with political courage that unsettled his audience. Barron narrows his public voice to culture-war themes, offering polished defenses of a branded Catholicism, complete with online rhetoric of the far-right, while avoiding the kind of complex moral witness Sheen embodied. His influence in this system flows less from episcopal ministry than from cultural capital, donor loyalty, and media visibility.
If EWTN supplies the content, Napa the capital, and Word on Fire the brand, Legatus provides the political muscle. Founded by Domino’s Pizza billionaire Tom Monaghan, it is a membership club for Catholic CEOs and executives (Legatus). The organization encourages members to bring their faith into civic and business realms. That mission translates into political influence. In Ohio, former Legatus chapter leader Senator Jerry Cirino sponsored legislation establishing an “intellectual diversity” center at public universities, a move widely criticized as anti-intellectual and partisan (Ohio Capital Journal, 2025). The Cleveland Legatus chapter’s honoring of Bishop Roger Gries underscored how tight these elite networks hold with ecclesial authority (Diocese of Cleveland, 2022).
Together, these four organizations form a system. Each is powerful alone, but together they create a closed circuit of wealth, media, formation, and influence that rivals the Church’s own structures of authority.
EWTN dominates media and catechesis. It frames the conversation and defines belonging. The Napa Institute convenes donors and aligns ideological strategy. Word on Fire packages theology as brand. Legatus channels all of it into policy and leadership.
Seen together, this is not Catholicism as lived by parishes, dioceses, or religious communities. It is Catholicism controlled by money: narrower, louder, wealthier, and less free.
This is a very particular Catholicism: wealthy, male, conservative, and white. It excludes women’s leadership, sidelines immigrant and global voices, and narrows theological diversity into ideological conformity. As Politico observed, U.S. Catholic networks exported this hard-right posture globally, fueling resistance to Pope Francis and spreading a homogenized identity of what it means to be Catholic (Politico, 2025).
The damage is not just institutional. It is deeply personal. I encounter faithful Catholics whose spiritual lives are confined by this boxed vision. They are told there is only one way to be faithful, were pressured to mistrust Pope Francis, encouraged to see fellow Catholics as opponents. In the name of orthodoxy, imagination is silenced.
The problem also occurs inside these institutions. In 2022, multiple staff resigned from Word on Fire amid reports of a “boys’ club” workplace culture and mishandled misconduct allegations (NCR, 2022). Two years later, Bishop Barron released a Word on Fire Show episode titled The Fall—and Rise?—of Men (Word on Fire, 2024), praising masculine renewal and even referring to men as ”often vilified by secular culture as ‘toxic’ merely for existing.” The contrast is striking. A ministry that sold itself as a refuge for men revealed itself as exclusionary and secretive. Their rhetoric about strength and generosity collapsed under their internal culture.
The through line is clear. Concentrated wealth and media power are reshaping Catholicism in the image of a few organizations. Donors believe they are supporting the Church, but in reality they are supporting brands and networks operating outside episcopal oversight. Their claim to defend the faith became, in practice, a force that undermined it.
Catholicism ought to be bigger, a living tradition marked by diversity, dialogue, and discernment. But wealth and media are flattening it. The Church shrinks even as its megaphone grows.
They say you should not meet your heroes. That may be true. But meeting your references helped me see how much is at stake when the Catholic voice is controlled by money, and how urgent it is to reclaim that voice for all.
Further Reading
Explainer: The story behind Pope Francis’ beef with EWTN — America Magazine (2021)
The man behind Catholic U.’s largest donation ever — Catholic World Report (2016)
Cleveland Legatus chapter honors Bishop Gries for two decades of service — Diocese of Cleveland (2022)
Napa, Koch funding sparks backlash at Notre Dame — National Catholic Reporter (2021)
Multiple resignations at Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire after allegations from staffers — National Catholic Reporter (2022)
The Catholic Brand Is Under New Ownership — National Catholic Reporter (2023)
Head of Ohio State’s intellectual diversity center provides updates to Ohio Senate — Ohio Capital Journal (2025)
The ultra conservatives wanting to make the Vatican great again — Politico (2025)
The Fall—and Rise?—of Men — Word on Fire (2024)
Spectacular.