Kresta in the Fort!

Talk Show Host AL KRESTA will be speaking this Monday 11/9 night at St. John the Baptist at 7:30 pm. 

Kresta will be speaking on “the 4 clubs” used most often  to beat up on the Catholic Church—and he will give you four “killer questions”  to put to anyone swingin’ those clubs. 

Kresta, a former Protestant Pastor turned Catholic Media Missionary and Founder of the Ave Maria Radio Network, will also broadcast LIVE from the Redeemer Radio studio on Monday, November 9 between 4 and 6 pm on Redeemer Radio, Catholic Radio, AM 1450 .

 

Fort Wayne’s St. John the Baptist Church

4525 Arlington Avenue

on Monday, November 9

at 7:30 pm 

Fr. Hesburgh Praises Obama Visit

In the Fall issue of the Notre Dame Magazine former ND President Fr. Ted Hesburgh praises Obama’s visit:

This year’s commencement was indeed “a defining moment” for Notre Dame because we didn’t duck the big issue of our times and the horrendous fact of so many millions of unborn children being coldly killed that brought this to a head. I trust that all of this will have an effect on the national debate and, hopefully, we will see greater efforts to, at least for now, lower the number of abortions and come up with positive programs to help unfortunate women who find themselves in this difficult situation and are persuaded to take the easy way out. Thanks for delineating the issue front and center.

Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC
Notre Dame, Indiana

What Were We Fighting About? First Anglicans Now Orthodox Turn to Rome

Is this 1989 or 2009? Back then JP2 and Reagan oversaw the rapid disintegration of the Soviet Union. Are Benedict and Obama catalysts for a return to Rome?

Zenit and Typika report:

A Bulgarian Orthodox prelate told Benedict XVI of his desire for unity, and his commitment to accelerate communion with the Catholic Church.

At the end of Wednesday’s general audience, Bishop Tichon, head of the diocese for Central and Western Europe of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, stated to the Pope, “We must find unity as soon as possible and finally celebrate together,” L’Osservatore Romano reported.

“People don’t understand our divisions and our discussions,” the bishop stated. He affirmed that he will “not spare any efforts” to work for the quick restoration of “communion between Catholics and Orthodox.”

Bishop Tichon said that “the theological dialogue that is going forward in these days in Cyprus is certainly important, but we should not be afraid to say that we must find as soon as possible the way to celebrate together.”

“A Catholic will not become an Orthodox and vice versa, but we must approach the altar together,” he added.

How Sweet It Is to be Southern and Catholic!

www.SouthernCatholicChicks.com… Great blog from two former Episcopalian southern “chicks” who started wondering what they were “protesting” as Protestants!

SouthernCatholicChicks.com

“You Have To Be A Real Man If You Want To Become a Priest…” – Fishers of Men – the Movie

The priest as Hero! Amazing film by Grassroot Films and USCCB

Did You Attend the Catholic Radio Conference? Let Us Know!

Did you attend the Catholic Radio Conference in Alabama this past week sponsored by the Catholic Radio Association and EWTN? If so leave a comment and give us a report. I’d expect the Spirit was moving in Birmingham!

Vatican Diplomat:”Absence of convictions does not define tolerance”

CatholicCulture.org reported comments from  Msgr. Anthony R. Frontiero. Msgr Frontiero is a priest of the Diocese of Manchester (New Hampshire) who began to work in the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2006:

“[N]eutrality toward world views cannot be truly tolerant and respectful. Likewise, an absence of convictions does not define tolerance; and in the absence of some compelling notion of the truth that requires us to be tolerant of those who have a different understanding of the truth of things, there is only skepticism and relativism.”He continued:

An authentic notion of tolerance in pluralistic societies demands that in their dealings with unbelievers and those of different faiths, believers should grasp that they must reasonably expect that the dissent they encounter will go on existing. At the same time, however, secular political cultures must encourage unbelievers to grasp the same point in their dealings with believers. When secularized citizens act in their role as citizens, they must [not] deny in principle that religious images of the world have the potential to express truth. Nor must they refuse their believing fellow citizens the right to make contributions in a religions language to public debates.

MTV Real World Star Now a Happy-Mom Evangelist!

Rachel Campos-Duffy star of the ground-breaking MTV Real World show spoke with Sean Herriot on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air today – about her new book “Stay Home, Stay Happy:  10 Secrets to Loving At-Home Motherhome“  as well as her recent appearance on The View TV show.

