Peggy Stanton

Journalist, Broadcaster, Author, Painter ABC-TV

Who or what inspired you to become a journalist?

NBC TV News Correspondent

Peggy Stanton is a news correspondent, author, illustrator and painter, who served ABC-TV as the first woman news correspondent in Washington, D.C. She has produced numerous video documentaries and has been published in The Washington Post, The Washington Star, The Saturday Evening Post, The News Leader, The Islander, and Medjugorje magazine. Her book, “The Daniel Dilemma,” featured nine public figures, including Gerald Ford and Coach Don Shula, and examined how their faith impacted their decisions in public life. Peggy writes and broadcasts the Order of Malta Minute with the Catechism heard on Ave Maria Radio.

Peggy’s paintings have been featured in one woman exhibits in Washington, D.C. and the Marian Museum at the University of Dayton, the largest Marian Library in the world. In 1990, inspired by a visit to Medjugorje, she created a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, The Mary Anne Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to foster world peace through spiritual means.

Peggy has also assisted in rehabbing houses in New Orleans and has been a frequent pilgrim to Lourdes as a Dame of Malta, caring for those who are taken to the shrine annually by the Order of Malta. She has also produced several videos on Lourdes and has served on the boards of the National First Ladies’ Library, the Ivy Foundation, and the Order of Malta.

Nancy Dickerson was the woman who inspired my journalism career. As an English major and Political Science minor, I knew I wanted my career to embody writing, history, people, adventure, and purpose. One night in my junior year, I was watching the evening network news and I saw Nancy reporting from the field. “That’s it! That’s exactly what I want to do!,” I exclaimed. And from that moment till I signed the contract with ABC News, my desire never wavered. Nancy and I were competitors on some White House stories, but we also became friends. What obstacles did you have to overcome to land the groundbreaking position of ABC-TV’s first woman news correspondent in Washington, D.C.?

The biggest obstacles women had to overcome breaking into broadcast news was the fact that there were so few of us. Men had a difficult time envisioning women covering hard news rather than kitchen news. After college, I was the only woman in the CBS affiliate newsroom, so I was writing the scripts for men. One morning there was a double murder in downtown Milwaukee. All the male reporters were already on assignment, so I hailed a cameraman to film the scenes as I asked the questions. That’s how I became a news correspondent.

Of all the people you have written about who has had the most impact on your life?

It was absolutely the time when I met an 83 year-old nun in an Indian sari, Mother (now Saint) Teresa. I saw her captivate and dominate a room of world leaders when she delivered a speech in Washington, D.C. in her 80s.

What inspired you to write your new book, “From the White House to the White Cross?”

Over the years, I had been asked many times to write about some of the remarkable people and stories I had been privileged to cover in my career in communications and art. I had drawers full of journals I kept on overseas travels and experiences, some published, many not. The motivation to write a book came from my grandchildren, particularly my granddaughter Megan, who used to interview me for school assignments. It made me realize that young people are hungry for the experiences and lessons their elders have learned on their life’s journey. The book is essentially a story of conversion and my realization that spiritual power far outweighs material power. What can your listeners learn from your shows on Ave Maria Radio, Order of Malta Minutes with the Catechism and Power From the Pews?

What I hope audiences learn from the Order of Malta Minutes with the Catechism, are what the Catholic church actually teaches. All the answers are in the catechism. The min- utes are just a text size view of those teachings, which I hope will lead people to the actual book. Power From the Pews, the program I hosted for eight years, spotlighted the amazing number of works and ministries that were being conducted, not by the clergy, but by the laity (the people in the pews) and the great good that was being accomplished by those ministries. When the world went into COVID lockdown, I thought we needed to focus on peace, particularly inner peace, during a time people were feeling anything but peaceful. So I launched a new show, A Place of Peace. The guests were primarily theologians, philosophers, authors, artists, and performers from all over the world, who had written and spoken about the subject. One of our most popular shows was a selection of songs from “The Sound of Music,” which I had covered when the movie was being made in Austria. Tell us about The Mary Anne Foundation.

The Mary Anne Foundation, named after the mother (Mary) and grandmother (Anne) of Jesus, was created as a foundation to foster peace, built on the premise that the search for peace is first and foremost a spiritual quest. I was originally inspired to found it by the messages Mary is said to be giving to the world once a month concerning peace. It evolved into a full foundation with a number of programs promoting peace in the heart, peace in the home, peace in the country, and peace in the world in that order. The foundation sponsored rescue missions during the Balkan war, including trauma relief programs for Croatian women raped by Serbian soldiers, financial and spiritual support for war orphans, and peace programs developing children as the peacemakers. The latter program, which we launched through LIFE magazine, involved American children writing letters to the children of war in the Balkans. Over 3,000 letters poured in and were hand carried to the Balkan children. From this initial effort, Kids for Peace Week grew, forming a nationwide network of school children praying for and working for peace in the first week in December. Beginning with just 40 children in Washington, D.C., it eventually expanded via the internet to some 40,000 grade school students throughout America and led to the Ambassador for Peace program for high school students. The Mary Anne Foundation was one of the most rewarding chapters of my career. What does the word power mean to you?

My Webster’s Dictionary gives 14 definitions of “power.” The word consistently used in those definitions is effective, meaning that the use of authority or influence will bring about the desired result. Ever since my conversion in Medjugorje, I have desired to use my very limited area of influence to promote peace, both individually and globally. Peace in the heart leads to peace in the home. Peace in the home leads to peace in the community, in the country, and peace in the world. You can’t have five people in Geneva, Paris, or Washington successfully negotiating world peace who have no peace in their own hearts. And there is no peace in the heart of the creature unless he or she is at peace with the Creator.