Periodical of the World Family Radio Maria Association
Year V – Issue 19 January - February - March 2017
Lent Alive
D
ear Friends, throughout the centuries, the Church has lived the Lenten period with great spiritual intensity. Jesus’ example in the desert, praying and fasting for forty days and forty nights before facing and vanquishing the devil, has deeply marked the journey of preparation for Eas ter. Nowadays, all of this may seem to have vanished and there are few very few who live this extraordinary moment of commitment and grace. As the family of Radio Maria, we must wel-
come the Church’s invitation so that Lent may return to what it has always been in the Christian life. First of all, Lent is the time to dedicate ourselves to prayer in a special way. This does not mean just saying our prayers well and participating in the liturgical celebrations. We must seek God in the intimacy of our hearts and keep ourselves with him every day so that He might illuminate the decisions to be made and strengthen us to be faithful. Lent is a privileged time of
Mariathon fasting and penance, certainly not to be reduced to that little that the Church asks of us. To find the strength to overcome the temptations of the flesh and the devil we must learn the art of renunciation, which strengthens the will and enables us to overcome sin. Easter confession becomes the culmination of the path of conversion and prepares our hearts to receive the peace of Easter. Yours truly, Fr. Livio
Radio Maria, a Work of Mercy pg.
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pg.
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Radio Maria The New Intranet
Radio Maria Radio Maria News
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WF RADIO MARIA News
January - February - March 2017
Toward Mariathon 2017: Radio Maria, a Work of Mercy
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very year in May, there’s an event that allows us, in real time, to experience and live the Radio Maria Project as a place of communion of spiritual and material goods: we are talking about the Mariathon. This worldwide celebration is prepared for at various continental meetings that we call the pre-Mariathon. Three months into 2017, these preparatory meetings have already taken place in Houston, Uganda, Ecuador, and, by mid-March, in Hungary. Directors, presidents, and managers from every Radio Maria have prayed together and shared experiences that have produced remarkable results. It is a discernment of what to do to make our radio a beautiful work of mercy. At the same time, our missionary commitment leads us to look for ways to respond to countries that have requested a Radio Maria or to help them get a frequency. These countries include: Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico in the Caribbean; Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan in the Middle East; starting up in Nairobi; or assisting in Zambia… these appeals challenge us not to just stand by and watch. Although we also experience limits in facing a crowd hungry for the Word of God (we no longer have “five loaves and
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two fish”) we know that if we do everything we can and place it in Jesus’ hands through the intercession of his Mother, then our effort and generosity will reach everyone and there will still be a little left over to respond to new appeals. The path we must travel, as participants in this mission, is like the path of conversion that we have started upon in this Lenten season. It will reach its culmination when God will be in us all. The call exists… it’s up to us to answer it. Fr. Francisco Palacios
January - February - March 2017
News RADIO MARIA WF
The New Intranet: Help for our Daily Work
D
ear colleagues and Radio Maria managers, the new INTRANET, up and running since February, is active and available to you.
How do I access it? By visiting: www.intranet.radiomaria.org and entering your email (the one you used to register to
the previous intranet) and your password.
How can I use the in tranet? When you enter the site an automatic dialogue box will be activated, which will immediately offer help. There
are also tutorials available.
What are the Intra net’s Main Areas? • HOME: News, info, international calendar, colleagues’ birthdays, stations’ anniversaries… • DOCUMENTS: All of the platform’s documents and files are managed from and
that you have subscribed to). • WORKGROUPS: These are “rooms” where you can work on projects with other collaborators. All of the members of any particular workgroup can insert, modify, or delete, as well as create folders to share – either just with the workgroup’s members (“private” folder)
or, in READ ONLY access, with all of the intranet’s users (“public” folder). The “public” and “private” folders are automatically generated by the system whenever a group is created (only some managers for each station will have the ability to create groups). • RM LIST: Details and info of all the Radio Maria stations in the world. • MY RM: Details and info of the Radio Maria you belong to. • ADDRESS BOOK: Contact info and details of your collaborators around the world. We suggest you try out the intranet by dedicating 30 minutes to it every day. Happy surfing to all! If you have any questions, please contact us at: intranet.wf@radiomaria.org Raffaele Galati
organized here. It has three main areas: “my personal files” (you can put files, which are only available to you, here), “my radio” these are the documents pertaining to your radio station), and “my workgroups” (the document pertaining to any workgroups
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WF RADIO MARIA News
January - February - March 2017
Radio Maria Stations Celebrating Anniversaries in March, April, and May
L
April
et’s take a look at the anniversaries being celebrated in these three spiritually intense months, which are marked by Lent, Easter, and the dedication to Mary.