Christ didn’t leave a bible but a guide and a guard: the pope, the Church

Article by Michael Coren at CatholicEducation.org discusses Catholic Bashing – the Last Acceptable Prejudice

Today secularism is the ideology of fashion but Catholicbashing, the last acceptable prejudice in polite society, is the toxin the runs through the contemporary bloodstream of Western liberal society.

And he continues:

Christ didn’t leave a bible but a guide and a guard: the pope, the Church, all shaping the faith long before the New Testament was written and available. So it’s not a question of choosing what to believe but choosing to believe. Protestants broke the direct tradition leading from God on Earth and many of their 22,000 denominations ordain women, married men and active homosexuals. And the more liberal of the variety — Anglican, United and their American and European cousins — are hemorrhaging members to such a degree that they’re likely to effectively disappear within a generation. But the inclusion of almost everybody as a minister is as much as symptom as a cause

“With those who hate we should always be peaceful”

CNA reports that Benedict XVI held up twelfth-century Abbot of Cluny Peter the Venerable as an example for all Christians:

he explained to the 20,000 pilgrims, “constituted the ideal of a monk, but also of every Christian who wants to become a true disciple of Christ” in today’s fast-paced world.

Born in 1094 in Auvergne, France, Peter the Venerable was elected as Abbot of Cluny in 1122. Peter,  the Pope said, “found himself having to guide Cluny in years that were far from peaceful for internal and external reasons.”

Despite his pressing responsibilities and frequent travels in the service of the Church, Peter maintained a contemplative spirit, deep inner tranquility, rigorous asceticism and a capacity for warm friendships.

“Those who knew him exalted his righteousness, loyalty, elegance and special ability to mediate,” the Holy Father recalled. The abbot was “ascetic and strict with himself and understanding with others.”

Pope Benedict also recounted some of the monk’s sayings, such as, “more can be obtained from man through tolerance than complaint” and “With those who hate we should always be peaceful.”

Professor Charles Rice Circulates Blistering Open Letter to Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins

FreeTheND88.com – the site sponsored by the Thomas More Law Society posts comments from Prof. Rice’s recent open letter to Fr. Jenkins. The Society which won the landmark NOW vs Scheidler Supreme Court cases – is now taking on Jenkins and Notre Dame in defense of the 88 Pro-Life protesters arrested on the ND campus prior to Obama’s visit.

Professor Emeritus Charles E. Rice of Notre Dame Law School is circulating an Open Letter to Notre Dame President Father John M. Jenkins in which he highlights the “deficiencies” in Jenkins recent “pro-life” announcement. We will get to that in a moment but let’s skip right to the best part — a scathing passage which comes at the end of what is an absolutely relentless, methodical 2,500-word annihilation of the flimsy and now-teetering justifications put forward by the University for sitting on their hands while the criminal justice systems grinds down on the 88 people arrested last May now facing trial for criminal trespass.

Vatican Snubs Obama – Does Not Canonize Obama with Five New Saints

Benedict XVI canonized five new saints

The Church has five new Saints. A French woman who dedicated her life to care of the elderly and abandoned, a tireless Dominican preacher, a Trappist Cistercian Oblate monk and mystic, a Polish bishop and defender of the faith and a Belgian missionary who gave himself to the lepers on the margins of 19^th century society. Sunday was a day of celebration here at the Vatican, for these five people, who in Pope Benedict XVI’s own words show us that in gifting ourselves totally to Christ, in going against the trend we can reach perfection.

Thousands converged on St Peters basilica for the ceremony, from Spain, Poland, Belgium and Hawaii, the overspill filling St Peter’s Square waving their flags, holding aloft their banners. They watched closely as, Archbishop Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Angelo Amato read the names of those to be inscribed on the role of saints.

Benedict XVI Honors Mother Angelica with Highest Award – Papal Cross of Honor

Be There! Catholic Radio Conference – October 14-17

EWTN and the Catholic Radio Association are sponsoring this year’s Catholic Radio Conference October 14-17 in Alabama. Speakers include Most Reverand Robert J. Baker, S.T.D., Bishop of Birmingham, Alabama, Most Rev. Michael J. Sheehan, Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J, Host of EWTN Open Line, EWTN Live & Threshold of Hope and Kelly Donahue, FCC Audio Division Attorney, Media Bureau.

