Catholic Answers and Relevant Radio

I have received lots of questions about why Catholic Answers is no longer airing “Catholic Answers Live” on the stations now owned by “Relevant Radio.” I even had a couple people approach me after Mass on Sunday about this, so I thought I would answer the question here.

I know there has been an incomplete picture painted about this situation that claimed Catholic Answers decided to depart from Relevant Radio. But that is misleading. Catholic Answers did not cease airing anything. We have offered our radio broadcast for free and for 20 years now to anyone who wants to air it. And we continue to do so. The truth is, Relevant Radio decided to cease airing Catholic Answers Live.

So here’s the skinny: Relevant Radio did make an offer to retain Catholic Answers Live on their stations, but that offer was not realistic for us. The offer effectively required Catholic Answers to give up ownership of our own radio broadcast. Think about this, folks: this would have meant Relevant Radio would be the exclusive distributor/broadcaster of Catholic Answers Live; and therefore, Catholic Answers Live would be branded as a Relevant Radio program. In fact, Catholic Answers could no longer independently provide the show to other Catholic radio stations and networks, including EWTN. Would anyone really think we at Catholic Answers would, in effect, snub EWTN with whom we have worked closely for more than two decades here? And with whom we have just recently began airing a television broadcast?

Moreover, Relevant Radio alone would archive each episode of Catholic Answers Live on the Relevant Radio website. That would mean Catholic Answers would not even be permitted to continue to archive its own radio show show on its own website, www.catholic.com. And mind you, www.catholic.com is the second most visited Catholic website in the world behind the Vatican’s website. We would have been making our radio show less available than it was before, compromising our mission to reach as many souls as possible. This did not require any debate at Catholic Answers. The answer was virtually self-evident.

Let me assure you, folks, that we at Catholic Answers did try every which way but loose to make a way where we could continue to work with Relevant Radio and everyone else. But in the end, Relevant Radio wanted absolute control, or nothing at all. There are certainly no hard feelings on our end at Catholic Answers. We wish Relevant Radio well. Our desire is that the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we alone possess as Catholics get proclaimed to as many people as possible. Everyone working in the Lord’s vineyard has our prayerful support. However, the model Revelant Radio espoused we adopt would have gone against many of our core operating principles. Taking apostolates or radio stations away from their fruitful labor is not something we felt like we could be a part of. We operate under a model that rejoices at the success of others laboring for our Lord. We pray for and support them. We believe in coming up with creative ways to increase our effectiveness, but not to the detriment of our friends in the field.

At any rate, if you want to get the full story, I recommend you go to our Catholic Answers press release here:

https://www.catholic.com/news/top-rated-catholic-show-no-longer-on-relevant-radio

And feel free to contact me or Catholic Answers if you have questions.

Oremus Pro Invicem,

Tim Staples