The first of April marks the anniversary of Radio Maria in Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo, active since 2014. Other stations that first saw the light in April are: RM Russia (12 April 1997), RM Burundi (17 April 2004), RM Belgium (18 April 2011), and finally, RM Tanzania (26 April 1996).
March Radio Maria Togo was launched on 14 March 1997 under the patronage of St. Joseph. Ten years later, the same date marked the birth of Radio Maria Dominican Republic.
M Radi ad o ag Ma as ria ca r
R
a M dio es Ma sic ria o
May
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On 25 March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, a very dear feastday for us, two radios were born in Oradea, Romania in 2006: one for the Romanian majority and another for the Hungarian minority. Three years to the day later, the microphones were switched on in Kin shasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then, in 2015, in Madagas car as well.
The month of May, traditionally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, obviously has the most celebrations. In 1995, three stations were born: RM Canada (5 May), RM Peru (13 May), and RM Malta (31 May). The following year RM Ugan da was launched on 1 May. RM France became active on 7 May 1998. In the Jubilee Year of 2000, RM United States began broadcasting, in English as well. Two stations celebrate their anniversary on 31 May: RM Mexi co (2003) and RM Uruguay (2005). Radio Maria reached Brazil on 13 May 2006 and Ireland on the same day two years later; Cameroon on 10 May 2011; and Slovakia on 20 May 2012. In the coming months, we will continue to keep you informed of the anniversaries of this family that is growing so recognizably and so unpredictably, like a forest from which, month after month, the fruits of conversion and peace continue to blossom in every corner of the world. Stefano Chiappalone
January - February - March 2017
News RADIO MARIA WF
ASIA & OCEANIA
Ra
AFRICA Historic president Emanuele Ferrario travelled to Radio Maria Ivory Coast and Radio Maria Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was an important journey, entirely dedicated to new projects for 2017. Michela Burdino
DR Ra C dio -K M ins aria ha sa
Just over a year ago, on 8 December 2015, Radio Mariam in Arabic was born, a miracle made possible by volunteers. Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria are just a few of the countries that broadcast regularly and this is all thanks to the constant commitment of many collaborators, volunteers, and above all the generosity of our listeners. Radio Mariam’s mission is to continue crossing national bor-
AMERICAS Radio Maria Guatemala organized a two-day event dedicated entirely to the volunteers and listeners of the city of Quetzaltenango. It was a weekend full of meetings and was characterized mostly by moments of intense prayer. Radio Maria broadcast the entire event live so as to involve even more distant listeners, reaching over 10,000,000 people across the country.
ia ar M ala dio em Ra uat G
The Ministry for Communication of the Republic of Kosovo has granted Radio Maria Kosovo the license for a new FM frequency that will cover most of the Pec´ and Prizren regions, thus reaching about 80% of the Catholics in the country (the population of which is majority Muslim). This decisive step forward occurred, significantly, on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of those working in communications.
ders, bringing the light of the Gospel to the furthest corners of the Middle East, those most marked by suffering.
Ko dio M so ar vo ia
EUROPE
M Rad ar io iam
Radio Maria News
Editorial Office: p. Livio Fanzaga; p. Francisco Palacios; Stefano Chiappalone; Raffaele Galati; Daniele Trenca; Michela Burdino; p. Charles Mutabaruka. Periodical of the WFRM Association
Via Rusticucci, 13 00193 Rome roma.wf@radiomaria.org www.radiomaria.org The contents of this periodical
(texts and photos) may be used in full or partially on the websites, newsletters, social networks of RM. Always mention the source “WFRM News”.
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