Radio retreats in English, Spanish offered by Catholic Communication Campaign

Washington - For the second year in a row, a series of Lenten radio retreats is being offered to radio stations by the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign in association with Franciscan Radio. The programs will also be streamed on the Internet for online listening and available in downloadable formats for saving and sharing.

The half-hour programs will help facilitate the prayer and reflection that are key components of Catholic Lenten practice. The retreats are among several Lenten resources available on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Web site, www.usccb.org/lent, and directly at www.radioretreat.org. Web resources include descriptions of each program, background information on the bishops and links to other Lenten spiritual resources. The programs can be downloaded from the Web site as MP3 files for podcast or other personal use.

There are six English-language and six Spanish-language editions of the retreats - one in each language for each Sunday of Lent, The first aired last month on February 25, the first Lenten Sunday.

Each radio retreat program features a bishop as retreat guide and homilist. Program host Elia Castillo opens the programs with a greeting and description of the retreat followed by a sung version of The Lord’s Prayer. Next the featured bishop presents his homily for the particular Lenten Sunday. The homily is followed by a meditative song and a question-and-answer segment with the bishop. The programs conclude with a wrap-up by the host and the bishop’s blessing.

Programs produced for the USCCB Catholic Communications Campaign by Franciscan Radio, a ministry of the Franciscans and St. Anthony Messenger Press.

The bishops featured in the programs are:

Week 1

English: Bishop John Michael Botean, Bishop of the Eparchy of St. George’s in Canton for Romanians

Spanish: Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, MSpS, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago

Week 2

English: Bishop Robert F. Morneau, Auxiliary Bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin

Spanish: Bishop Michael D. Pfeifer, O.M.I. of San Angelo, Texas

Week 3

English: Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona

Spanish: Bishop Plácido Rodríguez, C.M.F. of Lubbock, Texas

Week 4

English: Bishop Joseph N. Perry, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago

Spanish: Archbishop Roberto O. González, O.F.M., of San Juan, Puerto Rico

Week 5

English: Archbishop George H. Niederauer, of San Francisco

Spanish: Bishop Rutilio del Riego, Auxiliary Bishop of San Bernardino, California

Week 6

English: Bishop Joseph W. Estabrook, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services

Spanish: Bishop Patrick J. Zurek, Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio

The Catholic Communication Campaign is an activity of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that develops media programming, public service announcements, and other resources to promote Gospel values. Donations of Catholic parishioners make possible the work of the CCC. For more information, visit www.usccb.org/ccc.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C.