By Angela Pidduck From Trinidad & Tobago NewsDay

One year ago on September 8, 2013, the birthday of the Feast of Our Lady, Trinity TV, which for 20 years had partnered with the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) on its local channel, took ‘‘one small step in communicating the face of the Church, and one giant leap towards spreading the good news to the region’’, and began local programming 24/7, from its studios upstairs the Living Water Community on Frederick Street in downtown Port-of-Spain.

On that day Trinity TV began to make inroads into the traditional television market through its educational, spiritual, entertaining and informative programming. Says Bishop Jason Gordon, a Trinidadian who is Bishop of Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines: “We have the beginnings of a Catholic Caribbean Television Network. A network that can pull the Caribbean Catholic Churches together.”

LWC, a Catholic, charismatic, Community was founded nearly 40 years ago by Rhonda Maingot and Rose Jackman in response to a call from God to “light a fire of love” in the heart of God’s people, Maingot, director of the Community of around 600 persons, is stationed here in Trinidad, while co-director, Jackman, heads the Mission is in Barbados.

“Providing 24/7 programming is a challenge” said Maingot, before her departure yesterday (Saturday) to attend the New Evangelization Conference in Rome. “But because we were Community for so many years we have lots of stuff in our archives that is very good. Also we are partnered with Telecare out of Long Island, New York, Salt and Light of Canada, Rome Reports News Agency, Vatican TV (CTV), Aleteia Television Network from Italy, EWTN, Family Theater Productions and Gateway Films from the USA.

Among the challenges is the problem of “Finance” says Maingot in her very faith-filled manner of dealing with the management of this very diverse Community through the years. “We have payments which are expensive although people give us very good prices and individual programming sponsoring. Some people help us because they are very happy with the station. We have gotten some tremendous feedback. “We must have the continued support of the public because we would never be able to do it without their support and also of the corporate people. We do not advertise, and just acknowledge our sponsors of the individual programmes, such as, the Daily Mass which is broadcast at noon Monday to Friday, 8.45 am Saturdays, 8 am Sundays and 8.30 am Public Holidays with daily reruns again at midnight.”

It is hoped that the station’s mixed programming will work with Jamaica, Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, and wherever FLOW is because in this way it will reach the church of the Caribbean. “Already we have stuff from Guyana on a regular basis” says Maingot. “As we continue to present educational, informative, entertaining programming. Trinity brings to the people of Trinidad and Tobago very wholesome, healthy, good family-oriented values which help to build the country and a beautiful nation.

Trinity is the service of the church and the people of Trinidad and Tobago, and we cannot do it without volunteers. People come from the community’s missions in the church and do programmes, such as, Breakfast with the Deacons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, We produce local programmes here quite a few times per week and I think we do more local programming than any other television station in Trinidad and Tobago.” Because Maingot and the Community were in this for so long, they saw it was wanted for the country. And she says: “I felt in my heart we needed something local in the culture so that we could identify our faith and culture, and bring them together in our television programming. Otherwise everything is imported.

So with our local flavour we can marry our faith and culture. I am very happy with it for the year and think it has been a good year, a good offering to God for many blessings and gifts of support that we have received this year and just pray it will continue so we can continue this beautiful ministry which is something that is truly needed in our country.”

In celebration of its first anniversary Trinity TV has this past week provided some very interesting programmes which its On-Location team went on the road to accomplish, such as, the Jamaican Missionaries of the Poor recent production of The Messiah at NAPA, excerpts from several other concerts, the visit of Cardinal Filoni from his arrival on November 29, 2013 to his visit to The President’s House where the Sacred Heart Boys Roman Catholic School’s choir entertained with parang music.

Trinity TV travelled to Rome in February for the Ordinary Consistory for the Creation of New Cardinals, Archbishop Kelvin Felix and Bishop Chibly Langlois of the Caribbean. And in April the crew was part of a worldwide team assembled in St Peter’s Square for the Canonization of St John XXIII and St John Paul 11 with more than three million gathered in Rome and an estimated television audience of a billion viewers tuning in for this historic occasion.

With their pre-recorded shows and live coverage via a link with EWTN, Trinity TV has become a household name in Trinidad and Tobago and as well in many islands across the region. Trinity TV believes no medium, new or old, should be overlooked when seeking the best way to present the Gospel message in order to accomplish Jesus’ final instructions to us “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations”.

For more on this story go to: http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,200135.html

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