New TV network to advance Catholic faith hits airwaves Thursday

A new cable television network to “advance the cause of the Catholic faith” in Africa, Europe and parts of Asia is to hit the airwaves on May 22.
The station, known as Lumen Christi, located at Km. 15 on the Lagos-Epe Expressway at Lekki, Lagos State, is to transmit free-to-air programmes, produced by various Catholic parishes in Nigeria and other African countries.
The Proprietor of the network, Robert Olagunju, was quoted in a statement as saying that the station would transmit its programmes in English, with sub-titles in French and occasionally in Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili and Pidgin.
Olagunju, a Catholic faithful, said that he built the station to commemorate his 50th birthday and to show gratitude to God and humanity.
He said: “It gives me concern that the mother church in Africa with millions of lay faithful across this continent does not have a direct means of mass communication for her work of evangelism.
“I realise the sacrifice it will call for from all of us and I gladly give myself the challenge of the greater responsibility for the establishment and overall maintenance of the station.”
According to Olagunju, the station will broadcast on a daily basis for 24 hours and will dwell on programmes that edify God and nurture the faithful.
He added: “It will be similar to the Eternal Word Television Network and fill the gap the American station has in its very limited coverage of Africa with her teeming and large Catholic population.”
Olagunju said that the station would, among other programmes, offer religious cartoons for kids as well as faith sessions to be anchored by priests and other religious people.
He appealed for moral and spiritual support of catholic bishops and the church, saying that the station would complement the task of evangelism in the world.
Olagunju also urged religious organisations and institutions, including Catholic universities and seminaries, to produce programmes for broadcast at the station.