AVE MARIA COMMUNICATIONS
"The mission of Ave Maria Communications is to demonstrate through reporting and analysis the good news that Jesus is Lord over all areas of life. We engage the issues of the day to show others that the teaching of Christ through His Church offers a rational view of the world, a deep sense of spirituality, a firm family life, enhanced human relationships, and the creation of a culture of life and love," says Ave Maria Communications (AMC), a conservative Roman Catholic radio network that also distributes programs to other radio stations.
Talk radio, unlike other areas of the media, is known for being a haven for conservatives, and the airwaves are full of conservative Protestant radio stations. However, there are very few Catholic stations, a situation that non-profit AMC would like to rectify. "Somewhere along the way, Catholics who are leaders in electronic communications decided not to fund these efforts," said Al Kresta, CEO of AMC and host of its "Kresta in the Afternoon" program. That does not make much sense, he said. "Marconi who invented radio was a Catholic," he said. "Monsignor Fulton Sheen was popular. Fr. Charles Coughlin outside Detroit was very big. John Paul II recently said that he thought radio was the most intimate form of communication."
Kresta said that there are about 50 Catholic radio stations in the country and 1,500 evangelical Protestant stations. Catholics make up 25% of the American population. "The evangelical Protestants took their mission seriously," said Kresta.
Instead of focusing on "devotional programming," said Kresta, AMC deals with issues of the day in a rational way but from a Christian viewpoint. "I like to describe my program as talk radio where God matters," said Kresta. "We do it from a distinctly Catholic perspective. It’s not devotional programming, it’s intellectually engaging programming. Today we’ll talk about the effort to engage in war in Iraq, we’ll talk about the scandal in the Church, we’ll talk about suicide bombings in Israel, we’ll talk about gender, we’ll talk about the re-digitalizing of Apollo 13 for IMAX theaters."
Over two years old, AMC strictly follows the teachings of the Catholic Church, such as those against abortion and homosexuality, and sometimes disagrees with the bishops on other questions. "For example, we talked about the latest document from the bishops which basically said they don’t support going to war with Saddam Hussein. . .," said Kresta. "We talk about the whole question of whether a just war includes a preemptive strike. I think it does. It looks to me that a majority of our listeners want a strike against Saddam Hussein. . . . The current United Nations understanding of just war is very narrow. It’s much narrower than the Catholic conception."
AMC also disagrees with many American bishops on other issues on which they lean to the left. "How to deal with poverty, how to deal with racism," said Kresta. "These are not dogmatic teachings. Catholics are free to disagree with them."
AMC produces 25 hours a week of original programming and uses a good deal of programming from the Catholic EWTN network and from Catholic Answers, Kresta said.
Kresta has an interesting personal history. "I grew up in a Catholic family in New Haven, Conn. I was the oldest of five children. I was voted most likely to succeed as I entered junior high, but by the time I graduated from high school, I had a GPA of 1.8 and had been arrested twice on drug possession," he says in an article from the National Catholic Register reprinted on AMC’s website. "My early faith gave way to the flesh-drugs, sex, and rock and roll. . . . In 1969 I left home and became homeless by choice. I lived on the street, slept in vacant apartments, stayed on the beach in the Florida Keys, and bummed off of friends. After some hallucinogenic LSD experiences, I hitchhiked along the Eastern seaboard looking for someone who could help me make sense of my hallucinations. I ended up in a New Age group. A number of my experiences during those years led me to believe that the Jesus of the New Age movement was not the Jesus of the New Testament."
AMC, which is trying to wean itself off foundation grants and instead raise its own funds, is a member of the Christian Radio Consortium and has hosted a number of HUMAN EVENTS editors on its shows. "You do see something of a renaissance here," said Kresta of Catholic radio. "We’re trying to become as self-sufficient as possible."
AMC may be reached at P.O. Box 504, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48106 (734-930-5200; e-mail: [email protected]; www.avemariaradio.net).
