The introduction of Catholic TV will be for the Church in Pakistan, a great opportunity for evangelisation through the media, supplementing the Urdu service of Radio Veritas Asia. Radio Veritas has been broadcasting an Urdu service for Pakistan and India since 14 August 1987.[1]
Father Morris Jalal visits families and attends church functions in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore and carrie
s a video camera to document the community's life for the first Catholic TV channel in Pakistan. The founder and executive director of Catholic TV has made this service available round-the-clock on a local cable channel. The purpose of the project is to take advantage of the era of rapid communications to promote human values and the message of the Gospel to a general audience. While Christian print media remains limited only to the literate, electronic media is watched by everybody and could possibly help build and reinforce a society of peace and tolerance. Programming includes Christian films, documentaries on church activities, talk shows, interviews, holy songs, rosary recitation, Bible quiz competitions and live Sunday Mass. Catholic TV can be viewed within a radius of 10 kilometers from the central Lahore compound of St. Francis Parish, an area in which an estimated 8,000 Catholic families live. The dining room of the parish doubles as the set for recording interviews, and a small storeroom houses the editing facilities. The salaries for the 11 Catholic TV staff members add up to US$680 per month. The money comes from parish revenues with no outside funding. The government's media regulatory body has not approved a permit for any Christian radio, TV or news service, and state-owned Pakistan Television grants Christians only two 30-minute slots a year for Christmas and Easter programs.[2]
Catholic communicators have found their way around Pakistani unwillingness to give airspace to the Church, taking advantage of cable and Internet to broadcast their message. The first Catholic TV channels in Pakistan have been endorsed by Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, president of the National Center for Social Communications.[3]
The country’s first Catholic television channel celebrated its first anniversary by honoring its anchors, all of them volunteers. More than 500 people gathered for the April 28, 2010 program at St. Catholic TV, a round-the-clock local cable service, has expanded to include shows on human rights abuses, current affairs, Christian personalities and programs about the lifestyle of clergy. Catholic TV is totally funded by local Catholics. Auxiliary Bishop Sebastian Francis Shah of Lahore who spoke at the event said that such media are necessary to strengthen peoples’ faith.[4]
An order issued by the government Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority on September 22, 2016, declared 11 Christian television channels broadcasting in Pakistan in Urdu, including Catholic TV, as illegal.[5] Jasber Ashiq, director of Catholic TV, said they had had to look to alternatives like Facebook and YouTube to stream programs.[6]
