To Our Venerable Brother, Cardinal Gordon J. Gray,
President of the National Catholic Broadcasting Committee
for Great Britain
With sincere joy do We greet you, Our Venerable Brother, together with the Hierarchy, clergy and faithful of Great Britain, on the happy occasion of the inauguration at Hatch End of the new Catholic Radio and Television Centre.
We are well aware of the numerous sacrifices which the Bishops and people of England, Wales, and Scotland have cheerfully made in order that this important institute be erected and endowed for the purposes willed by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council (Inter Mirifica, Nos. 15-21). We know, too, that the Centre will not only help in training men and women from Great Britain in the techniques of radio and television, but will also, indeed primarily, provide courses for the staffs of similar centres in missionary countries. Finally, it is Our understanding that the Centre is a most modern training school, for its zealous director, Father Agnellus Andrew O.F.M., has secured for it not only the latest developments in equipment but also the services of highly qualified professional personnel, so that We are confident the Centre will play a vital role in the fields of Radio and Television in your own country and in mission lands abroad.
It is a pleasure, therefore, to felicitate all who contributed to this Centre’s inauguration, to pray that its beneficent influence may be wide-spread and long-lasting, and, in pledge of divine protection, guidance and favour, to impart to you, Our Venerable Brother, to the Most Reverend Hierarchy and clergy, to the faithful people of your flocks, and particularly to the past and present personnel of the new Centre, Our paternal Apostolic Blessing.
From the Vatican, November 30, 1969.
