A new host of EWTN News In Depth made her debut on June 21 — and it’s someone the network’s regular viewers already consider a member of the family.

Catherine Hadro hosted EWTN Pro-Life Weekly for five years and more recently has anchored live coverage of major events in Rome and other parts of the world.

She takes over for EWTN News In Depth’s founding host, Montse Alvarado, who is stepping away from her on-air role to focus on her primary duties as president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, Inc., which is in the midst of a major digital transformation.

“Catherine has walked with the EWTN family for over a decade during key moments in the life of the Church; the passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI; the overturning of Roe v. Wade; and the opening of the Synod on Synodality, among others,” Alvarado told the Register, which is owned by EWTN.

“Her talents and experience are especially suited to bring the unique elements of News In Depth — global coverage, thoughtful discussion and expert reporting — to new heights,” she added.

As the founding host and managing editor of EWTN Pro-Life Weekly based in Washington, D.C., Hadro quickly established herself as one of the most prominent journalists in the U.S. focused on the public policy of abortion and the wider pro-life movement. She left the show in 2021 to work on special assignments as an EWTN contributor.

She told the Register she’s grateful for the opportunity to explore other issues and compelling stories from the same Catholic perspective that guided her pro-life coverage — namely, that every person has inherent dignity as a child of God.

“I’m privileged, honored and I’m excited and ready to dive in,” Hadro said.

In a sense, she’s been preparing for this new role since she was 10 years old.

That’s when, at her father’s urging, she began serving as a lector at Masses at Espiritu Santo Catholic School in Safety Harbor, Florida, a suburb of Tampa Bay.

She didn’t only enjoy public speaking — she was good at it.

“I won a speech contest in fourth grade, and I remember that’s about the time when you’re always wondering, ‘Okay, what am I going to be when I grow up?’” she recalled.

“A teacher had always said, ‘Find something that you’re good at and you enjoy.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, well, I’m good at speaking, I’m good at talking; so what can I do professionally? Oh, I’ll be a news anchor.’ So, at a very young age, I always dreamt of being a news anchor.”

A self-described “broadcast nerd” as a young girl, she points to Barbara Walters and Larry King as her early influences. Also on her list: EWTN foundress Mother Angelica (Hadro and her mother were faithful viewers) and Women of Grace host Johnnette Benkovic Williams, who was also a lector at Espiritu Santo parish.

Hadro’s interest in a broadcast journalism career intensified at Florida State University. There, her mature focus caught the attention of one of her adjunct professors, veteran Tallahassee news anchor Shonda Knight.

“From the onset, I could tell she was very studious, very serious about the craft,” Knight told the Register. “She was a very pleasant person, but also very disciplined. And so early on I knew that she would stand out.”

Hadro’s first job out of college was with EWTN at its broadcast news headquarters on Capitol Hill. After about three and a half years as a reporter and producer for EWTN News Nightly, the network chose her to become the founding host of EWTN Pro-Life Weekly. Along the way, she met and married her husband, Matt Hadro, who at the time worked in the same office as a reporter for Catholic News Agency. The couple, who live in Virginia, have been married for six years.

EWTN News In Depth, which airs on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET, is an hourlong show that combines interviews with newsmakers with documentary-style feature stories from around the world.

“It’s like Meet the Press plus CBS [News] Sunday Morning,” is how Hadro describes it. 

Among the more recent segments are EWTN correspondent Colm Flynn’s exclusive interviews with Canadian psychologist, author and media commentator Jordan Peterson and his wife, Tammy Peterson, a podcaster and public speaker who converted to Catholicism after what she considers to be a miraculous cure from cancer. A story Hadro reported and produced last year on pilgrims flocking to view the surprisingly well-preserved remains of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster at the Benedictine abbey she founded in Gower, Missouri, was honored on June 20 by the Catholic Media Association with a Gabriel Award.

Hadro is embarking on this new chapter of her broadcast career without the encouragement and support of one of her most faithful viewers: her beloved dad, Andrew Szeltner, who died in 2022.

 

 

A salesman who spent his career in men’s retail, her father was the type of person who struck up a conversation with everyone he met.

“He loved connecting with people, striking up conversations, and always encouraged my brothers and I to never be afraid to reach out, make a friend, make a connection,” Hadro said.

“He encouraged me in my public speaking, which he also enjoyed, but he also just encouraged me to make those connections and talk with people,” she said. “You need to have that skill as a broadcaster and as an interviewer.”

“This is the first time I will be hosting a show where he’s not at home watching,” she said. But her faith assures her of his enduring fatherly love.