Late pope's 'new evangelization' has transformed airwaves

Published: 2006-04-03

INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minn. (CNS) -- The late Pope John Paul II might have found it a sweet irony that millions of Americans tuned into Catholic radio for programs commemorating his death April 2, 2005. When he called for a "new evangelization" in the U.S. at the dawn of the third millennium, Pope John Paul described modern media as an indispensable means of achieving it. "Using the media correctly and competently can lead to a genuine inculturation of the Gospel," he wrote in his 1999 apostolic exhortation "Ecclesia in America." At that time, about two dozen Catholic radio stations operated from coast to coast. But it didn't take long for the seeds of Pope John Paul's encyclical to sprout. By the end of 2000, there were 35 Catholic radio stations, according to the Catholic Radio Association, which was founded in 1999 with the mission "to serve the new evangelization." Now 130 Catholic radio stations operate in the U.S., the association reports, marking a 400 percent increase from the end of 1999 to today. Catholic radio reaches more than 80 million Americans.

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