Canada's Salt and Light TV: World Youth Day's creative nexus lives on

Published: 2007-08-14

TORONTO (CNS) -- Drawn from the Gospel of St. Matthew, the phrase "salt and light" became the banner for World Youth Day 2002, which drew to Toronto nearly 200,000 young people from throughout Canada, the United States and 172 other nations. These young pilgrims were inspired by the experience of sharing their Catholic faith with each other and with an elderly pope who had dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel. Pope John Paul II, the founder and former "star" of the international gatherings, did not live to celebrate a subsequent World Youth Day. Yet his legacy to young people -- and the creative nexus of youthful enthusiasm and mature vision -- live on in Toronto five years later, also under the banner of salt and light. Operating from a modest studio in downtown Toronto, the Salt and Light Television Network began broadcasting 24-hour, noncommercial Catholic programming to Canadian cable TV subscribers in 2003, not long after its chief operating officer, Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, concluded his duties as director of World Youth Day 2002.

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