CHARLOTTE — The Diocese of Charlotte Vocations Office announces that the following seminarians will have summer assignments in parishes, where they will serve from June until August:
- Michael Carlson: St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Charlotte
- Alfonso Gamez: St. Elizabeth Church in Boone
- Britt Taylor: St. Ann Church in Charlotte
- Jonathan Torres: St. Mark Church in Huntersville
- Joseph Wasswa: Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe
— Catholic News Herald
Rowan County station launched in April seeing success
SALISBURY — The new Carolina Catholic Radio Network launched its first full-power commercial Catholic radio station in April and the newly formed group could be adding three more stations as soon as next month.
Launched Holy Thursday, people along the I-85 corridor from Concord to Lexington can tune in to Catholic talk radio programming on 1490 AM WSTP.
The radio station reaches Rowan County, including the areas covered by Sacred Heart Parish in Salisbury, St. Joseph Parish in Kannapolis, St. James the Greater Parish in Concord and Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in Lexington.
Masses have been broadcast on the new station since Easter Sunday, and the area’s Prison Ministry report that inmates are listening to the Masses and EWTN broadcasting throughout the week, said David Papandrea, who serves as a "media missionary" for EWTN in the area.
Sacred Heart Church’s pastor Father John Eckert will be developing a local program for debut in July.
“We’ve had a really good response so far,” Papandrea said. “People are enjoying the broadcasts, as well as we’ve been approached by groups in other parishes that want to help get a station going in their area.”
The Carolina Catholic Radio Network hopes to string together existing or dormant AM radio stations in the Charlotte and Greensboro regions to form North Carolina's first full-power commercial Catholic radio network.
In order to expand with three more local AM stations and to broadcast more local content produced by the parishes, the network is in need of financial support, Papandrea said.
“It is also our vision to build and archive a vast library of local content and make it available on our new website, CarolinaCatholicRadio.org,” he said.
The network’s organizers have been in negotiations since November with a group of stations in the diocese that will allow Catholic programming to be heard along the I-85/485 corridor from the North and South Carolina state line to Greensboro, Papandrea said.
“We estimate that 80 percent of the Charlotte-designated media market and 50 percent of the Triad (I-40 South) would have free access to EWTN/CCRN local Catholic radio,” he said.
In order to expand, though, the network needs to know if ongoing underwriting support is available.
“If we find the necessary support, we could flip the switch in July. We’d like to do it all at once for the next three stations. One to the west, one to the south and one to the east.”
That would expand the network, which includes Belmont Abbey College’s WBAC- LPFM 101.5, to five stations. Belmont Abbey launched an FM station in February.
— Kimberly Bender, online reporter
How you can help fund a new Catholic radio network
Donations can be made online: CarolinaCatholicRadio.org
Or by mail: Carolina Catholic Radio Network, P.O. Box 1148, Clemmons, NC 27012-1148
For more information or sponsorship opportunities, contact David Papandrea at 704-880-0260 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..