EWTN News portal (May 18, 2026) reports on the launch of a new family travel series titled “Fork in the Road,” created by former actress Jessica Rey and produced by EWTN Studios in partnership with Little Fiat Studios. The series, available exclusively on EWTN+, features Rey and her three home-schooled children as they explore global cultures through food, faith, and family, visiting nations such as Austria, Croatia, Italy, and Portugal. The article highlights the show’s emphasis on “experiential learning” and the opportunities home schooling provides, quoting Rey’s assertion that the series is an “invitation for families to see the world as a classroom and to recognize faith woven into every detail of the journey.” This seemingly innocuous family entertainment venture, however, serves as yet another symptom of the profound spiritual bankruptcy and doctrinal ambiguity that pervades the post-conciliar structures, reducing the supernatural life of grace to a mere aesthetic appreciation of “beauty” and “sacred places” while remaining utterly silent on the true state of the Church and the urgent necessity of the salvation of souls through the One True Faith.
The “Beautiful” Religion: Aestheticism in Place of Supernatural Faith
Jessica Rey’s comments regarding the series lay bare a fundamentally naturalistic and sentimentalist approach to the Catholic faith, characteristic of the post-conciliar era. Her statement, “Travel puts you face to face with beauty you can’t explain away, and for us, that always points back to God,” while perhaps well-intentioned, reveals a theology that is more akin to Romantic pantheism than to the rigorous supernatural theology of the Church. The Catholic faith is not merely an appreciation of “beauty” or the “sacred in everyday places” (as Rey puts it); it is the adherence to divinely revealed truths, the reception of sanctifying grace through the sacraments, and the uncompromising warfare against sin and error. Pius XI, in his encyclical *Quas Primas*, unequivocally declared that “Jesus Christ is given to men as Redeemer, in whom they are to place their hope, but at the same time He is the Lawgiver, to whom men owe obedience.” The reign of Christ the King is not a matter of aesthetic contemplation but of absolute obedience to His commandments and the authority of His Church.
Rey’s emphasis on “experiential learning” and “finding the sacred in everyday places” is a hallmark of the modernist heresy condemned by St. Pius X in *Pascendi Dominici Gregis*. Modernism, the “synthesis of all errors,” seeks to reduce religion to a subjective experience, a feeling of the “sacred,” rather than an objective adherence to revealed truth. The “beauty” of a cathedral, while indeed a testament to the faith of our forefathers, is not an end in itself but a means to lift the mind and heart to God, to inspire prayer, penance, and the desire for the salvation of souls. To reduce Catholicism to an appreciation of “scale and details” is to strip it of its supernatural essence and transform it into a mere cultural or aesthetic pursuit.
Silence on the One Thing Necessary: The Salvation of Souls and the True Church
The most glaring omission in the description of “Fork in the Road,” and indeed in the entire article, is any mention of the true state of the Church, the necessity of the salvation of souls through the One True Faith, and the absolute primacy of the supernatural life. The series promises to explore “food, faith, and family” and to “recognize faith woven into every detail of the journey,” but what *kind* of faith? The faith of the conciliar sect, which has abandoned the dogmas of the Church, denied the necessity of conversion to Catholicism for salvation, and embraced religious liberty and ecumenism? Or the immutable faith of all time, the faith of the martyrs and the saints, the faith that demands the conversion of all nations to the Catholic Church?
The article’s silence on these fundamental questions is deafening. There is no mention of the necessity of baptism for salvation, no warning against the dangers of indifferentism or religious relativism, no call to prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners and the return of society to Christ the King. Instead, we are offered a sanitized, feel-good version of Catholicism that is perfectly compatible with the conciliar agenda of dialogue, tolerance, and the “universal language of food and family.” This is the “broad and liberal Protestantism” that St. Pius X warned would be the inevitable result of modernist principles, a Catholicism stripped of its supernatural claims and reduced to a vague humanitarianism.
EWTN, as a media arm of the conciliar structures, consistently promotes this watered-down, naturalistic spirituality. Its programming, while perhaps occasionally touching on traditional themes, ultimately serves to legitimize the post-conciliar revolution and to distract the faithful from the true crisis in the Church. The promotion of a series like “Fork in the Road” is a perfect example of this strategy: by focusing on “family values,” “experiential learning,” and “beauty,” EWTN deflects attention from the real issues – the loss of faith, the corruption of the sacraments, and the apostasy of the hierarchy.
Home Schooling Within the Conciliar Framework: A False Sense of Security
The article’s mention of the growth of home schooling and its embrace by Jessica Rey and her family might initially seem commendable. Indeed, the necessity of Catholic education, free from the corrupting influence of secular and modernist institutions, is a perennial teaching of the Church. However, the context provided reveals that this home schooling is taking place within the framework of the conciliar sect, utilizing EWTN as its primary media outlet. This raises serious concerns about the content and ultimate direction of such education.
