Five Seconds to Air - Father Fidelis Rice, C.P.
Left to right: Passionist Fathers Louis McCue, Fidelis Rice, and Isaias Powers. circa 1963
Passionist historical tradition correctly honors Father Fidelis Rice, C.P. as the founder of Passionist electronic media. In a 1974 audio interview Rice recalled that his understanding of media and ministry went back to 1939. Then, a student priest in Rome, the Berwick, Maine native-son born in 1908 and ordained as a Passionist in 1936, listened to Pope Pius XII's encyclical Sertum Laetitae, which specifically praised the radio as a "marvelous invention and eloquent image of the Apostolic Faith that embraces all mankind." Rice's opportunity to apply modern technology for evangelization came to life at St. Ann's Monastery in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1941 Vice-Rector Father Alfred Weaver, C.P. thought it was a good idea to get the popular St. Ann's Novena on radio. Because Father Benedict McNamara, C.P. was ill at the time, Weaver asked Rice to pursue the possibility of radio. Beginning in February 1942 WGBI radio agreed to broadcast the Monday novena services under the condition that the same priest, in this case Rice, do all nine services. In 1974 Rice recalled how the experience led him to think that there might be a possibility to develop a Passionist radio program for the congregation and its ministry to preach the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
1953 saw Rice assigned to Our Mother of Sorrows Retreat, West Springfield, Massachusetts where he used a tape recorder to teach Sacred Eloquence-preaching skills-to newly ordained Passionist priests. That same year, Rice gave a talk on WREB radio, Holyoke, Massachusetts to promote the New England Congress of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine under the auspices of the Springfield Diocese. Conversations between Father Rice and WREB Program Director John Vondell commenced which resulted in Father Rice working with the seminarians to produce and air a single Lenten show on Ash Wednesday, March 3, 1954 on WREB. Its success led to the regular production of radio program The Hour of the Crucified. Eventually, Rice purchased production equipment which allowed him to produce a show which aired on various radio stations nationwide. In time, a Weekly Bulletin was published which contained prayers, hymns by a guest choir, a radio editorial, and a talk by a special guest speaker which included many Passionist and lay speakers. In later years, the radio show changed its name to Crossroads, even as it maintained, in general, the same format. In the early 1970s between three hundred and three hundred and fifty tapes were being distributed for broadcast nationally and internationally. Even though the 1970s and 1980s continued to see the Passionists assign numerous personnel to the radio ministry, it was eventually decided to stop Crossroads in 1988.
The 1970s proved to be a time of experimentation as well. The Passionist-sponsored Stotts Report (1975) reveals that, for a short time, an effort was made to reach the increasing number of United States Spanish-speaking Catholics by developing Crossroads into a show of ten minute talks, music, readings and prayer known as Encrucijada. At one point tapes were sent to twenty-four stations in the United States, as well as in Central and South America. It is unknown as to whether archive copies of the show remain.
Father Fidelis Rice was fortunate enough to provide religious programing during the early years of United States television industry. In 1954 Mr. William Putnam, President and Owner of Television Station WWLP in Springfield asked Father Rice if he would preach the three hours Good Friday devotion at the station in the same manner that it was done in church. Eventually this developed into a weekly Sunday television Mass known as The Chalice of Salvation. More study is needed to understand the leadership shown by the various Passionists who were assigned to coordinate both the radio and television ministry which they often had to manage at the same time. Presently, Brother Terrence Scanlon, C.P. continues his ministry on the staff of The Chalice of Salvation even as the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts takes responsibility for the overall operations and ministry.
Father Fidelis Rice, C.P.
Father Mark Connolly
Father George Nolan, C.P.
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