Obama Policies “Simply Wrong” – Cardinal George

RomeReports.com reports:

Miles away from home Cardinal Francis George took the mic at University of Lateranense, ready to discuss his latest book: The Difference God Makes.

A book, the President of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops says is about relationships and the role religion plays in peoples lives.

But aside from his written message, others are also interested in the relationship between U.S bishops and the White House.

Card. Francis George
President U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops
I think our country can be proud from having slavery in our constitution in the beginning to now having an African-American president, and we are proud of that”.

But bishops in the U.S are not proud of all the policies set by President Barack Obama, he calls some divisive.

Fr. Robert Barron – “Post-Liberal, Post-Conservative Evangelical Catholic” – Says Happiness Comes From Self-Giving

Fr. Barron talks to The Catholic Herald about the media and his “Catholicism” TV project:

The Catholic Church, Fr Barron thinks, has been “behind the curve” with the new media in comparison with Protestants. “I’ve just started in my own small way doing it,” he says.

“I discovered almost overnight that I was the leading Catholic media user in America.”

He took what was valuable out of the evangelical tradition and added to it what he calls the “the rich artistic and intellectual tradition” of the Catholic tradition. On the website wordonfire.org you will see articles, Scripture commentaries, and videos – dozens of them – in which Fr Barron sits in his study and chats. So fluent is he as a speaker that you hardly notice what he’s actually doing is “evangelising the culture”, as he would say, and drawing you into an elegant argument.

He surveys the contemporary scene from Barack Obama or Christopher Hitchens to the latest papal encyclical, The Sopranos – “Tony Soprano is sort of an Augustinian figure” – or the music of Bob Dylan, which he says is deeply biblical. He’s very clever and it does no harm that he seems solid. There’s nothing weird about him; neither is he a trendy try-hard.

The key thing for him is that Catholics should engage with the culture unapologetically. He’s fond of “John Paul Two”, as he calls him. “I think he was a very good example of this unapologetic but very genial Catholicism, not scolding and belligerent, but he was trying to show how attractive Catholicism was on its own terms.”

Relevant Radio seeks Operations Manager for Austin Texas Station

Relevant Radio is seeking an Operations Manager for its Austin station:

As an Operations Manager you are responsible for the sound and quality of the local radio station. Daily duties include station logs, production, copy-writing, recording and editing. The OM is responsible for keeping the station compliant and maintaining the public file. They will attend to the needs and request of the local listeners and maintain local content on the Relevant Radio website. The best candidate is a self-starter, organized, tenacious and has a passion for the Catholic faith and a love for the mission and culture of Relevant Radio.
Requirements:
- 3 – 5 years of radio broadcasting experience.
- Experience working in the areas of: traffic/logs; writing/recording promotional spots; production; live remotes.
- Associate degree/equivalent experience. Bachelor’s degree preferred.
- Demonstrate effective interpersonal and communication skills.
- Must be organized and with an eye for detail.
- Proficiency with MS Office and broadcasting software: Adobe Audition, Delta Flex and Simian preferred.

 Interested candidates must submit a cover letter and resume with an on-air demo to: hr@relevantradio.com

Catholic Radio Programmer Wanted – The Catholic Radio Network

Radio programmer wanted - 2 years previous experience in radio programming.Organized individual with relevant computer experience with attention to detail. Job includes programming dayly logs for 7 stations, recordings, time shifting. Experience with Simian and Cool Edit or similar programs preferred.Pay $25,000-$28,000 starting.
Send resumes or inquiries to: kccatholic@aol.com 

TheCatholicRadioNetwork.com has stations in Kansas City, Maryville and St. Joseph, MO also Wichita, Colorado Springs and Denver

What Movies Does the Pope Watch?

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of cinema in 1995, the Vatican compiled this list of “great films.”

Bishops Go Digital – New Office of Digital Media!

Check out the USCCB’s new Office of Digital Media!

