Interview with Fr. Valentin Gögele, L.C., about the experience developing a radio program on Jesus and His apostles

 

Following Pope Francis’s recommendation to seek new ways to proclaim the heart of the Gospel, some Legionaries and members of Regnum Christi in Germany have recently participated in a series of radio programs organized by Radio Horeb, a radio station in the German federal state of Bavaria whose central content is the teaching of the Catholic Church, where they share their reflections on Jesus’s relationship with His disciples. The experience has been very positive, leading the station to request to continue the project.
 
For Fr. Valentin Gögele, L.C., Western and Central Europe Territorial Director, and one of the participants in this initiative, this opportunity “has helped deepen key topics of our spirituality”, encouraging the use of media to “bring Christ’s message to many souls.”

International Office of Communication: How has the experience of participating in a radio program and sharing some reflections on Jesus and His disciples been?

Fr. Valentin Gögele, L.C.: I consider it has been a great experience that has helped us to delve into key topics of our spirituality and has given us the opportunity to present it to a very diverse audience. The 10 episodes have been a way to reflect in greater detail on what is expressed in some way in number 8 of the Statutes of the Regnum Christi Federation, about the relationship with Jesus and the mission to form apostles. It is estimated that Radio Horeb broadcasts reach several hundred thousand listeners daily, making it a way to bring Christ’s message to many souls.

OIC: What importance do you see in the fact that Legionaries participate in this type of communication media for evangelization?

PVG: I believe it is a great opportunity because the dynamic of carrying out such a project as a team is very good and can bear much fruit. In our case, the goal was threefold: to explain and make accessible the spirituality of Regnum Christi through a medium and environment that is not ours, like radio; to do it as a team and thus also show the variety within the Legion and Regnum Christi; to obtain, through archived and organized recordings, a bit more of our spirituality, accessible online.

OIC: How do you perceive that this series of episodes has been received by the public?

PVG: It is very difficult to know exactly how many have listened to the episodes and how the contents have been received. But the fact that we have been invited to create a new series is very good. Moreover, one lets the Holy Spirit do His work in today’s and tomorrow’s listeners, since the contents are already online and people usually listen to them again.

OIC: How did you come to be on this radio station?

PVG: “Radio Horeb” in Germany is the equivalent of “Radio Maria” in many other countries around the world. There has been a close collaboration for many years. We are well connected with the current director, a very good priest. The radio has a clearly Catholic identity, and the main reason for the ongoing collaboration (we are almost weekly present with someone from LC/RC) is mainly because we can count on voices and contributions that are clearly Catholic, full of love for the Church and the Pope, with a missionary dimension.

OIC: Do you plan to continue with this type of activity?
PVG: Yes, God willing, there will be more opportunities for collaboration. I hope we can show even more the variety of vocations within Regnum Christi.

 

To visit the Radio Horeb website, click here

The 10 episodes of this series about Jesus’s relationship with His disciples can be found on the Regnum Christi Germany website.