Posted on 07/14/2005 4:55:05 PM PDT by NYer
ROME, JULY 14, 2005 (Zenit.org).- When Vatican Radio recently launched its podcasting option for audio files, it didn't expect the big response it received from around the world.
It was like a "resurrection of this 70-year-old voice of the Vatican," the director of the English Section at Vatican Radio, Sean Patrick Lovett, told me.
As it stands, Vatican Radio broadcasts in more than 40 languages to every country via all long, medium and short waves and, for the last four years, has enabled its listeners to tune in via the Web, at www.105live.vaticanradio.org. These methods have required listeners to stay close to their computers or radios.
Now, with the latest development, listeners can simply connect their iPod into their computers, download the audio programs they want, and listen to a clear sound from the Vatican anywhere, anytime.
"Within 24 hours of the launch, we had approximately 1,000 downloads," said Lovett. "And that was without promotion, which signified a lot to us with regard to who was really listening" -- meaning young people, who own the most iPods.
It was with this indication -- that youth wanted to know more about the Church -- that one of Lovett's ex-students from the Gregorian University originally proposed the podcasting idea to Vatican Radio.
After having begun his own podcast (www.catholicinsider.com) from Rome, Father Roderick Vonhögen, a Dutch priest from the Archdiocese of Utrecht, realized the evangelical possibilities behind the phenomenon.
"Listeners have been asking for more ever since I began my own podcast," he told me on his most recent visit to the Eternal City.
"I thought that my regular parish life would probably not be catchy enough to start my show with, so I decided to wait until I visited Rome to get things under way," he said.
Father Vonhögen happened to visit Rome during the first hospitalization of Pope John Paul II, so even more people tended to pick up his program. He noted how they went beyond requests for medical bulletins, going as far as to ask for explanations of the Catholic faith and commentaries on holy Roman locations.
"Listeners say that they are amazed to find a priest who is not old and boring, which goes to show that their experience of the Church is limited," Father Vonhögen explained. "The thing about radio is that it's a very personal medium and podcasting makes it more so."
Originally, Father Vonhögen had not expected to work in the field of radio and took a course in it "just for fun" during his social communications studies at the Gregorian University.
"It's a wonderful medium because you can allow people the freedom to construct their own images from the information given to them," said the priest who oversees four parishes in the city of Amersfoort and who acts as communications consultant for his archdiocese.
"I had never thought I would be able to do radio realistically as a simple priest due to it being so commercial and financed by the state, but now I have around 6,000 listeners per show!" he said.
Many Catholic podcasters are establishing a worldwide network. To find more of these and to subscribe, just write to catholicinsider@gmail.com.
I'm still trying to find Vatican Radio on my am/fm dial. Technology is overwhelming. God bless this new ministry!
I'm going to buy my IPod this evening - I hadn't been sufficiently motivated (even by Rush) until now!
Ping! I don't know if you're on NYer's ping list...
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