The following is taken from the Catholic Radio Association's document: "Catholic Radio: The Instrument of the New Evangelization - 'A Tool to Fulfill Your Charge as Teacher of the Faith' - www.CatholicRadioAssociation.org ----- For the complete document click here for the PDF.
The words of our Holy Father, echoing the words of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, have certainly proven to be true in regards to Catholic radio. In the few short years it has been in existence in its most common form, as an apostolate established and promoted within the local Church, Catholic radio has had a remarkable effect. Numerous conversions and “reversions”to the Church have occurred. The faith of an untold number of Catholics has been strengthened and deepened in a profound way. The work of ecumenism has been advanced at the grass roots level as many non- Catholics have found the misconceptions they had about the Church were erroneous.
Catholic radio has been found to be particularly efficacious in the sphere of evangelization and catechesis, in part, precisely because Western culture is, predominantly, a culture of the media. The desires, attitudes and ideas which most people hold, even their religious and moral beliefs, are shaped in large part as result of their choices of media consumption.
Despite several factors, including the Council’s call for the liberal use of Catholic programming over four decades ago, the Popes’ repeated encouragement of the use of this media, the successes of Catholic radio demonstrated over the past several years, and the need for new methods of evangelization to combat the steady decline of morality and hemorrhage of Catholics from the Faith, there are still fewer than 100 Catholic-programmed stations in the United States. This compares to over 2,141 non-Catholic Christian broadcast stations in the US out of a total of over 17,300 licensed facilities. This situation requires, and is at this very moment is, being remedied.
To understand the efficacy of Catholic radio in assisting the Pastors of the Church in building up the Mystical Body of Christ, it is important to answer a few questions. The first question is “Why Catholic radio?” That question can be broken down further into its constituent parts: “Why?” “Catholic?” “Radio?” Second, the related, and perhaps more practical, question needs to be answered. This question asks in what way(s) Catholic radio may assist the Church in fulfilling the missionary command of her Divine Savior to “Go and make disciples.” This is an especially pressing question with regard to the immigration of Hispanics to the United States and the intensity with which our separated brothers and sisters are focusing their efforts proselytizing the Hispanic community. Thirdly, one must ask, given the need and efficacy of Catholic radio, what is the most effective way of establishing a station? And finally, what role does and can the Catholic Radio Association play in assisting lay and diocesan Catholic radio initiatives to bear fruit, according to our Lord’s instruction on evaluating the value of any undertaking.
Why Catholic Radio? Indeed. Why Catholic radio? This is the essential question which needs to be asked and answered. Are there not already a multiplicity of efforts already in place in the Church to aid her in her mission of evangelization and catechesis? Is not the media best left to the secular efforts of those involved in entertainment, news, etc. already? Or, perhaps, should not Catholics simply be involved in bringing about a conversion within the prevailing secularity and immorality of the media so that it might provide wholesome entertainment and information?
One of the many attractive aspects of the Catholic Faith is its ability to be inclusive. It need not resort to an “either-or” mentality but can take the best of both this and that. In regard to the above questions, the answer is to do both Catholic radio and the Church’s other efforts and be a leaven in the secular media. In fact, as will be shown, Catholic radio can make the other works of the Church eminently more fruitful.
In Evangelii Nuntiandi, Pope Paul VI answered our question as to why we should establish and use particularly Catholic-programmed stations. He said. “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize…” In making this statement Pope Paul VI links the prophetic mission of Jesus Christ, "I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God” (Lk 4:43), with the mission of the Church to “Go and make disciples…teaching them all that I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20). This mission of the Church is precisely derived from Christ’s mission. It is his Mystical Body that carries on his (its) mission.
It is not the questions of “Why?”, then, that calls out to be answered. It is evident in all that the Church does, including her many magisterial documents, that her very nature is missionary, evangelistic. The more pressing questions then are precisely the questions of a message of evangelization that is specifically Catholic and the dissemination of that Catholic message via radio dedicated to that message.
In Redemptor hominis Pope John Paul II calls to mind that Jesus Christ fully reveals man to himself (cf. RH, 8) and that man is made in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gn 1:26). It is this fundamental understanding of man’s nature that calls for Catholic radio.How so?
We know that God is eternal truth. Jesus himself tells us that he is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6). If then, Jesus is truth and he fully reveals man to himself, and we know from Sacred Scripture that man is made in the image of God who is truth, then we know that man is made for truth; in the same way he is made for every other attribute of God, i.e., for love, for justice, etc.