The newly formed Office of Digital Media is responsible for developing and maintaining the USCCB’s Internet presence. Digital Media manages and maintains the USCCB Web site (http://www.usccb.org/) and other affiliated Web sites such as catholicnews.com, uspapalvisit.org, foryourmarriage.org, picturingmary.com and all the other department sites. The office produces and distributes several audio and video programs as well as text content for Web, TV, and radio

USCCB Applauds advance of Community Radio Act that will create hundreds of new low power FM stations

The USCCB issued a press release commending the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet for advancing the Community Radio Act of 2009 HR 1147

H.R. 1147 will create hundreds of new low power radio stations. These small radio stations offer Catholic programmers and Catholic dioceses and parishes (including the institutions they support, such as schools, health care entities, community development projects and refugee resettlement programs) a practical method of reaching their community with information and discussion of local issues. 
           
“Creating more low power FM radio stations will offer a place for non-commercial religious programming and public service announcements, which face an uphill struggle for airtime on commercial full-power radio and television stations,” stated Helen Osman, Secretary of Communications for the USCCB. “H.R. 1147 is a valuable opportunity for Congress to offer a platform for religious organizations, schools and community organizations to serve their communities with local radio programming.”            

Law Firm that Won NOW vs Scheidler Supreme Court Cases takes on Fr. Jenkins and Notre Dame in support of Pro-Life Obama Protesters

The Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center is defending the “ND 88″ – those arrested during protests to Obama’s appearance on campus. Their website is www.FreeTheND88.org An open letter to Fr. Jenkins  by Thomas Brejcha was published in the Washington Examiner:

Dear Father Jenkins:

I’m writing you, as president of Notre Dame, my alma mater, with an urgent plea that you drop the criminal trespass charges that have been pending against the many defendants – most of whom are faithful, fervent pro-life Catholics – who “dared” to venture onto Notre Dame’s campus last Spring, 2009, to bear peaceful, prayerful witness to the sanctity of all human life, from conception to natural death.

Among them were at least one priest and several nuns, Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, former presidential candidate Alan Keyes, two ladies – Jane Brennan, author of Motherhood Interrupted (2008), and Laura Rohling – who preach about healing and hope after abortion in the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado, and many other non-violent participants in America’s pro-life movement.

Many were praying the rosary or singing religious hymns. The priest – Fr. Norman Weslin, who regularly prays and counsels abortion-bound women about live-saving alternatives outside the Omaha, Nebraska abortion facility of late-term abortionist, Dr. Leroy Carhart – carried a heavy wooden cross and a rosary.

He continues:

With respect, Father, the future of these cases – if they must go on – is squarely in your hands. Notre Dame is the complainant. Its security personnel directed and/or conducted the arrests, pointing out those who would be arrested (pro-lifers) and those who would not (those carrying pro-Obama signs and/or taunting the pro-lifers).

I’m not only a Notre Dame alumnus but also president and chief counsel of a public interest law firm, based in Chicago, the Thomas More Society. We founded the Society over 10 years ago to carry on the defense of a nationwide federal class action lawsuit against pro-life protesters, NOW v. Scheidler.

The Scheidler case involved charges that what Dr. M.L. King called “peaceable, non-violent direct action” (Letter from Birmingham Jail (April, 1963)) constituted the federal felony crimes of extortion and racketeering.

We won Scheidler only after two decades of litigation and three U.S. Supreme Court appeals. We finally prevailed, with two successive Supreme Court wins, both by decisive, bipartisan margins: by 8-1 (2003) and then by 8-0 (2006).

Notre Dame helped us when we defended NOW v. Scheidler. Fr. Hesburgh wrote letters and agreed to testify as a character witness at the trial. Fr. Joyce sent us many generous donations. Notre Dame law professor Bob Blakey argued our first Supreme Court appeal.

But now the “Notre Dame 88″ have asked us to take the lead in their defense. Not to spite Notre Dame but because we love it, we have agreed. America’s civil rights movement is ongoing, and the pro-life movement is its next phase.

Notre Dame should not only support this new civil rights movement but lead it. It should honor all who dare to speak out for the dignity of all human beings – born or unborn, wanted or unwanted, humble or exalted – not prosecute them!

This open letter to Notre Dame was first published in The Washington Examiner

Praise You In This Storm – Casting Crowns

Now more than ever…

I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say “Amen”, and it’s still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

And I’ll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I’ve cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
And you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can’t find You

But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
“I’m with you”
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

He’s Back! – Neil Diamond – Pretty Amazing Grace

Catholic Radio Comes to Boisie! Spirit & Light Buys 1140 KGEM and 1490 KCID from Journal Broadcast Group

Wireless News reports:

Journal Broadcast Group and Journal Broadcast Corp. completed the sale of 1140 KGEM and 1490 KCID in Boise to the non-profit Salt & Light Radio for $950,000. “The sale of these stations to Salt & Light will bring Catholic programming to the Treasure Valley and allow us to focus on our four remaining radio stations and two TV stations,” said Doug Kiel, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Journal Broadcast Group. 

