Faith Satellite Radio is On the Air in Africa!

Catholic parishes in even the most remote areas of Africa now have opportunity for quality Catholic teaching, church news, and programs geared toward evangelization thanks to the work of Faith Satellite Radio.

WASHINGTON (Catholic Online) - For centuries Africa had been called "the dark Continent," because much of the region was remote and parts of it were totally unreachable. The light of the gospel has now pierced this darkness in a whole new way as Faith Satellite Radio (FSR) is on the air.

Faith Satellite Radio began as a dream for a young Ethiopian man, Brook Negussie. In 2006, while working in the United States, he began to ask himself how we might better reach people in Africa with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Although many different organizations are now working there, opportunities to touch the more remote portions of the 31 countries remained unfulfilled.

Negussie began to think about satellite transmission as one solution. As a teleconferencing specialist, he knew that certain satellites had coverage areas that spanned Africa. If he could just set up a ground station to uplink programming, every Catholic parish in Africa could have the opportunity for ministry.

His dream became a reality by establishing Faith Satellite Radio, of which he now serves as CEO. He has continued to share his vision with Catholic leaders in the United States and around the world. In cooperation with Signis, the World Catholic Association for Communication, FSR began in earnest to develop a plan for broadcasting quality Catholic Christian programming to the 14 million square miles of Africa as well as parts of Europe. Currently, FSR uses the Worldspace Satellite Radio Network's AfriStar satellite.

In order to receive programs, parishes need a special radio capable of receiving the satellite's signal and decoding the FSR channel. Once installed, the receiver will provide programming for the listener with no fading, noise, or interference. In addition, the radio boasts a USB port to connect to a computer. This allows the parish to receive documents and other data as well.

Currently, FSR offers Vatican Radio programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some of the music and entertainment slots of Vatican Radio programming would all for programs from other sources to supplement the already rich content that is streaming into Africa. Negotiations are currently underway with EWTN, American Catholic Radio, and others for permission to use some of their line up.

The response from African dioceses has been overwhelming. The Vicar General of one diocese in Kenya wrote, "...we received your letter...regarding the project of Faith Satellite Radio. It is wonderful news, and for us here in the remote bushland of northern Kenya, it is a very welcome news indeed."

A diocese in Ethiopia wrote, "We got your first satellite receiver. Fr. Leonardo, responsible for the distribution of the devices, managed to install it with its antenna. He said that it works very well and the audio is very clear. He heard not only news but many programs about faith, women's issues, African realities, etc."

In an interview with Catholic Online, Negussie commented, "In the Western world we take this all fore granted, as this type of programming is so available. Faith Satellite radio wants to give the same opportunity to Africa, offering a resource that re-affirms our Faith and supports Catholic life."

The goal of FSR is to have every parish in Africa equipped with a special receiver. This is a momentous task, not only in terms of logistics but finances. In order to fund the work FSR has developed an "Adopt-a-Parish" program where Catholic parishes in other parts of the world can adopt an African parish, sending them a radio and year-round Catholic programming for only $38.00USD per month.

A delivery system has been developed by FSR, both with an international package delivery service and with dioceses in Africa. The bishop of each diocese is asked to appoint a communications person who becomes the contact person for FSR. A portion of their responsibilities includes submitting a list of parishes that need radios. After radios are customized for the FSR satellite feed and checked, they are shipped to the communications person in Africa who tags each one for a specific parish and oversees delivery of the radio to the proper location.

"With 17,000 parishes on the Continent, the need is great," Negussie stated. "This is an opportunity for 17,000 sister parishes - or even individuals, for that matter - to become involved with their Catholic brothers and sisters in another area of the world. We believe that what will begin as a virtual relationship two parishes will become a very real one."

The next phase for Faith Satellite radio will link Catholic schools in Africa with others around the world. This would allow the sharing of curriculum, classroom learning resources, and even video streaming.

In the future, Negussie reports that they are working toward developing the capability for this network to provide two-way communication, where parishes in even the remotest areas of Africa will be able to send information as well as receive it.

For more information about Faith Satellite Radio, you can visit their website at: http://faithsatelliteradio.org.

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