Periodical of the World Family of Radio Maria Association
Year III – Issue 11 – April-May 2015
2015: a special year for RM around the world
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he worldwide journey begun by Radio Maria in January 2015 has allowed us to experiment the decisive and dynamic development which the project is experiencing and it goes well beyond our own strength. At the same time, so that the latter maintains its unitary nature in the diversity of cultures and moments of growth as a Church, it is necessary to create new spaces for the communion of spiritual and material goods, strengthen the bonds of the Marian family and share experiences, so we can feel part of One Radio, One
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Mission. To effectively achieve this communion of goods, in October will take place the congress of the World Family of Radio Maria, a meeting which will allow us to weigh up the three-years period that has come to an end and look at the future. In the meanwhile, to offer our listeners around the world the opportunity to be an active part of this mission, we are organising the next World Mariathon which will be held in the third week of May, under the slogan: “Let us help Our Lady to help us”. These moments of communion cannot be improvised;
they require preparation, coordination, but above all that we renew our decision to faithfully respond to the calling of Jesus’ Mother, who invites us to support her project to announce her Son.
Holy Week at Radio Maria Lithuania
his year Radio Maria experienced the Holy Week in a special climate of Easter and Divine Mercy. For the Paschal Triduum we prepared a special programme following the liturgy of the Triduum. On the first and second day of Easter we recorded and broadcasted the greetings of all bishops of Lithuania for our listeners.
Perpetual adoration, which began more than one year ago, continues in the Radio’s chapel. The Blessed Sacrament is adored every day of the week except Sundays. Holy Week was special because we had lot of work to do preparing the broadcasts from the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Vilnius, in which Blessed Mykolas Sopočka, Sr. Faustina
Kowalska’s confessor, had lived for some time. This church is the home of the original painting of Merciful Jesus, painted according to the instructions given by Saint Sr. Faustina. Throughout Holy Week, we broadcasted the liturgy and every night the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. These night-time broadcasts began more than one year ago from the most important shrines of Lithuania: Šiluva, Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius. to page 3...
Thanks to the meetings which have taken place in the United States, Peru, Switzerland, Tanzania and Philippines (see photo below)… to page 2…
WORLD FAMILY Mariathon: walk of hope
on pg. 3
RADIO MARIA Worldwide Radio Maria anniversaries
on pg. 4
RADIO MARIA App to listen to Radio Maria on pg. 5
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from page 1 ..where the editors of each continental RM have met, it has been possible to identify the ways and means available to us, so that RM can carry out its mission to make its broadcasts reach listeners in the best possible way and to ensure that RM be present in the countries where we are invited to set it up. We thank RM listeners around the world, who are the richness of this project, and we are grateful to all the volunteers who have accepted to become directly responsible in their country’s association, so that the Virgin’s cloak may continue to spread out, including in circumstances which are hindering this work of love. Fr. Francisco Palacios
USA
Switzerland
Tanzania
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Mariathon: race for solidarity, walk of hope
e are at the starting blocks. Mariathon, the spiritual, editorial and promotional event on the territory has reached its third edition and on the next few days of May the microphones will re-open under the motto “Let us help Our Lady to help us!”. Our broadcasting stations worldwide will be united in prayer, in radio programmes and in fraternal sharing to support the developing countries which have asked to receive the announcement of the Gospel through the airwaves of Radio Maria. Since 2013 the idea of a race for solidarity, conceived first in Latin America and then exported in the five continents, has involved millions of listeners who have generously helped the World Family of Radio Maria association to lay its foundations and strengthen them for the growth of new radio stations in response to the numerous requests we receive. Much has been done so far: RM India (Asia), RM Ireland (Europe), RM Madagascar, RM Republic of Guinea and RM Equatorial Guinea (Africa) are some of the fruits obtained from Mariathon, which has been
able to move the hearts of many listeners who with sacrifice have welcomed the cry for help from those who live in everyday situations of social, economic and religious emergency. Much remains to be done. We have set important targets for the next Mariathon: set up new radio stations in Nigeria and Haiti, increase the number of frequencies in Africa (DR Congo and Zambia) and try to open a studio in the capital of Cameroon (Yaoundé) and Kenya (Nairobi). As suggested by Pope Francis, the Church must “step outside” herself, outside its own borders and limitations, to reach the most needy and often dramatically forgotten boundaries. This is the mission of Radio Maria and this is what Mariathon proposes to accomplish, involving volunteers, listeners, collaborators who “run” for 48 hours non-stop to give hope and actually live the charity preached by the Gospel. Let us join in a worldwide embrace, tie our shoelaces and tune our hearts into the frequencies of Radio Maria the first week of May: “Let us help our Lady to help us!”. Raffaele Galati
Holy Week at Radio Maria Lithuania from page 1... The listeners are very appreciative, happy and full of gratitude for this. Encouraged by this experience we have also decided to broadcast the night-time adoration from the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Vilnius, because our greatest desire is that Divine Mercy touches as many hearts as possible. We invited the entire World Family of Radio Maria to join with us in our broadcast from the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Vilnius on the Second Sunday of Easter (also called “Mercy Sunday”). This has enabled the message of Sr. Faustina on Divine Mercy to spread from the city of Vilnius to the whole world. At the same time the idea came about to consecrate all the Radio Maria stations worldwide to the Merciful Love of God. We began to organise everything, and unexpectedly Pope Francis officially proclaimed the opening of the
Jubilee year dedicated to Divine Mercy which will begin on 8th December 2015. Radio Maria in Lithuania is full of fervour and enthusiasm to broadcast the good news of Divine Mercy in Lithuania and through the World Family worldwide. The second step which we are already planning is to start broadcasting the night-time adorations with various intentions, on the First Friday of the month, from the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Vilnius. We are thinking of starting in May. We invite you all in this Jubilee Year of Divine Mercy to visit the city of Mercy, the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, where Sr. Faustina lived and had her visions. Here is the first painting of Merciful Jesus, which was revealed to the Saint exactly 80 years ago and today, worldwide, it is known as the rosary of Mercy. Vilnius awaits you!
