Mother Angelica.

By Raymond Arroyo (Doubleday, 2005)

What Catholic wouldn't want to read a biography of "the most influential Catholic woman in America"? That's how author Raymond Arroyo describes Mother Angelica, the subject of a book that's landed on several bestseller lists, including The New York Times'.

Whatever your feelings about Mother Angelica--and people tend to have strong ones, pro or con--most would have to agree that she has had a lot of power. As the founder of Eternal Word Television Network, the world's largest religious media empire, it's probably fair to say that she has influenced more Catholics (and non-Catholics) than anyone other than the pope.

How did she get so powerful? Born to working-class parents in Canton, Ohio, young Rita Rizzo was plagued by psychological and physical suffering. She not only struggled with digestive disorders but also with her mother's over-protectiveness after her father abandoned them. She found comfort and her religious calling from a local stigmatic of questionable repute.

A psychologist could have a field day with a story like this, tracing Mother Angelicas excessive need for certainty back to her tumultuous upbringing. But you won't find any of that analysis here. Instead Arroyos prose is laced with thinly veiled hagiographic comments, even when describing her conflicts with U.S. bishops or her flip-flopping on matters like the modified habit.

The publisher insists the book is objective journalism, but clearly Arroyo--an employee of EWTN--is a fan of "Mother." What he attributes to divine providence--a $2 million check coming just when the network is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, for example--could also be seen as the result of Mother Angelicas shrewd cultivation of millionaires. Still, if you can wade through the sappy reports of supposed miracles and the gushing of fellow sisters and other fans, readers will find some insight into the woman who, for better or worse, has shaped the church for the next generation.