Priest sends daily positive messages through mass media

Intermountain Catholic

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Father Omar Ontiveiros is responsable for the 15 minutes transmition of ?Bendiciendo tu día?, which is broadcasted from the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City?.

SALT LAKE CITY — In Utah there’s a unique radio show… "Bendiciendo tu día" ("Blessing Your Day"), which has as its mission to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in a very modern and enthusiastic way.

The show’s intent is to communicate the values and teachings of the Catholic Church, in which the community can find support for their spiritual growth.

The man responsible for the daily 15-minute broadcast is Father Omar Ontiveiros, parochial vicar for The Cathedral of the Madeleine. During his time on the radio, Fr. Ontiveiros preaches the Gospel in a very singular way.

"We want to do what John Paul II told us" he said ,"we were in need of a new evangelism, with new values and new methods," Fr. Ontiveiros said.

Using mass communication media to reach this goal, Fr. Ontiveiros’ aim is to reach the entire Catholic community by radio, the internet and television.

The radio segments have been challenging because the station format is modern pop, he said. "I have to do a show in which we could captivate the same audience that the station has."

Nevertheless, community response to "Bendiciendo tu día" teachings of the Catholic Church has been very good. "The show had have a very good acceptance, we receive a lot of calls every day" he said. "Our community need the Gospel, but in a modern way, not as we said in a ‘churchy’ way; we need to captivate the attention of all the people. People are in huge need of positive messages, with happiness for their souls."

Every day the show sends a different positive spiritual message, combining it with modern Catholic teachings. Fr. Ontiveiros hopes that with this electronic medium, people realize the Catholic presence in Utah and that Catholics in the state will identify more with their faith, offering support in a very simple language.

María Juarez, from Michoacan, México, is among those who regularly follows the show. "Bendiciendo tu día" makes me smile and think how wonderful life is," she said.

Other projects such as a live broadcasting of a Sunday Mass and a web page called "Valor Católico" ("Catholic Values")are underway. The web page so far receives 10,000 hits per month.

The signal of the radio show is transmitted from the facilities located in the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City with the direction of Fr. Omar Ontiveiros and a team of contributors.

Fr. Ontiveiros was born in México City. He moved to the USA after finishing his philosophical studies in the seminary in Obregon City, México. After that he studied in Mt. Angel, Oregon, graduating in 2006.

He was ordained in the Salt Lake City Diocese and now serves as the Parochial Vicar of the Cathedral of the Madeleine. He is the director of the radio show ""Bendiciendo tu día".

"Bendiciendo tu día" is broadcast in Spanish Monday through Friday at 9:45 a.m. on 106.1 FM

Sunday spanish Mass is broadcast every Sunday through La Favorita, 1660 AM, 960 AM and 92.9 FM.