AMERICA/MEXICO - Radio Tepeyac, the radio station of the poor

San Cristobal de las Casas (Agenzia Fides) - Radio Tepeyac has started broadcasting recently on the internet and only after a few days the number of "listeners via the Internet" has grown significantly, surpassing all expectations. According to information Fides received by the Archdiocese of Mexico, the Bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mgr.Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, proudly sees this project which was born in his territory, and has not hesitated to call the radio station "the radio station of the poor", because it was a group of lay people with very limited economic resources to successfully handle this initiative in the network. "It is not a radio station of the diocese – underlined the Bishop - but of lay apostles, who responded to an initiative that I proposed and they enthusiastically embraced". The lack of money was undoubtedly one of the obstacles to overcome, but for the Bishop this problem was solved "quite easily", "because when people know what it is about, they are very generous".
According to Mgr.Arizmendi as the constitutional amendment is far towards a greater freedom of expression to the Catholic Church, it is necessary to find alternatives for evangelization, "as these lay did through the radio on the Internet, which has no legal restrictions". The Bishop explained that the project of Radio Tepeyac was born several years ago to address the problem of bringing the Gospel to more people, especially to the marginalized, the sick and elderly, as well as those who work and cannot participate in the celebration and catechesis: "The experience of Aparecida inspired us to seek new ways to renew our ministry of evangelization", he underlined.
Many faithful from other states in the Republic, countries and different nations, are following Radio Tepeyac, "in a few days we have had many requests, this encourages us and asks us to take care of the technical and content aspect well," said the Bishop. The responsibles of the Radio rely on the cooperation, advice and guidance of the diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas.
Mgr. Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, since 2000 has been the Bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, one of the poorest dioceses in the country, encourages all local churches to undertake such initiatives, since "the person and message of Jesus are so rich and deep, we cannot lock them in our religious spaces. The Lord sends us and we must become missionaries ... especially putting the projects into the hands of the Holy Spirit and the poor, and therefore go ahead". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 16/09/2011)