UKRAINE'S PUBLIC TV TAKES UP CAPUCHIN PROGRAM

27-08-2008

Friars Offer Alternative for Children's Entertainment, Formation

VINNITSA, Ukraine, AUG. 26, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A children's television program created by Capuchin fathers is being broadcast by public TV in Ukraine.

Clara-Studio's star program, Mistetzko Nadija (City of Hope), combines entertainment with civic and religious formation for children and is presented by Friar Justin Rustin.
The promoters explained that it is an attempt to offer an alternative of entertainment and formation for young children, in a country and at a time when children are going through many difficulties.

According to Egidio Picucci in L'Osservatore Romano, the initiative began when a proposal for a children's program arrived in the Clara-Studio publishing house in Vinnitsa, which is run by Capuchin friars from Krakow, Poland.
Clara-Studio was entrusted to the friars by Bishop Jan Olszanski of Kamyanets-Podilskyi (1919-2003). After the fall of the Communist regime, the Capuchins began with the publication of a magazine, which was later discontinued.
"The Church was coming out of the catacombs, and there was fear of being too exposed. Nevertheless we began. The Greek-Catholics agreed with us and something really useful was undertaken," Father Rustin told L'Osservatore Romano.
The publishing endeavor expanded to include several prayer books and brochures. Now Clara-Studio also publishes, among other things, the Ukrainian version of "Padre Pio's Voice," a saint to whom many Catholics and Orthodox in Ukraine are devoted.

The first proposal of the local television for a children's program arrived last fall. Today, Clara-Studio produces the program for national television, as well as documentaries, outstanding among which was that detailing John Paul II's visit to the country.
http://www.zenit.org/article-23472?l=english