Physicists Come Out of Closet to Admit Existance of God – New astrophysical discoveries leave little to no room for Atheism

CNA reports Fr. Robert Spitzer, philosopher, physicist and past president of Gonzaga university says:

“Atheism and pop culture have had a significant impact on Theism and it has to be confronted especially because Secularism and the negation of God are becoming pervasive,” began the 57 year-old priest.

“Theism, in fact,  can be better explained by contemporary science and modern philosophy better than ever before,  but particularly interesting is what is happening in the field of astrophysics … to the point that  I can’t imagine why agnosticism and Atheism are still popular,” Fr. Spitzer said.

“That is why we need contemporary ‘translators’ that are capable of bringing today’s science to regular people, and especially, to bring the astrophysical response to atheism,” he added.

Fr. Spitzer explained that, since science is based on a empirical model, it can change at any time. Nevertheless, as science develops and the so called “Big Bang” theory of the origin and existence of the universe becomes more refined, “it becomes less and less possible for other explanations (of the universe) to be scientifically viable.”

The theory, developed by the Belgian Catholic priest and astronomer Georges Lemaître, proposes  that the Universe has expanded from a primordial dense initial condition at some time in the past (currently estimated to have been approximately 13.7 billion years ago), and continues to expand to this day.

The model, according to Fr. Spitzer, has been revised, refined and scientifically established to a point that any other theory of the origin and existence of the universe has become harder and harder to defend.

He continues:

“The concept at this point is clear: nothing is nothing, and from nothing, nothing comes, since nothing is… nothing!” Fr. Spitzer said, to explain the fact that contemporary astrophysics demands “something with sufficient power to bring the universe into existence.”

“It sounds like a theological argument, but is really a scientific conclusion.

“There is no way to ignore the fact that it demands the existence of a singularity and therefore of a Creator outside space and time,” he added.

According to Fr. Spitzer, “this theory has become so scientifically solid, that 50% of astrophysicists are “coming out of the closet” an accepting a metaphysical conclusion: the need of a Creator.”

Children of Athiests Do not have Philosophical Tools to Explore and Question

CatholicAnchor.org and ChristianTelegraph report that with the ranks of the non-religious almost doubling in the US since 1990 to 34 million – Colleges are finding children of non-religious households do not have the tools to deal with philosophical or religious questions.

Fr. Jenkins Sits on the Board of Pro-Abortion Organization

Per Lifesitenews.com – Drew Mariani and PewSitter.com have reported that Notre Dame president Fr. John Jenkins sits on the board of Millenium Promise - a organization dedicated to fighting poverty in Africa that promotes contraceptives and abortion.

The finding comes as the controversy over President Obama’s award and speech at the University reaches a fever pitch in the last week before the event.  As the president of Notre Dame, Fr. Jenkins has received the majority of the heat for the scandal. However, despite the criticism of over 70 U.S. bishops and over 350,000 petitioners, Jenkins has steadfastly continued to defend the university’s honoring of the president. In a letter to graduating students dated this past Monday, Jenkins said that Obama is “a remarkable figure in American history and I look forward to welcoming him to Notre Dame.”

Fr. Jenkins’ involvement on the board of the Millennium Promise was first reported by the Drew Mariani Show and PewSitter.com.  (See the list of board members here: http://www.millenniumpromise.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_bod) Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, a Catholic education watchdog organization, responded to the news of Fr. Jenkins’ involvement in Millennium Promise, saying in an interview with LSN, “One has to wonder what Fr. Jenkins’ opinion is of the Church’s teaching on contraception.” 

Stay connected with Catholic issues by downloading the free Catholic Radio Toolbar featuring a news ticker – at www.CatholicRadioToolbar.com!

Our Lady of Fatima Movie to be screened in major U.S. cities

The CNA reports that the new movie “The 13th Day” will be screened throughout the US on October 13.

A new film about the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, based on the memoirs of visionary Sister Lucia and the accounts of thousands of eyewitnesses, will be holding pre-release screenings in at least seven major U.S. cities.

