Episcopal Press and News

Radio Programs for Spanish-Speaking Produced by Episcopal Church

Diocesan Press Service. August 1, 1968 [67-5]

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- One million Spanish-speaking residents of the metropolitan New York area make up a large part of the listening audience for two radio programs produced and distributed by the Episcopal Church for radio stations in the United States.

Many thousands more hear the program on stations in California and Florida, which also have large Spanish-speaking populations, and by the fall of 1968 the programs will be aired in other cities, reaching additional thousands.

The first of the programs, LUMBRES DE VIDA (Beams of Life), had its beginning in 1963. It is a 15-minute devotional program, with Spanish hymns and a sermon by the Rev. Luis A. Quiroga, rector of the Holy Family Episcopal Church (La Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia) in Brooklyn.

At first strictly a New York program, it is now distributed nationally.

Although program response is difficult to assess, the Rev. Mr. Quiroga stated that many visitors to his parish have come because of hearing the program and several families have, subsequently, become members of the parish.

The second program, NOTICIERO RELIGIOSA MUNDIAL, also features the Rev. Mr. Quiroga. It is produced in cooperation with the Lutheran Church in America on whose English program, CHURCH WORLD NEWS, the Spanish program is based.

NOTICIERO RELIGIOSA MUNDIAL, however, features news of particular interest to the Spanish-speaking community. The 39th Eucharistic Congress in Bogota, and Pope Paul's visit to the Colombian capital, for example, were feature studies on two broadcasts which were taped in Bogota by the Rev. Mr. Quiroga.

The Spanish-speaking priest says that both programs fill a real need because Spanish- speaking people know little of what is happening in the religious community and little has been provided in the past to give them this knowledge.

A native of Bogota, Colombia, the Rev. Mr. Quiroga has also lived in Puerto Rico and the continental United States for a number of years. He is a graduate of the Colegio Americano, Bogota; of Princeton Theological Seminary; and of the Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia, from which he received a Ph.D. in 1950.

He has taught Spanish, history and social science on the college level, and was received into the Episcopal Church after 8 years service as a Presbyterian minister in Colombia. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1954.

Since that time he has served Episcopal parishes and missions in Puerto Rico and Brooklyn.