CHICAGO — The power of prayer and its far-reaching evangelization apostolate were the dominant themes of a silver anniversary bash for the most prominent Catholic talk radio network in the United States.
The Dec. 12 gala, held on a frigid winter night at a historic hotel in downtown Chicago, was for the suburban Chicago-based Relevant Radio, whose 25 years on the air have been marked by powerful moments of prayer and service to Catholics and everyone else, said Father Francis “Father Rocky” J. Hoffman, the network’s chairman and CEO.
“I’ve never found anything as effective as the radio for evangelization,” the host of “Family Rosary Across America” told OSV News. “Because … you’re kind of eavesdropping on a conversation and you’re much more open to listening to what’s going on, rather than if somebody’s lecturing to you or teaching you or they come up (on) the street corner and say, ‘Hey, can I talk to you about Jesus?’ You might be polite, but it’s a little bit awkward. … And so we have this marvelous experience of conversions.”
Father Hoffman, who started as a regular guest on the network in 2003, pointed to a biennial survey the network sends to listeners that regularly finds 20% say they’ve returned to Mass and started practicing the faith again.
One of those listeners was Father Ryan Brady, pastor of St. Christina Parish on Chicago’s Southside. After a (moving) video about his conversion at the gala dinner, Father Brady, who left seminary at 20 and fell away from the faith because of alcoholism, attributed a major transformation in his life to listening to Relevant Radio.
He told the crowd of 1,100 supporters and listeners, “The miracle of my life, the miracle of my sobriety” and “the miracle of my vocation” would not have been possible without Relevant Radio. Father Brady said he listened to the programming constantly, hearing God’s call through the callers, show hosts and prayers recited, which influenced his decision to return to seminary in 2017 at 33.
Eight years later, Father Brady, now chaplain of the Chicago Fire Department, told OSV News he celebrates Mass in the chapel of the network’s Lincolnshire, Illinois, studios sometimes. He is also a recurring guest on several shows talking about addiction and giving spiritual advice.
The network, which airs on 222 stations nationwide, is streaming in 171 countries and has the potential to reach 300 million listeners, started as a single radio station in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Its three founders, Catholic businessmen, led by John Cavil, took the offer from the media-giant EWTN’s founder Mother Angelica in the late 1990s of free programing for Catholic radio stations.
Before long, with support from Green Bay Bishop David J. Ricken, they started to produce their own shows, such as the apologist’s and theological perspective on contemporary issues on “The Patrick Madrid Show” and the call-in Divine Mercy chaplet during the current-events driven “The Drew Mariani Show,” among others.
At the same time they acquired more stations forming the Relevant Radio network. And at the gala, Father Hoffman emphatically pitched the network’s digital media efforts saying, “We need this in every pocket … across the world!”
But 2009 was a very rough year that Father Hoffman, an Opus Dei priest, said transformed his prayer life and made him “a bigger believer in miracles.” The network was “overhead in debt and (was) losing money every minute.”
Father Hoffman, 66, explained, “We needed a miracle to solve the problem and we got that miracle basically by going to the Oratory of St. Joseph (in Canada).”
What followed was a steady and growing stream of support by major donors such as the Knights of Columbus and Ave Maria University. On the night of the gala, organizers confirmed a “paddle raise” fundraiser netted at least $3.2 million, in less than an hour.
He said the leadership team went to Montreal, fervently asking for St. André Bessette’s intercession, “which led us to St. Joseph, who led us to Jesus.” He also prayed the first 54-day novena at Relevant Radio, praying all four decades per day, with the petition said for the first 27 days, then in thanksgiving for the last 27 days.
Father Hoffman said since then, prayer, like the 54-day novena, especially when done by large groups, has significantly guided the network. He added that it reinforced his steadfast trust in God’s providence.
He said callers report prayers answered on his nightly rosary show, which children often call with their intentions.
Drew Mariani, a former documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist, has been host of the show bearing his name since 2004. He said over the years, he has “learned so much” from the countless guests and experts he has interviewed.
And, more importantly, Mariani said he has grown even more devoted to the Divine Mercy. He said praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet live, naming several callers’ intentions per decade, has had a significant impact on his faith life.
“More than anything else, that has really helped me to fall more deeply in love with Divine Mercy, because I’ve seen the fruit of it,” he explained to OSV News. “I’ve seen everything that the Lord promised in the diary to St. Faustina, come to fruition. … I had a call a couple weeks ago from a man whose wife had an inoperable tumor in her eye. The scans are all there. She goes back to the doctor, and it’s gone. It chokes me up when I think about it.”
St. Faustina Kowalska is the Polish religious sister and mystic to whom Christ revealed the Divine Mercy devotion in the 1930s. She documented his words in a much-read diary.
Mariani, 60, named several other examples of the comfort and consolation people have reported from the prayers. While on-air and audience prayers are a hallmark of Relevant Radio, behind the scenes, the staff does its part.
The network’s mission coordinator, Jennifer Lee oversees spiritual benefits for employees and is also the very first person who reads and prays for each online prayer request for the “Family Rosary” program — averaging 200 daily.
During the on-air fund drive, when people pledge support, Lee told OSV News Relevant Radio can receive about 10,000 prayer requests. She parses them out to each of the 80-plus employees to individually pray for, either during the network’s daily Mass or the weekly Holy Hour.
“What really amazes me is the people that call in with … probably literally their last $5,” she said. “I’ve had homeless people call and give a pledge. … And, it’s like the widow’s mite (giving her only two coins in Jesus’ parable). They’re contributing because they know how important it is to spread the faith and they want to be a part of that.”
At the 25th anniversary party, Relevant Radio gave the Christ Brings Hope Award to University of Mary president and network board member, Msgr. James P. Shea, for his “steadfast commitment to sharing the Gospel in word and deed.” The network highlighted his successful evangelization efforts at the massive, secular Arizona State University, among other achievements for the faith.
The University of Mary has offered Catholic studies and theology courses at ASU through Mary College for more than a decade.
In an impassioned speech, he referred to the patroness of Relevant Radio, Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose Dec. 12 feast day was when the network obtained its Federal Communications Commission license. He urged the crowd to work in this age to evangelize.
“The conversions that Our Lady of Guadalupe wrought here on our continent, why should those be simply for us something that we should dimly imitate and be weakly inspired by,” Msgr. Shea emphasized. “Why should they not be a prelude to what God is doing next? That’s (10 million Catholic converts over 10 years in Mexico in the 1500s) the power of the Holy Spirit. And that’s what we’re called to believe, to exercise faith, that God is as active or more active now as he was then.”