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Fam. Latina and continental training ike for FARM in Maria project in Latin Tanzania and Wor- America. Thanks to theRM Ireland ld Family Inc in the oretical and practical
United States, which have been operating at for several years, in the same way the mission of “Famlatina”, inaugurated in Guatemala on 5th January 2015, is to assist the Radio Maria stations in America to develop comprehensive training programmes to maintain the essence of the Radio Maria identity as a project of evangelisation. The service is provided in two ways: training processes, entrusted to the continental training team (EFCA) of the participating countries, and administrative support in the technical area, according to the guidelines set out by the World Family in Italy. The goal is to generate dynamic growth which responds to the new evangelisation required by the Church through people training, research and sharing of experiences, above all in the Radio
courses held in the facilities of Radio Maria Guatemala, or in the radio premises that require it, Famlatina offers assistance in the different areas of expertise of a radio, facilitating team work and solving problems which could arise. In this it avails of the good practices proposed by the continental radios to make use of a training programme which is comprehensive and suited to the needs of the Radio Maria stations who wish to have the service. Today we can state that requesting such support will make it possible to be realistically partnered in the development of the Virgin Mary’s missionary project. For the Famlatina team in Guatemala it is an honour to serve the Radio Maria family in Latin America.
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he feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, 13 May 2015, has been set as the launch date for Radio Maria Ireland. One
was completed on Holy Thursday, 2 April 2015. Work on the technical fit-out will finish in early May. None of this would have been
of the longest-running Radio Maria projects in the world, the work is continuing apace in order to have the Dublin-based studios ready for broadcasting on 13 May. From the Holy Year of 2000 until now, the story of Radio Maria Ireland has been one of faithful dedication to the fulfilment of a dream – and to realizing the vision of Our Lady. Renovation Alicia del Cid and construction work
possible without the incredible support of the World Family of Radio Maria in Italy, Germany, Austria, Romania and the USA. Please be assured that you are included in our Masses and prayers each day. May Our Lady of Fatima bless all of our preparations and lead many listeners to her Son through Radio Maria Ireland.
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Worldwide Radio Maria anniversaries
tree is recognised by its fruits and the small seed born in Italy continues to spread numerous fruits of conversion and human development throughout the five continents. In our World Family to remember the many fruits which have already been collected encourages us to trust in the coming ones: “We see how faith, as remembrance of the future, memoria futuri, is thus closely bound up with hope” (Lumen Fidei n°. 9). In March and April we also renew this memory full of hope in Divine Providence which manifests itself through the many small and large sacrifices of volunteers and listeners. On 19th March, the feast day of St. Joseph, we remember two anniversaries: RM arrived in Togo in 1997 and in the Dominican Republic in 2007. On 25th March, the feast day of the Annunciation, all the RM stations worldwide consecrate themselves to the Virgin of the Annunciation: on that date it is therefore particularly significant to celebrate the birth of RM Madaga-
scar, which happened this year, and the anniversary of two radios in Romania, one for the Romanian language speakers and the other for the minority of Hungarian languages, both set up in 2006. Finally, in April we celebrate two African and two European RM stations. On 1st April, RM celebrates its anniversary in Congo Brazzaville, where it arrived in 2006. We have been in Russia since 12th April 1997, a date which this year coincided with the Easter celebration according to the Julian calendar on 18th April 2011, Radio Maria Belgium was born in the heart of Europe and finally on 26th April we celebrate RM Tanzania (photo), one of the very first African radio stations, set up in 1996. Once again we thank God for each name, each face, each effort, each sacrifice which is concealed behind each one of these dates. “The Lord has done great things” (Psalm 125) but wants to do even more using our poor efforts; if we entrust them to Mary it will be possible to shake up the world! Stefano Chiappalone
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WFRM App
very day we use our telephones to phone, send messages and surf the net. We also use many Apps every day that make our life much easier. For Radio Maria it is important to send its message of evangelization taking advantage of these opportunities through telephones and tablets. For this reason, we are happy to announce to all our
App and if you consider it appropriate, you can make a donation to support your Radio Maria. This application is available for all types of Android, Apple and Windows Phones smartphones and tablets. All you need to do is connect to your phone’s store from where you download all your Apps and simply look for the words “Radio Maria World Family”
listeners that the “Radio Maria World Family” App is now available. It allows you to surf among the various Radio Maria stations, listen to the broadcasts of the different radios around the world or to those of your favourite radio. The App is free and you can download it for your phone in any part of the world. From this App it is also possible to access the websites and social media profiles of all the radios or of your Radio Maria. Finally, always from the same
to find the official Radio Maria App. Once installed… you will be “cyber listeners”. Try this application and suggest it to your friends as a new important opportunity to listen to Radio Maria anytime, anywhere. Don’t wait any longer, from today Radio Maria will always be with you! For further information and details write to: appsupport@radiomaria.org Renzo Mazzotti
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The Family of Radio Maria in the World
RM Cameroon
RM Ukraine
RM Colombia
RM Philippines
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WORLD FAMILY OF RADIO MARIA news periodical of the World Family of Radio Maria association
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