Anthony Ryan, Director of Marketing for Ignatius Press, described the film as an “antidote” for our times.
“It is a reminder that a thin veil exists between our world and the next. The Message of Fatima is a relevant wake-up call to a culture torn apart by abortion, war, and injustice. Every Catholic, perhaps every person, should see this film,” he said.

Screenings of “The 13th Day” are scheduled for October 13, the anniversary of the final apparition. They will be held in Atlanta, New York City, Denver, Chicago and Oakland. Other cities with screenings include Orlando, Florida and Austin and Fort Worth, Texas.

Interested Catholic leaders can sign up for a screening in their area at the site http://www.CatholicScreenings.com.

No Catholic Radio in you Town? Listen to Shortwave on your Car Stereo with this inexpensive converter box!

Are you still waiting for Catholic radio to come to your area? Listen to Catholic Shortwave radio from around the world with this converter box.

MFJ 306 World Band Explorer converts your AM/FM car radio into a world band receiver at the push of a button. Unlike local FM and AM radio stations that fade out after a few miles, enjoy shortwave throughout your entire trip.

MFJ-306 covers the entire 19, 25, 31 and 49 meter international shortwave broadcast bands. On these bands you’ll hear stations from all over the world at various times of the day and year including Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australia, America and more!

It’s simple to install. Just unplug your car radio antenna and plug it into the MFJ-306, then insert the MFJ-306 cable into your radio antenna jack and connect 12 VDC

It is small enough to fit anywhere in your vehicle.
Push button selects world band or AM/FM radio.

The 13th Day Movie Trailer – New Fatima Movie Based on Sr. Lucia’s Memoirs & Eyewitness Accounts

Based on the memoirs of the oldest Seer, Lucia Santos, and many thousands of independent eye-witness accounts, The 13th Day dramatizes the TRUE story of three young shepherds who experienced six interactive apparitions with a Lady from Heaven between May and October 1917, which culminated into the final prophesized Miracle.

http://www.the13thday.com/

Visit Radio Maria Panama’s Youtube Channel!

Radio Maria Panama’s Youtube Channel

Radio Maria Panama Website

HMWN Radio Maria – Canada’s Catholic Station!

HMWN Radio Maria is 24 hour English Catholic, Canadian Radio station. The station’s programming includes a healthy balance of prayer, catechesis and music. Online at www.HMWN.net

What is EWTN Catholic Radio?

Catholic Radio – Touching Souls Right Where They Are!

25 Years of EWTN Catholic Radio!

Vatican Radio Museum Shows Evolution Of Radio

This building located in the heart of the Vatican gardens was the first radio station built by the inventor of this technology: Guglielmo Marconi.

Shortly after the establishment of the Vatican City State, Pope Pius XI asked Marconi to build a radio transmitter. The station opened in 1931.

Alido Brinzaglia
Vatican Radio Technical Museum
The Pope needed a radio, a sovereign and independent means of information, like the new state that had just been created.

Today, the Marconi building is the Vatican Radio Technical Museum. It was opened in 1995 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the invention of radio, and to pay tribute to its inventor.

The exhibit includes 180 pieces of equipment used by Vatican Radio since its beginning, and other items like this replica of Marconis first transmitter, this Edison Bell record player, or this microphone that was used by Pius XI.

Catholic radio reaches faithful in Kenya – CORO FM

A close look at Sunday radio program guides from Kenya shows religious programs on air on state and private radio stations. This is a shift from tradition, when these were aired by few and mostly regional religious radio stations.

A case in point is CORO FM, a local language station for the national broadcaster, the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, for which Martin Ndung’u Kamande produces and presents a Catholic program every Sunday.”The Sunday Catholic program is a five hour program, full of Catholic music and Catholic teachings and everything that entails Catholicism…

First of all, there is a prayer session, where we have prayer callers praying, and we also have the Catholic prayers and Catholic music.”This is a good sign of the religious tolerance and social coexistence needed in our world today. The Church, through the use of mass media, thus has an extra pulpit with which to pass on the “ABC’s” of the faith.”

We present the Saints and the feast days of the coming week. Between 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., we have a recorded Holy Mass–that is, we record it. And 8 to 9 we have a discussion, and then 9 to 10 is exit hour, where we have greetings, callers and some teachings of the Catholic faith.”

