By Michael Motes

Working his way through college as a page at NBC Television in New York, John Catoir had as his goal in life a career in broadcasting -- more specifically, he had high hopes of pursuing the dream that he developed while still in high school of working with educational television.

But as is often the case, the youthful dream was abandoned. In John’s case, it was the Korean War that put an end to his career planning.

Graduating from New York’s Fordham University in 1953, he enlisted “to keep from being drafted” in the Army and the next two years found him serving as an MP in Texas.

“I realized during my Army days that my whole life was upside down,” he says. “Once I was watching TV in an NCO club and a show came on with which I had worked at NCB. It suddenly occurred to me that all the glamour associated with television was very shallow and short-lived. I had been a small part of it, but now was sitting far away from New York and NCB, not knowing what I wanted.”

The MP started attending Mass regularly and when his base Chaplain needed an assistant, John volunteered his services.

“That was the best thing that happened to me while in service. Serving at Mass and praying for guidance for my future led me to believe that I had a calling to the priesthood.”

Following his discharge, he entered New Jersey’s Darlington Seminary and in 1960 the would-be educational television producer emerged as Father John Catoir.

And today he’s finally and firmly launched in a television career as part of his multi-faceted position as director of The Christophers, the dynamic mass-media organization which uses the printed word, television and radio to bring the concept of service to God to millions of followers throughout the world.

“It’s really a miracle that I’m where I am,” Father Catoir said in a recent interview in Atlanta. “While in high school, I read some of the writings of the late Maryknoll Father James Keller, who founded The Christophers in 1945.

“Father Keller’s thinking, suggesting to young people that they should enter major spheres of influence to make their voices heard, to make some contribution in the world, impressed me and I decided that I would do this through educational television,” he recalls. “But outside of the work as a page, I long ago abandoned any thoughts of TV work.”

Father Catoir’s career as a priest ranges from working in his home diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, as Presiding Judge of the Marriage Tribunal to serving as president of the National Association of Church Personnel Administrators.

Today he is delighted to be associated with one of the longest running programs in television history, the half-hour “Christopher Close-Up,” which he co-hosts on a weekly basis with Jeanne Glynn.

“The show has been on the air for 28 consecutive years,” he boasts. “That means that we’ve beat Ed Sullivan’s 20 year run and even topped ‘What’s My Line?’”

The unique factor behind the broadcast of “Christopher Close-Up,” which airs in Atlanta on WSB-TV, Channel 2, at 6 a.m. each Monday, is that all on-air time is donated by individual television stations. The program is currently seen on 181 stations in the United States and is carried via the Armed Forces Network throughout the world.

“We even hear from those aboard ships in unbelievably remote areas,” says Father Catoir. “Our broadcast hours are not exactly prime time, but we do manage to reach almost countless viewers, thanks to the generosity of station personnel throughout the country. There is no way that we could pay for broadcast time to reach half the number of people that we are reaching now through the time donated to The Christophers.”

Father Catoir explained that the main purpose of The Christophers is summed up in the origin of the Greek word “Christophoros,” which means “Christbearer.”

“We can’t do all the good that Christ did,” he says, “changing water to wine or healing the blind, but we can help to eliminate the negative of life by implanting the positive and constructive ideas. We use the theme given in Romans 12, ‘Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’”

While the television show is a vital part of the ecumenical evangelization concept of The Christophers, Father Catoir says that “the basic blood” of the work appears in “The Christopher News Notes,” a pamphlet mailed seven times a year to more than 700,000 people.

“In the News Notes, we stress our basic themes of ‘It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness,’ which is an old Chinese proverb. We take a central theme and offer positive commentary on it. For example, the upcoming May copy of the News Notes is devoted to careers and job hunting.”

Away from filming “Close-Up,” Father Catoir keeps busy writing a syndicated column which appears in approximately 200 newspapers and authors many of the 60-second “Thought for the Day” radio spots, broadcast nationally by over 2,000 stations. He is the author of four books, the most recent entitled “What A Day This Can Be,” a series of daily inspirational stories and meditations similar in format to his “What One Person Can Do” syndicated newspaper column. His many contributions to the printed media have recently earned him a seat on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Press Association.

Father Catoir is also proud to be a part of another area of Christophers work -- the annual presentation of awards for excellence in the fields of television, motion picture and publishing. This year marked the 30th anniversary of The Christopher Awards, which were begun by the later Father Keller. Honored for their pioneering efforts in inspirational and entertainment programming were Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and Milton Berle.

The Christophers director has little comment on the status of commercial television today, but does express his distress at the lack of “quality entertainment for children.”

“In the entire wasteland of television, it’s really sad that children have so little. With the exception of ‘Sesame Street’ and a couple of other Public Broadcast System offerings, they’re left out.”

Overall, he feels that “there is plenty of room for improvement” in TV programming. “But,” he says, “as long as the rating systems remain TV’s Bible, the public will get what they want. Currently, it appears that they want situation comedy and the airwaves are flooded with it.”

For early-rising Atlanta area TV viewers, more of Father Catoir’s commentary can be heard each Monday morning at 6 on WSB-TV, Channel 2.