The Catholic Church in South Sudan has a new voice: a radio station dedicated to the country’s first saint, Josephine Bakhita. Bakhita Radio 91 FM, based in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, went on air on Christmas Eve with carols and Christmas messages from Catholic and Anglican church leaders.
At midnight, it broadcast live from St. Theresa’s Cathedral, in Kator, the mass celebrated by Archbishop Paulino Lukudo Loro of Juba. Archbishop Loro welcomed with enthusiasm the beginning of Bakhita Radio and thanked the Comboni institutes for “the Christmas present to the Catholic Church in South Sudan.”
Bakhita Radio 91 FM, The Voice of the Church, broadcasts a daily programme of two hours. On 8 February, the feast of St Josephine Bakhita, it will be on air with transmissions in the morning and evening.
The radio is the mother-station of Sudan Catholic Radio Network. The signal covers a 30 km-plus radius. It has a potential audience of more than 500,000 listeners.
Sudan Catholic Radio Network is a joint venture of the Comboni Missionary Institutes. The network was set up to celebrate the canonization of St Daniel Comboni and was offered to the Catholic Bishops Conference of Sudan. The network will have eight radio stations, one in each diocese in South Sudan plus the Nuba Mountains.
(Source: Catholic Information Service for Africa/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)