The program was recently polled as the most popular among regional FM offerings

Obama’s Catholic Plan – RealCatholicTV

No worries… we know who wins in the end!

Fr John Corapi and Newt Gingrich

Conversion stories from two men who had everything the world could offer…

KVSS – Now at 102.7FM with 50,000 Watts!

As of June 9,2009 KVSS Spirit Catholic Radio in Omaha Nebraska is now broadcasting at 102.7FM with a new 50,000 watt transmitter!

After more than 18 months of prayer and planning, Spirit 102.7 FM is on the air at 50,000 watts!  Praise God!  Many thanks for all those prayer warriors and those who came forward with their financial support to make this possible.  We say good bye to the 88.9FM signal and the 103.1FM signal after more than 10 years and five years respectfully of transmitting the Word of God.

Did You Think

I first heard this song on Fr. Roderick’s Daily breakfast #213… Could be a song God sings to us..

Fr. Clement Machado – The Priest Is a Super-Natural Calling!

Recent article at JesusBeWith.us:

Say the word missionary and many think of a devoted priest hacking his way through a jungle to spread the Word of God.

Now meet Father Clement Machado—a modern missionary hacking his way through secular 21st century America, clouded Catholic thinking and even the work of the devil.

If you’re fortunate enough to hear him tell how the Blessed Virgin Mary visited him at the age of 11, you’ll learn that Mary showed him a vision of Hell and then of Heaven. He knew then that he was going to be a priest.

Father Machado—missionary, exorcist and a surprisingly humble and humorous priest—spoke before a crowd of around 450 on Sunday, Aug. 9th on the Roman Catholic priesthood and Pope Benedict’s declaration of the Year for Priests.  He emphasized the year was for priests, not of priests.  A year to pray for and celebrate the gift that God has given us through His priests.

And many religious Protestants are no better, spreading vile anti-Catholicism—calling Pope John Paul II the Anti-Christ or ignorantly claiming that Roman Catholics worship idols.  You would be hard pressed to find a Southern Baptist who thought a Catholic priest was equal to one of their ministers.  And in a way, they’re very right.  Priests are not the equals of Protestant ministers as you’ll see in abit.

But worse than either Hollywood or the Protestants, both of whom you’d expect such attitudes and behavior from, are Catholics who are blessed to have priests, yet treat them only as a commodity, and not the special gift from God that priests are.

Sarah Bauer – Radiance!

Fr. Roderick talks about Catholic musician Sarah Bauer in Daily Breakfast No. 674… (Where was this music 40 years ago!)

Bishhop D’Arcy: ‘Notre Dame Must Answer for Honoring Obama”

In a cover story in Jesuit-run “America” magazine Bishop D’Arcy states that the University of Notre Dame must answer for honoring Obama:

The real question posed by the situation is whether or not a Catholic university has a responsibility to give a public witness to the faith, D’Arcy states. “If not, what is the meaning of a life of faith? And how can a Catholic institution expect its students to live by faith in the difficult decisions that will confront them in a culture often opposed to the Gospel?” he wonders.

“In its decision to give its highest honor to a president who has repeatedly opposed even the smallest legal protection of the child in the womb, did Notre Dame surrender the responsibility that Pope Benedict believes Catholic universities have to give public witness to the truths revealed by God and taught by the church?” the bishop also asks.

Check Out the New Toolbar Updates at CatholicRadioToolbar.com!

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It’s Here! The New Roman Missal

The USCCB has launched a new website today to provide information about the new translation of the Roman Missal

Shaking the Dust From Their Feet – ND Alums Still Fuming over Obama Visit

The Summer 2009 edition of the Notre Dame magazine includes pages of letters from alumni and former supporters still upset and disappointed over the University’s honoring of militantly pro-abortion Obama.

One alum states:

Please do not forward ND Magazine to me going forward. I am a 1990 alumnus and am viscerally disgusted by Mr. Obama’s presence at commencement today and Jenkins’ ignorance of the Catholic faith.

Very simple — you don’t honor someone with views antithetical to what should be our beliefs and disregard our bishops’ teachings. Even Arizona State University — a secular institution — understands you don’t honor someone with a degree who has not accomplished anything of merit.

Jenkins stated in his address that he hopes all the graduates will always consider ND as home. I did up until this event today. That is truly sad as I had “indoctrinated” my 13-year-old son since he was a toddler of the wonder of ND. I had hoped to do the same with my toddler daughter.

