Lenten radio retreats in English, Spanish

A series of Lenten radio retreats is now available in English and Spanish.

The series includes six half-hour English-language and six Spanish-language editions of the retreats -- one for each Sunday of Lent. The programs were produced for the U.S. bishops' Catholic Communication Campaign by Franciscan Radio, a ministry of the Franciscans and St. Anthony Messenger Press.

Each radio retreat program features a bishop as retreat guide and homilist. The homily is followed by a song for meditation and a question-and-answer segment with the bishop concerning the themes of his homily.

The programs have been offered to Catholic dioceses and radio outlets throughout the United States on a non-exclusive basis.

They can be heard on a companion Internet Web site, http://www.radiorereat.org, and can be downloaded from the Web site as MP3 files for podcast or other personal use. The Web site has descriptions of each program, bishops’ biographies and links to other Lenten spiritual resources.

The first retreat is offered by Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati in English and Auxiliary Bishop Felipe de Jesus Estevez of Miami in Spanish.

Reflections for the second Sunday of Lent are offered by Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, South Dakota, in English and Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, New Mexico, in Spanish.

Bishop Gerald Barnes of San Bernardino will offer the reflections in English and Spanish for the third week.

Reflections for week four will be led by Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore in English and Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala of Los Angeles in Spanish.

Bishop Joseph Galante of Camden, New Jersey, will offer reflections in English for the sixth week, and Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto of Orange, Calif., will offer them in Spanish.

Reflections for week six will be given by Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh in English and Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio in Spanish.

The programs are being offered free on compact disc. For ordering or information, e-mail Pat Ryan Garcia at pgarcia@usccb.org.

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