History
Radio Programming
The Fathers and Brothers’ radio programming began in the Cultivation Department in the 1950s. Fr. Francis Caffrey produced a weekly radio program called “Sunday in Hollywood” in which he interviewed Catholics in the film business. He sent the tapes to Maryknoll for editing and record pressing, and these programs were broadcast on various Catholic radio stations across the country.
In 1984, the Social Communications Department (previously called the Cultivation Department) began a new radio program called “Voices of Our World”. This 28-minute weekly public affairs show featured stories on human rights, social justice, peace activism, globalization, the environment, and the plight of under-represented people around the world. Its Spanish-language version was called “Puntos de Vista”. Over the years, the show garnered many awards and was broadcast on hundreds of radio stations throughout the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and Africa. Episodes of the program can be found on Public Radio Exchange and radio4all.net.
In 2008, the Mission Education and Promotion Department (into which the Social Communications Department was subsumed) launched a new radio program called “Voces de Nuestro Mundo”. This 30-minute weekly show discussed social justice issues from a Hispanic perspective. It featured topics such as immigration, economics, politics, health care, and more. It strove to be a complete source of information on topics important to the Hispanic community in the US and around the world.
Both radio programs featured interviews with Maryknoll Priests, Brothers, Sisters and Lay Missioners as well as subject experts drawn from many backgrounds. Program hosts included Maryknoll Lay Missioner Mike Lavery, Maryknoll Fathers Paul Newpower, Donald Doherty, William Grimm, Joseph Veneroso, Ronald Saucci, and Daniel Jensen, and a number of Society employees. Production of these programs closed in 2013.
Currently, both the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers and Maryknoll Sisters produce podcasts about missioners’ lives and mission work. These podcasts are available on the Fathers and Brothers’ and Sisters’ websites.
Film and TV Production
World Horizon Films, the first film production unit within the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, was started by Fr. Albert Nevins in the early 1950s. The film unit’s principle mission was the production and marketing of audiovisual products in order to promote mission and Maryknoll. Components of the unit’s work included research, development, production, and distribution and/or marketing of audiovisual products.
Fr. Nevins’ primary goal was to get Maryknoll material into schools to attract candidates. He wrote the scripts, filmed, and recorded the material for the films, and then took the material to a commercial lab for the editing and final production. At this time, television was just getting started and stations were hungry for material, using Maryknoll programs in what is now called prime-time.
In the 1980s, unit director Fr. Ronald Saucci expanded the unit into the production of 30-minute videos on mission topics, a series called Maryknoll Magazine Presents. These videos were sold to the public. From 1970 to 1981, Fr. Saucci also hosted a weekly, half-hour television program called Maryknoll World, which was aired on WNBC-NY in New York City on Sunday mornings. Assisted by local students, Fr. Saucci interviewed Maryknoll missioners.
In the 1990s, the film unit went on to create several film series for TV broadcast, including The Field Afar/Tras El Horizonte, Caminante, and Lives for Sale. These series were designed to show American audiences the first-hand experiences of Maryknoll missioners and the people they lived among in the Third World. The series were sold to the public and well-received, winning several awards.
The name of the film unit changed several times. World Horizon Films became Maryknoll World Productions in 1995. In 2003, this was changed to Maryknoll Productions; in 2006, Electronic Communications; in 2009, Media Productions. The Media Productions Unit closed in 2011.
Photography
Photography has been key to mission education and promotion at Maryknoll since The Field Afar, Maryknoll’s first magazine, began publication in 1907. Photos in the magazine and in promotional materials gave a firsthand look into Maryknoll’s mission work and the people Maryknollers served. Maryknoll continues to use photography to capture its mission work and illustrate that work in mission education and promotion materials. The Archives houses more than a century’s worth of mission photography. Some of these photos are accessible through the International Mission Photography Archives project at the University of Southern California. Other photographic collections are accessible by request.
Collections Related to Audio and Visual Media
MFBA Cultivation Department Records, Series 3 Subseries 3 and Series 4