“Years ago, I would listen to St. Gabriel Radio whenever I couldn’t sleep at night. The late-night programs were so captivating that I didn’t want to go back to sleep!” says longtime-listener Dee Dee (Mary Lynn) Monaco. She continues, “Back in the infancy of St. Gabriel Radio, the signal was so weak at night that I had to put my transistor radio next to my pillow so that I could hear what they were saying!” That was when St. Gabriel Radio was broadcast out of the Mansfield area on WFOT 89.5.
Dee Dee discovered St. Gabriel Radio through the Columbus Women’s Conference in early 2008. She had stopped by the St. Gabriel Radio booth to thank the radio station and thought to herself, “When I retire, I want to help them by volunteering.” And that’s just what Dee Dee did when she retired from Battelle Memorial Institute a few years ago. “I do whatever I can to help at St. Gabriel because I love the listeners who drop by the radio station and the staff,” she says.
“ I do whatever I can to help at St. Gabriel because I love the listeners who drop by the radio station and the staff.”
ST. GABRIEL RADIO INFUSES MY SPIRIT
A committed cradle Catholic, she believes that AM 820 radio programs have helped her go much, much deeper into the Faith. “People ask me to name my favorite program, but that’s like asking me to name my favorite child! All the programs — and the programs run 24/7 — infuse my spirit with good things.
“We live in a crazy world that shuts out and shuts down so much of the positive. On Catholic radio, I find a continual cycle of inspiration. I love the prayers, the call-in programs, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, Church history, the unbiased news, and the current events commentary. I love it all. St. Gabriel Radio gives me a direct line into the teachings of Jesus and reminds me that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
“ St. Gabriel Radio gives me a direct line into the teachings of Jesus and reminds me that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
SINGLE GRANDMA RAISES SECOND FAMILY
Another important aspect of St. Gabriel Radio is the fellowship that Dee Dee finds among the listeners. This means a lot to her, now a “single grandmother” raising her two teenage grandchildren. The children’s mother passed away two years ago. In Dee Dee’s day-to-day responsibility for the well-being of these two young people and coping with the loss of her own daughter (the mother of her grandchildren), the St. Gabriel Radio programs and friendship community have become a comforting touchstone.
Reflecting on the loss of her daughter and “single grand-motherhood,” Dee Dee sees God at work. “Thinking about Jeremiah 29:11, I know that God is so faithful. God gives a peace that passes all understanding. The Lord made me feel His presence when I lost my daughter. I knew that His plan is a good plan, and that plan put me in a deep, day-by-day, hour-by-hour relationship with my two grandchildren.
JESUS IS REAL AND ALIVE AMONG US
“God gave me a second family with my grandchildren, and my role is to help them know how much God loves them. The Lord is my anchor, and now, I am the anchor for these two precious young people during a very difficult time in their lives. I want them to experience how real God is, how alive He is, and how Jesus is the only way.
“The greatest adventure, the greatest human achievement, the greatest romance is to seek God, to find Him, and to fall in love with Him,” Dee Dee echoes from St. Augustine. “This is the treasure that I want to give to my grandchildren. When I’m walking my dog in the morning, I pray that Jesus will reveal this mystery to these two young people whom I love so much!”
“ The greatest adventure, the greatest human achievement, the greatest romance is to seek God, to find Him, and to fall in love with Him,” Dee Dee echoes from St. Augustine.
Dee Dee is always looking for ways to evangelize. While Dee Dee’s daughter was in the hospital in a coma, Dee Dee was at her bedside daily with prayers, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, AM 820, and other inspiration available through her smartphone. In the hospital, she passed out prayer cards and spoke about the Faith with the medical staff. This prayerfulness and attention to her daughter, who was unconscious, made a deep impression on the hospital staff and even the chaplains.
BUMPER STICKERS MAKE DEE DEE’S DAY
“ When I see a car with an AM 820 sticker, I want to say‘Hi, I listen too!’”
The AM 820 bumper sticker is another of Dee Dee’s tools for evangelization. “When I see a car with an AM 820 sticker, I want to say ‘Hi, I listen too!’ to my brothers and sisters in Christ. One day, at a stop light, an elderly gentleman pulled up next to me in a car with an AM 820 sticker. I leaned over and said, ‘Hey, I listen too!’ He smiled and tipped his hat. I don’t honk my horn anymore because that can confuse the other driver. But maybe the Radio should record a special honk, like the first notes of the Ave Maria, that we can program into these fancy new cars that have all the technology.”
Recently, Dee Dee volunteered at the St. Gabriel Radio booth at the Grandview Hop. She approached passersby with, “Do you know Mother Teresa.” She then handed out holy cards, and answered the questions of curious visitors. She says that the response from the visitors was very positive.
ST. GABRIEL RADIO FAITH FAMILY
“The interconnectedness of the people I’ve met through the radio station has created a kind of Faith Family of like-minded people who love the Lord,” explains Dee Dee. She says that these relationships have impacted her spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally. “Living the Catholic life makes Jesus even more real to me. The more that I share the Faith in personal relationships, the more it seems that people respond positively.”
Dee Dee encourages us to speak up about faith. “Some Catholics don’t know how to express the Faith to others,” but Dee Dee urges us. “If you don’t know what to say, ‘Jesus, I trust in you,’ can be just the opening for the Holy Spirit to take over an encounter.”
Dee Dee engages visitors at Grandview Hop
“ The more that I share the Faith in personal relationships, the more it seems that people respond positively.”
Dee Dee leaves us with a reminder, “The Holy Spirit also uses the bumper magnet that we put on our cars!”
