Launch of Radio Maria London

l-r: Fr Toby Lees, Katie Smith, Fr Lawrence Lew, Michele Cucchi, Bishop John Sherrington, Izzy Rettke-Grover, Vittorio Viccardi, President, Fr Andreas Schaetzle, Raffaele Galati

Bishop John Sherrington was Chief Celebrant at a special Mass last Thursday - the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael - for the launch of the London studio of Radio Maria at St Dominic's, Haverstock Hill. The schola was directed by Rachael Shipard.

The Mass was followed by a reception in the parish hall. Vittorio Viccardi, President of the World Family of Radio Maria, Fr Andreas Schaetzle, from the World Family of Radio Maria, and Raffaele Galati, European Representative of World Family of Radio Maria attended. Many Catholic charities and organisations were represented among the guests, including Dr Caroline Hull, Director of Aid to the Church in Need, John Pontifex, head of press at ACN, Nigel Parker director of the Catholic Union, Canon Pat Browne, Duty Priest in the Houses of Parliament and many more.

Radio Maria England is a 24 hour Catholic radio station, run by a mixture of professionals and volunteers, lay people, clergy and religious, which "aims to support Catholics and others in their spiritual life and witness to those who wish to learn more about the Catholic Faith." Part of the World Family of Radio Maria, formed in 1998, there are currently 77 radio stations across five continents with 500 million listeners worldwide. Until now, the UK station was only based in Cambridge. The London studio will offer more opportunities to develop the station's programmes.

When it was first announced that Radio Maria was coming to St Dominic's Priory, Fr Lawrence Lew OP, Prior and Parish Priest, said: "We believe that this partnership between Radio Maria and the Rosary Shrine will be a wonderful way to advance the hopes of the men and women who built St Dominic's... As the Order of Preachers, we Dominicans are delighted to support and work alongside Radio Maria in our common mission of preaching the faith for the salvation of souls, bringing the light of reason and faith to bear upon the lives of our contemporaries. I have no doubt that our parishioners and pilgrims and the local community at the Rosary Shrine will be enthusiastic about this work of evangelisation, and I know that the people of London and the wider UK will also benefit greatly from Radio Maria's programmes and activities here at the Rosary Shrine."

Charles Wilson, President of Radio Maria England, said: "Our Lady has called us here. We believe that Our Lady has gifted us with Radio Maria, and what better place to be than the Rosary Shrine, in the heart of London?"

One parishioner told ICN: "I love listening to Radio Maria - but to know that its actually broadcasting here on our doorstep is exciting. I'm certainly going to be volunteering to help in whatever way I can be useful."

Fr Toby Lees OP who is priest - director of Radio Maria, gave the following address during the launch reception.

"The Bishop in his homily on this Feast of the Archangels spoke about young men choosing Michael as a confirmation name. My ears immediately pricked up, he then mentioned that often such men come from socially challenging circumstances, and I thought to myself, 'My mother is not going to appreciate him saying that!' But then I went on to reflect that I was a future Dominican vocation at a Jesuit school, perhaps the Bishop is on to something! The Bishop is correct, of course, and it's a beautiful and good thing that young men in difficult circumstances are presented with the intercession and example of St Michael the Archangel and receive the courage to imagine a different future for themselves.

I remember one time being at Walsingham for the launch of the new Shrine appeal and then Chaplain Mgr John Armitage saying that at the end of the Mass there would be people with buckets at the exits to take up a collection, he also added 'don't worry if you fill up the buckets, if you fill them up, I'll get wheelbarrows.'

This launch isn't one of those events. It's not that we don't want your money, Radio Maria relies on donations, we have no adverts, no Vatican funding, no funding from the Bishops - I'm not trying to make you feel bad Bishop John.

At this point I'm going to quote Marc Antony from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which seems a very appropriate thing to do at the launch of a new Radio Maria England studio in London, with so many members of the World Family from Italy present:

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears....

What we want from you is your ears. But there will be no buckets or wheelbarrows outside to collect them, we want them firmly connected to the rest of you.

Because, what we want most of all from this evening is not financial help, we want new listeners, we want you to listen, and we want you to get all your friends to listen, because it's our listeners who are our lifeblood. There's no point in a radio station without listeners and there's no future in a radio station with no funding without listeners. We believe that if you listen you'll want to support us in the long-term. We're doing something we think you'll value.

Please go home from here and start listening, and then when you find something that you like, and I'm certain you will, tell other people about it.

We're all sick of viruses, but the one we do want a super-spreader event tonight, we want viral advertising. If every person here tonight began to listen and encouraged their friends to listen, we'd grow very quickly.

There is so much that is coarse and crass in our culture, and we're not that. We want to be part of a restoration of our culture by providing something that genuinely nourishes, that genuinely raises hearts and minds to higher things, to the Person we were made for.

Like Mary the job of this radio is to lead you to Christ.

If you have story to tell that others need to hear we want to hear from you. There's something very special and intimate about radio, and we deliberately have very few interviews so that our speakers speak directly to you, in your homes, in your cars, maybe even when you're in the bath, although I promise you I am not imagining that right now, you're very much in your cars in my thoughts!
I spoke about listeners as lifeblood of the radio, but blood needs a beating heart to give blood, and that's our volunteers, many of whom are here tonight who give so generously of their time and talents to make what we do possible. A special thank you from me to all of you this evening. You are amazing!

I want to just finish with one story which gives an example of why this project of Radio Maria is so vital and what's so special about radio.

We had a wonderful young lady on air recently called Grace. She spoke about her journey of faith whilst at performing arts college and she told of how in her final presentation she announced to everyone that everything that she had been doing all year was out of love for Jesus. That takes guts in this day and age to say, and she said she lost some friends because of it. I'm pleased we could give her a platform to tell her beautiful and brave story.

After we opened the phone lines a young man phoned in and he spoke of how he'd been inspired and that he wanted more people to hear stories like that of Grace. He'd said that it had made him think again about the need for religion. It was really very beautiful to hear.

Anyway, after we went off air, Grace said that she knew the young man and that he had given an alias when he spoke on air. That showed me the power of radio. That the witness of someone heard in that way, not on a YouTube video, but live, such witness compelled him to call, and to say something even though he didn't feel confident enough to say his own name.

I hope that as you listen you might hear many more such stories and I thank you for your help in making the telling of such stories possible."

LINKS

The full schedule and more detailed programme information can be found at https://RadioMariaEngland.uk. You can listen to Radio Maria England at https://radiomariaengland.uk/how-to-listen-to-us/, on the Radio Maria World Family app for smartphones and tablets and on DAB/DAB+ radio in the Cambridge and London areas. Broadcasts can also be heard on podcast providers such as Anchor, Spotify, Apple podcasts and other providers.

For more information contact: info@RadioMariaEngland.uk

Follow Radio Maria on Facebook: www.facebook.com/radiomariaengland and Instagram.

Rosary Shrine: www.rosaryshrine.co.uk