Kerry Temple’s Chicago Tribune editorial today also shows his lack of understanding of our faith.

Jenkins’ actions have one positive result: it confirms the church is comprised of sinners, which gives us all hope.

And a fan:

I am not a radical anything. I am a 67-year-old woman married to a wonderful man who was reared in South Bend, Indiana, and is a sincere and BIG Notre Dame fan. However, our consideration of Notre Dame as a beneficiary of our wills has come to a screeching halt. It is both mine and my husband’s opinion that the current president of Notre Dame should be fired for not only inviting, but endorsing Barrack Obama’s presence and speech at this year’s graduation ceremony. Obviously, the major reason for our love for and respect of Notre Dame is its Catholic heritage and beliefs which are now in question by us and I’m sure, many others. And that’s that. We wash our hands of Notre Dame and pray others will follow suit until this fine University returns to it’s roots and core beliefs

And another:

Beyond my heart’s sickness over Barack Obama’s being honored by Notre Dame and my sincere desire to see John Jenkins removed from his position and defrocked, is my deep and abiding concern for the lack of religious teaching within Notre Dame. I know this lack exists by the response of the graduating class not only to Obama’s presence but to his speech. Religion is the only hope left for America to survive, and to see an institution such as Notre Dame fall so far is beyond worrisome. Know that my prayers are for a more faith-filled future for your university

Did Benedict Give Barack Some Homework?

CNA is reporting:

Pope Benedict XVI received President Barack Obama this afternoon in his private library, and after 36 minutes of private conversation, the pair emerged without providing any details about their topics of conversation. Nevertheless, the Holy See revealed that the Pope gave Obama an “unannounced gift”–a Vatican document on bioethics and the right to life.

After the private conversation, and again in front of the cameras, President Obama gave the Pontiff a stole that was drapped upon the body of St. John Neumann from 1988 to 2007. The Pope instead presented the president with a mosaic portraying St. Peter’s Square and the Vatican Basilica, and an autographed copy of his latest social encyclical “Caritas in Veritate.”

Despite the fact that the Vatican did not release an official statement about the nature of the meeting, the “unannounced” gift to Obama of the 2008 document “Dignitas Personae” on bioethics and the right to life, could be a signal of the nature of at least part of their conversation.

You Don’t Mess Around with Barack

A theme song for Barack’s meeting with Benedict?  To the tune of Jim Croce’s “Don’t Mess Around with Jim”:

ND’s got it’s hustler (Jenkins)
Kansas had it’s bum (Tiller)
Democrats in DC got the Great Kenyan Pretender
He’s one confused son of a gun
 
Yeah he talks a lot like Reagan 
But acts more like Stalin and Mao
And when Planned Parenthood folks get together at night
You know they all call ‘Bama “boss” just because

 

And they say

 

The abortion survivors can’t live
You don’t punish our girls with a kid
You don’t pull the mask off of our messiah
And you don’t mess around with B’rack

 

Well outta South Bavaria came a Godly boy
He say I’m looking for a man named B’rack
I am Mary’s boy
My name is Joseph R
But in Rome I’m called 16

 

Yeah I’m looking for the king of the abortion mill
He’s the prophet of the Culture of Death
Last month he insulted Our Lady
And it may sound crazy
But I’ve come to give her honor back

 

And they say

 

The abortion survivors can’t live
You don’t punish our girls with a kid
You don’t pull You mask off of our messiah
And you don’t mess around with B’rack

 

Well a hush fell over St. Peter’s
As Evil came walking off Air Force One
And when the Spirit was done
The only part that wasn’t quaking
Was the soles of the small man’s feet
 
Yeah there are over fifty million babies
So just like on Damascus road
You’d better believe 
NPR sung a different kind of story
When Barry’s knees hit the floor

 

You don’t tug Juan Diego’s cape
You don’t change money in His home
You don’t pull a glove off of Padre Pio
And you don’t mess around with MOM!

 

Yeah, Barry got his hat
Find out where it’s at 
And it’s not killing kids and dissin’ Our Lady 

Even if you do got a two-piece custom-made teleprompter

 

You don’t tug Juan Diego’s cape
You don’t change money in His home
You don’t pull a glove off of Padre Pio
And you don’t mess around with MOM!