A Note From Fr. Reed

Great things sometimes come in big packages, but also in small ones as well. Recently, a southwest Florida university unveiled a 54-ton sculpture of the Virgin Mary. Back in the beginning of the spring hundreds gathered at Ave Maria University for the unveiling. It took the sculptor two years to carve the 35-foot-tall, 31-foot-wide sculpture.

He actually started with an 80-ton block of marble that came from the same quarry Michelangelo used for the Pieta and David sculptures. The sculpture was blessed by Bishop Frank Dewane of the diocese of Venice.

This would not be what I would call a blink or a blip on the screen, but a tremendous testimony to the Faith of an artist to the powerful intercession and maternal care of the Blessed Mother of God. This May, we honor Mary who is also our mother, the Mother of the Church.

Our Catholic Faith is so rich and multifaceted. Some years ago we decided that there were many missed opportunities to communicate the message of the Gospel if we were to only produce programs that fit into the typical television schedule. As you know, a typical TV show is usually thirty or sixty minutes with commercials or public service announcements interspersed throughout. So we decided to introduce a new and simple innovation called "Blink." Essentially a Blink is a short program of three to
five minutes which can then be strung together to form a half hour block or run by itself to fill time until the next scheduled program.

These mini-programs, which are sometimes over "in the blink of an eye," have afforded us so many opportunities to highlight one aspect or another of the rich tapestry of our Faith and bring into your home, or onto a smaller screen, a particular individual who might not have otherwise become part of the CatholicTV family.

Under the watchful eye of the Mother of the Church, whom we honor with our particular affection this May, we offer you all that we do, big and small. As always, it's all for you!