Our new 2012-2014 calendar is now available. The Perpetual Help TV Devotions is now in its 17th year. Twice each year we send out two mailings to more than 6,000 homes. We are told that there are 50,000-60,000 people who watch our Wednesday broadcasts. Every week we respond to an average of 25 letters a day. In June and October the number swells to 100 letters a day.
Several confreres within the Provinces have contributed their time and talents to the program through preaching, singing and acting as hosts. Anne Walsh (Redemptorist Lay Missionary) continues to be one of our most popular preachers. In the past few years there have also been regular contributions to the program through Redemptorist confreres within the North American Region.
The work of the TV Devotions could not continue without the assistance of Br. Ray and our 4 volunteers: Carol, Jackie, Sharon and Lloyd. We would be remiss if we did not include our office staff, Kathy and Marwan, who also offer their services on a regular basis. Once again this year our donations will be sufficient to cover the cost of the program for 2011. In addition to weekly donations, we were recently the beneficiaries of a bequest of $120,000.00 from a faithful supporter who died earlier in the year.
The challenge of the TV Devotions is to maintain a familiar structure while at the same time keeping it fresh. The real work of the program is responding to the individual letters from those who seek comfort because of the death of a loved one, alcohol and drug addictions within the family, unemployment issues, broken marriages, loss of faith practice within the family, and a host of other issues. The ministry of the pen is not dead. It simply needs to be combined with a creative mind to respond to those in need as well as the willingness to do the grunt work (opening letters, saving stamps, stuffing envelopes, printing receipts, responding to countless requests outside the realm of the TV Devotions) that this ministry also demands.
Please keep us in your prayer.
