Click to receive Archdioceses gift

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: This Christmas season, the Latin Archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram has an e-gift in store for the faithful.The Archdiocese is launching a web radio - a first for the state’s Catholic community, according to the church - for spreading the glad tidings on a global scale. Trials of www.luminousradio.com began on Wednesday.Luminous Radio will go online on Christmas Day, and will be formally unveiled at a conference of NRKs planned by the Archdiocese on December 30, church officials said.‘’It’s in line with a call made by Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholic community to make good use of new age media. Besides, members of our Archdiocese who live abroad, particularly the youngsters, have been demanding such a facility,’’ Fr Shaji of the Archdiocese, one of the coordinators of the project, said.‘’The idea is to reach out to Malayalees with net access on a global scale,’’ he said. Also, an internet radio provides the church low-cost access to the masses. The 24x7 new-age radio will webcast devotional songs, evangelical sermons, interactive sessions for clarifying doubts regarding the Christian faith and inspirational talks.As its name suggests, an internet radio makes use of the internet to broadcast audio, instead of employing conventional radio stations and air signals. The church has been preparing well for the radio project. For example, over the past two years, 55 sermons and talks by the Latin Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram M Soosaipakiam alone were recorded, which will be webcast via Luminous Radio.