Called “The Catholic View for Women,” the program begins a six-installment pilot run EWTN (and locally on the CTND cable TV channel) today, at 6:30 p.m.
Tomeo, whose radio show is broadcast Monday through Friday on WDEO Radio (990 AM), says she believes Catholic women are hungry for a television show in this format that reflects and supports their values.
“The biggest thing is that women have expressed such frustration – they’re tired of seeing religion in general, Christianity, and especially the Catholic Church attacked repeatedly,” she says.
Tomeo co-hosts the new TV show with Janet Morana and Astrid Bennett Gutierrez. She and Morana, with whom she has worked before, talked about the need for such a program about six months ago while they were on a Catholic Answers-sponsored cruise.
Upon their return, they pitched the idea to EWTN, and got the green light to produce six half-hour pilots.
The network will run one a month over the next six months, and then assess the viewer response before deciding whether the show should continue, and how frequently and how long a time slot it should fill.
“When we appeared on Fr. Mitch Pacwa’s show to talk about what we were planning, there was a huge response; they got tons of e-mails,” she says.
The three co-hosts each come from different backgrounds and are of different ages. “Janet and I are both in our 50s – she’s 57 and I’m 51 – and Astrid is in her early 30s,” Tomeo says.
On the opening show, each will give their testimonies, while future programs will deal with such topics as contraception, body image, vocations and the Church’s teachings on women.
Tomeo already has some national reputation, but she is best known to southeast Michigan audiences from her years as a news reporter and anchor on local television, followed by her WDEO Radio show, “The Catholic Connection.”
