Papal Reprimand for Catholic Radio

[Kellanved]

The Polish Catholic broadcaster Radio Maryja openly agitates against Jews and strongly supports the Kaczynski brothers, Poland's ruling populist leaders. The German Pope wants to rein in the station, but the founding priest isn't likely to toe the Vatican line willingly.

A solid steel fence protects Radio Maryja's headquarters from the outside world. The public has no access to this high-tech fortification in the suburbs of Torun. Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, founder of the nationalist Catholic radio station, lives in the pretentious main building with satellite dishes and relay towers rising in the background.

Father Rydzyk sees no contradiction between wearing a collar and spreading his politics via satellite. He believes in using modern technology to spread his call for the salvation of God-fearing Poland to hundreds of thousands of homes. But other people do see a contradiction -- namely the German-born pope, Benedict XVI. He wants Rydzyk to quit his rabble-rousing, but the stubborn priest won't be easy to silence.

A typical day at Radio Maryja starts with prayers, hymns, and cooking tips. The controversial stuff doesn't start until later. A show called "Unfinished Conversations" airs at 9:40 p.m. and deals with topics like "The Battle for a Woman's Worth: Stopping Pornography." Listeners get to call in. Rydzyk rarely sits at the microphone himself, but he sometimes adds his input via by telephone towards the end of the show. For example, he once called the European Union a conspiracy of Freemasons, who want to force Catholic Poland to accept gay marriage. One Radio Maryja commentary in March suggested that Jews were sabotaging the struggle for democracy in Eastern European democracy in Ukraine and Belarus -- while Poles battled on the frontlines. Radio Maryja also warned that the "Holocaust Industry" wields influence worldwide and expects "kickbacks" from Warsaw.

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http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,413976,00.html

[DanCa]

1. Prayers, hymns and cooking tips?

You know there's a joke in there somewhere. :D

[Zenlitened]

3. Truth is funnier than fiction. Years ago, I was the Sunday morning DJ..

... at a tiny little rural radio station. My main task those mornings was to set up and tend to the tapes -- yes, actual reel to reel tapes -- playing "Master Control." Actual name of show.

And invariably, each week, there was a segment on "Christian recipes." I never did get that -- no apples used in the ingredients, perhaps? :shrug:

[Southsideirish]

2. I wish he'd chide Catholic radio here - its so right wing its pathetic.

Its totally un-listenable with all these "orthodox" Catholics repeating the mantras from the 1950's and trying to act like fundie preachers. Ugh! Before you know it they will be going on about the "rapture."

They're are in a state of adoration of people with 10 and 12 kids yet their on air counseling programs are filled with over wrought parents who are having all these problems or issues with their offspring.

I heard one of their lay program hosts decry "centering prayer" which is a form of Christian meditation (horrors!! ...too "eastern" -that's what got Thomas Merton in trouble with the Church hierarchy) and some kind of New Age craziness.

Even Pope John Paul II said "just pray - it doesn't matter what type or kind you do - just PRAY." (or words to that effect.) Sheesh!!

[CatholicEdHead]

4. Relevant Radio and Ave Maria Radio right?

Those networks are just fundie radio with enough of a "Catholic" twist. It is very narrow-minded to help promote the "Pray and pay" mindset that was pre-Vatican II. If it is not GOP talking points that do not revolve around abortion and gay marriage, it is not a "social issue". Catholic social teachings get derided or ignored because of "Marxist leanings".