Catholic Community of Alabama's Lawrence County
Sponsors Weekly Program to Inspire and Invite

Living Room Recording Studio: Guests Bob and Madonna Brunson, left, are interviewed by Bob Laremore—in his living room—about their 63 years of marriage. The radio program featuring the Brunsons was so popular that it has been re-aired by demand. Photo/Courtesy Bob Laremore

“Good morning Lawrence County. This is the Catholic Perspective brought to you by the Catholic Community of Lawrence County, Resurrection Catholic Chapel. I am Deacon Bob Laremore, a Glenmary Home Missioner.”

Since October 2006 listeners of Lawrence County’s WALW 98.3 hear that greeting each Sunday morning as pastoral coordinator Bob Laremore opens his 10 a.m. radio program, which he describes as a mix of Sunday’s readings, message and music ranging from traditional hymns to Christian rock. The target audience, he says, are unchurched listeners in their 30s.

The program, funded by the local Catholic community, Glenmary and FOB (Friends of Bob), originates from the Laremore’s living room using a mini-recording studio.

“The message is dependent on the readings and what I have observed that week or other times within the county,” Bob says. “The message is much like a homily at Mass but I also use music to help highlight the message.”

Bob called together the Catholic Community of Lawrence County 14 years ago in Moulton. Today, the mission community numbers “somewhere between 13 and 35, depending on the Sunday,” he says.
Still meeting in a storefront, the community is working to save enough money to build a permanent gathering space.

In addition to being a forum to deliver a weekly message, the half-hour program also gives Bob the opportunity to give general information about the Catholic Church as well as to invite people “to come and join us.”

He especially likes the time period that the show airs because “we catch those who are getting ready to go to church and hopefully those who do not attend a church of any denomination.”

Bob says the feedback has been positive, although there has been some “hate mail” about the Catholic Church. “But the positive feedback far outweighs the negative.”

This radio program is yet another way this small Catholic community is “being present in this poor, evangelical and 48 percent unchurched county of Alabama,” he says. The Catholic perspective and ministry continue to be a witness in word and action.”