July 24, 2009
Radio Mass reaches homebound in 14 counties
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
There are so many new ways to stay connected. The Intenet. Cell phones. Cable news.
And there is an old reliable way. The radio.
Every Sunday morning, on 106.5 FM radio out of Washing-ton, there is a radio broadcast of the Mass, allowing the home-bound in 14 counties to have the opportunity to listen to the Liturgy on the radio.
Kathy Burch, who works at the radio station, said the 50,000 watt station can be heard in the towns of Bloom-field, Jasper, Linton, Loogoo-tee, Sullivan, Vincennes and Washington.
Jim Lawson is a parishioner at Our Lady of Hope Church in Washington. For the last three years, he has done the scheduling for the Radio Mass, which is broadcast every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. “We alternate every week between Our Lady of Hope Church and St. Peter Church [in Montgom-ery.]”
He explained that there is a telephone hook-up at each church, and “each Sunday be-fore Mass starts, we call the radio station and make a hook-up with them. It’s hooked up to our sound system.”
He hears occasionally from listeners who tell him “they like to have it, because they can’t get out and go to church.”
The Radio Mass program is funded by the Fourth Degree K of C Assembly 630 in Wash-ington. K of C member Jerry Walker said the program was begun in April of 1997 by St. Mary and St. Simon parishes in Washington, All Saints par-ish in Cannelburg, St. Peter parish in Montgomery, and St. John parish in Loogootee.
“Initially it was taped and we would drive the tape to the radio station. Now it’s broadcast live.” Liturgies are celebrated by Father Gordon Mann, pastor at Our Lady of Hope, and Father James Koressel, pastor at St. Peter and All Saints, he said.
The response has been wonderful, both when asking for money to fund the program and in attracting listeners. “If we are ever unable to broadcast, we get a deluge of phone calls,” he said, adding that the priests in the area “encourage their parishioners to tune the radio in for their parents and others not able to attend Mass. We think it’s vital for those who can’t participate in the Sunday Eucharist.”
Father Koressel said that when he first arrived in 2002 he was more aware of his radio audience, and in fact would welcome them.
He is told that non-Catholics also listen to the Mass on the radio, and “a lot of people tell me I had a good homily. They tell me they listen to it on the radio, and that they like the music.”