True Catholic education, as envisioned by the saints and doctors of the Church, is not merely about academic excellence or “experiential learning”; it is about the formation of Catholic souls in the unchanging truths of the faith, the development of virtue, and the preparation for eternal salvation. It requires a rigorous adherence to the teachings of the Magisterium, the study of scholastic theology, and the cultivation of a deep interior life of prayer and penance. An education that relies on conciliar media, with its inherent modernist biases and omissions, risks instilling a false sense of security, leading families to believe they are providing a Catholic education while remaining firmly within the grip of the very system that has caused the current crisis.
The “opportunities home schooling provides,” as mentioned in the article, are only truly beneficial if they are used to escape the conciliar system entirely, to seek out true Catholic doctrine and sacraments, and to form children in the integral faith of all time. Without this critical discernment, home schooling becomes merely another form of isolation within the broader concilar structure, a comfortable bubble that shields families from the full reality of the apostasy while failing to provide the true antidote.
The “Universal Language of Food and Family”: A Substitute for True Catholic Culture
The series’ focus on “cultures through the universal language of food and family” is a telling indicator of the conciliar approach to culture. True Catholic culture is not merely about appreciating different cuisines or family structures; it is about the ordering of all things to God, the sanctification of daily life through grace, and the building of Christendom. It is a culture rooted in the liturgy, the sacraments, and the social kingship of Christ.
The “universal language of food and family,” as presented in the article, is a naturalistic substitute for this supernatural reality. It reduces culture to its material and sentimental aspects, ignoring the spiritual and doctrinal foundations that give true culture its meaning and purpose. This approach perfectly aligns with the conciar agenda of dialogue and mutual understanding, where all cultures and religions are seen as equally valid paths to “God” or “the sacred,” rather than the Catholic Church being the sole ark of salvation. The “beauty” of a foreign cathedral becomes a mere aesthetic experience, divorced from the doctrinal truths it was built to proclaim and the graces it was designed to dispense.
EWTN’s Role in Promoting Conciliar Apostasy
EWTN, far from being a bastion of true Catholic resistance, has consistently functioned as a powerful tool for the normalization and promotion of the conciar revolution. By presenting a sanitized, palatable version of Catholicism that avoids any serious critique of the post-conciliar changes, EWTN lulls the faithful into a false sense of security, leading them to believe that all is well within the Church. The promotion of series like “Fork in the Road” is a prime example of this strategy.
Instead of focusing on the urgent need for the restoration of the true Mass, the condemnation of conciliar errors, and the necessity of adhering to the immutable teachings of the Church, EWTN offers feel-good entertainment that reinforces the conciliar narrative of a “Church” that is open to the world, engaged in dialogue, and focused on “beauty” and “family values.” This is the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place, a counterfeit church that mimics the outward forms of Catholicism while gutting it of its supernatural essence.
The creation of EWTN+, a streaming platform for “Catholic content,” further solidifies this control over the narrative, allowing the conciar structures to disseminate their modernist agenda directly into the homes of the faithful, bypassing any remaining pockets of true Catholic resistance. The fact that “Fork in the Road” is available exclusively on EWTN+ underscores the platform’s role as a gatekeeper for conciar-approved “Catholicism.”
The Imperative of True Catholic Action
In stark contrast to the conciar emphasis on “experiential learning” and “beauty,” the true Catholic approach to culture and education is one of uncompromising warfare against error and the relentless pursuit of the salvation of souls. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come to establish a “universal language of food and family”; He came to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He commanded His Apostles to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19), not to appreciate their cultural artifacts.
True Catholic action demands a clear understanding of the crisis in the Church, a firm adherence to the immutable teachings of the Magisterium, and a willingness to suffer for the faith. It requires the formation of children not in the “beauty” of cathedrals but in the truths of the catechism, the practice of virtue, and the avoidance of sin. It calls for the restoration of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the true vehicle of grace, and the rejection of the conciliar “memorial meal” that has stripped the faithful of their greatest treasure.
The current situation, where the structures occupying the Vatican promote a naturalistic, sentimentalist version of Catholicism, is a direct consequence of the modernist apostasy that has infected the Church since the beginning of the 20th century. St. Pius X, in his encyclical *Lamentabili Sane Exitu*, condemned the modernist proposition that “the progress of sciences requires a reform of the concept of Christian doctrine concerning God, creation, Revelation, the Person of the Incarnate Word, and Redemption” (Proposition 64). This is precisely the error that underlies the conciar project, including media ventures like “Fork in the Road,” which seek to adapt the faith to the spirit of the times rather than demanding the conversion of the times to the unchanging truth of the Gospel.
The faithful must reject these siren songs of conciar “Catholicism” and cling to the unchanging Tradition of the Church. They must seek out true priests who offer the Traditional Latin Mass, the true sacraments, and sound doctrine. They must educate their children in the integral faith, preparing them for the trials ahead and for eternal salvation. The “fork in the road” presented by EWTN leads only to spiritual perdition; the true path lies in the narrow gate of the unchanging Catholic faith.
Source:
EWTN launches new family travel series ‘Fork in the Road’ (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 18.05.2026