The radio - for truth and evangelization

This morning I was one of the participants on the Radio Santa Rosa program Dando en el clavo [hitting the nail on the head].

The theme was government and Catholic Social Thought.

18 people from throughout the diocese, involved in radios and communications are in Santa Rosa de Copán for  a workshop. (There is a diocesan radio station, here in Santa Rosa, and there are other radios  - often related to a parish – in several areas of the diocese as well as persons who send information to Radio Santa Rosa.)

Four of the participants in the workshop joined me – Victor from Atima, Santa Bárbara; Andrés de San Nicolás, Santa Bárbara; Alcídes from La Labor, Ocoteque; Margarita from San José Quelacasque, Gracias, Lempira.

The idea was to speak about the theme using the booklet I had designed for base communities of the diocese, Hacia La Liberación.

 

Front cover of the booklet on Catholic Social Thought

We began with the initial question in meeting 28 of the booklet: “What do you think about politics?”  We shared our ideas – noting the difference between the vision of politics related to the common good and the corrupt and dirty politics often encountered here.

It was a good hour – with participation of all involved including several phone calls. The first call was from our bishop emeritus,  Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos.

The participation of the four was, as expected, exceptional. They really did not need my presence since they knew the material and could relate it much better with the reality of the country.

Afterwards I spent a short time with the workshop they had with Padre Elias, a diocesan priest, who is studying  communications in Rome.

In a country where the major communications media are almost always allied with specific political parties and with the economic and political elites, there is a real need of alternative means of communication that can help people develop a critical consciousness and provide them with alternative information and commentaries on the reality.

The radios are a great help for the church and for the future of the country but they are expensive and often struggle to pay their bills. (If anyone wants to help them, let me know.)