The expression of the understanding of this revealed truth is no more poetically stated than in St. Augustine’s Confessions: “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed you fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.” 4
Nor is it more succinctly stated than by Augustine when he says, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
The Father’s of the Second Vatican Council understood this need of man for God and to hear the truths of the Faith proclaimed: “Therefore, this sacred Synod advises them of the obligation they have to maintain and assist Catholic … radio and television programs and stations, whose principal objective is to spread and defend the truth and foster Christian influence in human society” (Inter Mirifica, 17).
St. Paul himself, faced with a culture whose religious ideas and philosophies ran counter to the teachings of Christ, and even with sometimes openly hostile religious leaders, nevertheless found it imperative to preach “Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and and folly to the Gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23). Yet in preaching in a way that would have seemed folly to the experts of his time, Paul became the single most effective evangelist in all of human history.
Is mankind any different today? Is not the Crucified and the message He proclaimed a stumbling block to the prevailing religious sentiments of today? Is not the wisdom of Christ folly to secular humanists in their human wisdom? Is the power of Christ become lessened in our time that we need to couch our proclamation of the Faith in relevant language more palatable to our modern sensibilities? Need we hide the Light of Faith under a bushel basket and let out only faint rays, almost indistinguishable from those of other faiths, so as to somehow lure listeners into listening long enough to give them a snippet of Jesus Christ? Is our faith in God’s power to convert so feeble that we rely more upon the skillful crafting of our own words to bring about conversion? Do we really believe that by merely providing a form of Christian entertainment wherein we sow tiny seeds of Eternal Truth that we will have the success of St. Paul in bringing about the conversion of entire cities?
Today, just as in Paul’s time, the foolishness and weakness of God will prove to be stronger and wiser than man (cf. 1 Cor 1:25). We need only obey Christ’s command and follow St. Paul’s example.
Pope John Paul II makes this connection in Catechesi tradendae when he exhorts the catechist to pass on “the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Truth that he communicates or, to put it more precisely, the Truth that He is” (CT, 6).
Pope Paul VI sums up the imperative for radio programming that is specifically, unapologetically and thoroughly Catholic: “The purpose of evangelization is therefore precisely this interior change, and if it had to be expressed in one sentence the best way of stating it would be to say that the Church evangelizes when she seeks to convert, solely through the divine power of the message she proclaims, both the personal and collective consciences of people, the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieu which are theirs” (Evangelii nuntiandi, 18).
It goes without saying, even though we have forcefully said it, that there is an absolute and undeniable need for evangelization and catechesis and that that work be done through proclaiming Jesus Christ. But then how do we go about fulfilling that mission? Is Catholic radio a viable or effective means?
There are four reasons at which we will look to answer the question why use radio as a means of evangelization and catechesis:
1. The authority of the Church
2. The success of secular radio
3. The success of Christian radio
4. The success of Catholic radio
We will look at each of them in brief. The most compelling of these reasons is listed first and the most compelling evidence in support of this reason is the voice of the Holy Spirit in our time, the Second Vatican Council: “The most important of these inventions are those media which, such as radio…, can, of their very nature, reach and influence, not only individuals, but the very masses and the whole of human society” (Inter Mirifica, 1)
Yet not only has the Council called for Catholic radio, but each of the Popes going back to Pope Pius XII! Most recently one has only to think of the voluminous writings of Pope John Paul II, including Ecclesia in America, Redemptoris missio, and his many homilies and messages on World Communications Days.
Next we turn to the second reason, that is, the success of secular radio. At this end of the spectrum, for a reason from a completely secular point of view, we can see the impact that radio has just by viewing the enormous investment in radio infrastructure from individuals and international corporations. Would those seeking a return on their investment sink billions of dollars into a medium of communication that did not influence those it reached? Similarly, would advertisers, whose sole purpose in advertising is to convince listeners to buy their product, spend billions of their dollars on advertising each year if radio had not proven to be particularly effective in driving consumers to their respective products.
