Ladies of Another View on the air

There’s nothing wrong with preaching to the choir. They need to be bolstered, too. But opportunities to share a Catholic message beyond a Church audience can be challenging to find.

Two Catholics in the Bismack Diocese were offered such an opportunity. Mary Graner and Patti Armstrong were invited to be co-lead hosts for the TV talk show “Ladies of Another View” on BEK TV, a secular program where their Catholic faith is welcome. It is not a religious program, but religion is welcome.

The hour-long show which airs 4:30-5:30 Monday through Friday has guests in-studio and from across the country via Zoom. Topics range from politics, health and science, inspiration and faith. They also have a “My Hometown” series where they visit North Dakota’s small towns highlighting their history, stories, and values.

“I worked as a journalist in the secular media for many years, switched to Catholic media, and now I’m back in the secular world but as a Catholic,” Armstrong said. “It’s so refreshing that whatever topic we cover, we don’t have to check our faith at the door. I have to admit I resisted at first because I’ve never worked in broadcasting, but I soon realized what a unique opportunity this was to live out my faith in a new way.”

There are several other hosts who rotate in, representing various other denominations.  Graner and Armstrong determine the topics and invite guests, often tapping into dynamic Catholic leaders.

At the start, Fr. Josh Ehli came to bless the BEK studio and several priests from the diocese have been guests on the show. Father Josh Waltz, pastor at St. Joseph in Mandan, has been on a few times to reflect on the culture. During the previous legislative session, when the bill to force clergy to break the seal of confession in cases of child abuse was introduced, Fr. Dominick Bouck, chaplain at University of Mary, came onto the show to explain the Church’s perspective that breaking the seal of the confessional is not an option for priests. 

There have been other notable Catholic guests such as Msgr. James Shea, president of the University of Mary, to talk about his best-selling book, “From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age,” Austin Holgard, a graduate of the University of Mary’s master’s program in bioethics discussed the problem of using human DNA in experiments, and Dr. Carmelita Lamb explained the University’s Native American educational opportunities. Other notable guests include: exorcist Msgr. Stephen Rossetti; the world’s leading psychiatric consultant on demonic activity, Dr. Richard Gallagher; Dr. Thomas Hilgers, founder and director of the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction and author of “The Fake and Deceptive Science Behind Roe v Wade;” Attorney Paul Jonna defending pro-life activist, David Daleiden, who exposed videos of Planned Parenthood officials discussing fees for body parts of aborted babies; and Fr. Robert McTeigue author of “Real Philosophy for Read People” and radio host and producer of “The Catholic Current” speaking about the danger of proposed federal transexual medical mandates.

Derrick Bulawa, CEO of BEK, a rural communications cooperative, developed the BEK News channel as an extension to their mission of communications and building upon their successful BEK Sports channel.

“When the mainstream and social media began to aggressively censor the message and block distribution of information, it was clear that other sources for information needed to develop,” Bulawa said. “And it needed to be an organization that didn’t have a national narrative. We have five news programs now and more are coming.”

 “The Ladies of Another View” program started late last summer with a discussion between neighbors—the Bulawas live two doors down from the Armstrongs.

“So many people complain about what is being said on the TV show “The View,” so we wanted to find people who had traditional North Dakota values,” he said. “The idea grew from there.

For this show, no one had been in broadcasting before. That was intentional, according to him.  “All of the talent on BEK News manage their own content and it’s actually what they believe, not what they are told to say,” Bulawa said.

Armstrong was invited to be one of the hosts then tapped into Graner whom she knew through St. Mary’s Central High School from serving on a parent/teacher organization together.

“Patti asked me out of the blue,” Graner said. “She said that she had noticed I was good at fundraising and marketing and comfortable speaking with people. I love a challenge and it sounded interesting. I also wanted to be able to help people see that there is another side to the news not being talked about on mainstream media.”

From there, Graner and Armstrong began networking, looking for others who would like to join the show. They practiced for a month then went on air Nov. 30 of last year. I absolutely love doing this,” Graner said. “People have come up to me to say they so appreciate that we are getting the truth out.”

Father Josh Waltz, who has been a frequent guest to the show, is no stranger to broadcasting having done his Real Prescence radio show “Sons of Thunder” with his brother, Fr. Justin Waltz. Many of his homilies are also posted on frwaltz.com. He appeared on “Ladies of Another View” to speak on faith without fear and give reflections on the culture.

“There are so many spins right now,” he said. “A recent statistic came out that said people’s trust in the media is at an all-time low. Part of the reason I agreed to be on the show was to give the true stance of what the Church believes.”

Fr. Waltz has received a lot of feedback regarding those appearances. “I’m amazed at how many people watch it. I’ll be at the grocery store and people will tell me they saw me on the show. It’s reaching more people than you realize, one soul at a time, affecting some change. So many people want to complain but are not doing anything about it. This show is getting the truth out. You never know who’s watching or, by God’s providence, who may happen to hear something that will help them.”

—Staff report