Catholic Radio for the New Evangelization

Real Life Radio is a new Catholic media, focusing on relational evangelization. Based in the US, it delivers a range of programs through mobile streaming apps and its online site. Its focus is to reach the disengaged and disconnected Catholics who make an appearance at Mass at least once a year. They want to preach, not to the choir, but to the Narthex.

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Hosts include a smorgasbord of established Catholic authors, bloggers, speakers, and media professionals including Patrick Coffin of Catholic Answers Live, Elizabeth Reardon of Theology is a Verb, Elizabeth Scalia (The Anchoress), Mark Shea, Jeff Young of The Catholic Foodie blog, and Leah Libresco. Shows cover a wide variety of topics including Catholic musicians and artists, genre-spanning books, money management, and travel (The Faithful Traveler Radio Show is a follow up to the EWTN show of the same name).

Leo Brown, founder, GM, and Director of Real Life Radio sites a study from CARA, Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in Apostolate, as a reason and motivation for reaching out to these “Creaster” Catholics (the ones who only come at Christmas and/or Easter): 90% of RCIA converts are gone within their first year in the Church. Brown continues with, “Matthew Kelly, author of Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, suggests that less than 7% of Catholics who regularly attend Mass are engaged in their faith, and this is after another alarming chart that shows Mass attendance as low as 17% on some weekends in the US.” Brown’s, and Real Life Radio’s solution to this problem is to reach Catholics with the new media in an extremely accessible way and by engaging them with topics of culture, relationships, and topical issues- things they care in their day to day lives about – with an uncompromising Catholic worldview.

Currently, listeners can tune in through Real Life Radio’s website or by downloading their mobile app for iPhone and Android. Looking to the future, Real Life Radio wants to begin to deliver unique and localized content to individual communities through geo-location services in web browsers and mobile devices. “This is all very exciting and emerging”, says Brown. “With this platform we have effectively managed to eliminate the two biggest hurdles to the growth of Catholic media, geography and cost. Typical terrestrial stations can range upwards of tens of millions of dollars; that is, if you can find one available that has any audience potential. Streaming, podcasting and mobile platforming can go anywhere and cost pennies comparatively. This is an amazing opportunity we’ve been given.”

 

 

Theresa Williams

Theresa Williams

"I have become all things to all, to save at least some" (1 Cor. 9:22) basically describes her life as writer, homemaker, friend and sister, wife, and mother of 2 spunky children, all for the sake of Gospel joy. She received her BA in Theology, Catechetics/Youth Ministry, and English Writing from Franciscan University of Steubenvile. Currently, she is a homemaker and freelance writer. Her life mottos are Ad Majoram Dei Gloriam and "Without complaint, everything shall I suffer for in the love of God, nothing have I to fear" (St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart). She is Pennsylvanian by birth, Californian by heart, and in Texas for the time being. Yinz can find her on Twitter @TheresaZoe.

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1 thought on “Catholic Radio for the New Evangelization”

  1. ” …these “Creaster” Catholics (the ones who only come at Christmas and/or Easter …”

    If I had friends that only came to visit – in such numbers – even twice a year I’d feel blessed to know they still love me enough to do so. The Marines have a name for it – Semper Fi.

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