Thirdly, we must acknowledge the growth of evangelical Christian radio stations. This hits much closer to home, as we see the incredible investment by non-Catholic Christians in the modern means of social communications, i.e., radio, TV and the Internet, both in English and in Spanish. Specifically in regards to radio, our separated brothers and sisters currently own over 2.141 radio transmission facilities in the U.S. alone. They are not, however, in their efforts either here or abroad, slowing down. Just last year, non-Catholic Christians applied for over 8,000 FM translators throughout the United States and its Territories. This does not include their pending filings with the Federal Communications Commission for stations in the noncommercial FM band, the recent AM application window nor their purchase of already licensed facilities from other commercial and noncommercial broadcasters.
Clearly non-Catholic Christians have seen sufficient response to their evangelistic outreach through radio that they continue to commit significant sums of money to the acquisition of new outlets. It is important to note that Catholics are funding this expansion of non-Catholic Christian radio in the same percentage as they appear in the Christian population.
Lastly, our final reason points to the experience of Catholic radio as it is most commonly constituted today. Such Catholic radio stations have shown significant success in both numerical growth and in being an instrument through which God has brought about conversion.
HISTORY OF CATHOLIC RADIO
Catholic radio is growing throughout the United States, touching more souls daily with the message of Christ’s love.A reflection on the history of Catholic radio in the United States illustrates just how remarkably fast Catholic radio has grown. In 1997, there were only seven Catholic radio stations broadcasting in the US. As of January 2005, there are over 90.
The impressive growth of Catholic radio since 1997 is due to the response of the laity seeking to answer the Holy Spirit’s call. Knowing the impact a Catholic radio station can have in the community, many individuals, organizations and even dioceses have attempted to establish a Catholic radio station. However, it is estimated that less than 10% of individuals, dioceses, and organizations that begin the process to establish a station actually bring it to fruition.
There are many areas in the U.S. that still do not have Catholic radio. In fact, as the following chart illustrates, Catholic radio has an extremely small presence in the field of radio broadcasting as a whole. Most of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. have no Catholic station.
The tremendous need for effective evangelization and catechesis, and the emerging realization of Catholic radio’s ability to help meet that need, coupled with the growing number of dioceses and apostolates working toward establishing a Catholic radio station, led to the establishment of the Catholic Radio Association. The Association was founded in 1999 by the leaders and pioneers in Catholic radio. Its mission is to assist new apostolates and dioceses in successfully establishing and operating non-profit Catholic-programmed stations to evangelize and catechize the Faithful and non-Catholics alike. The directors and leaders of the CRA are responsible for almost half of all full-time lay Catholic radio stations on the air in the United States today. They have demonstrated their knowledge and ability in establishing and running radio apostolates. Their desire was, and is, to utilize the knowledge and experience they have gained and effectively transmit this knowledge to all members, that all may be more effective instruments of God in quickly and efficiently establishing additional stations.
WHY CATHOLIC RADIO WORKS
In addition to responding to the Church’s call for Catholic radio, there are several characteristics unique to Catholic radio, as a communications medium, that make it an effective tool for evangelization. Catholic Radio is:
- Available –Everyone can listen (no subscription or service needed)
- Personal - Radio touches people personally regardless of where they are (home, work, or in the car). Listeners are active participants, carrying on an inward dialogue with radio. Catholic radio prompts the listener to consciously reflect upon and internalize the Faith.
- Continuous - Always available, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
- Immediate - Direct to you without any intermediary
- Timely - Covering important issues and concerns as they happen.
- Cost-effective –Dollar for dollar radio it costs less than any other medium; it reaches more people in less time for less money with less staff
- Efficacious –It makes other evangelization efforts and catechetical programs more fruitful. Catholic radio has a synergistic effect upon its listeners, and increases fruit produced in all aspects of Church life.
Cost?
One of the reasons for the expansion of Catholic radio has been the increased availability of free, well-produced Catholic programming. Since the greatest operational expense in running a radio station is the expense of producing programming, and the greatest technical impediment is the production of quality programming, the availability of free, well-produced programming has been a tremendous boon and made radio viable in areas where it otherwise would not have been, or only been with tremendous local expenditures.
While some costs are higher or lower depending upon the market and the local outreach, the experience of member stations in the Catholic Radio Association shows that most stations operate, on average, for approximately $100,000 per year or less, even in major US cities. This is significant for several reasons: First, these stations are generally fully listener-supported. Some revenues may be acquired through underwriting, but these are generally a small percentage. Second, these stations operate with little, and usually no, diocesan money. Third, as listeners begin to understand and live their Catholic faith more fully, they begin to take their stewardship responsibilities seriously.
