Radio fundraiser features giant puzzle of Baltimore basilica’s Mary

Radio station WMET 1160 AM – the local affiliate of the Guadalupe Radio Network, serving parts of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia – launched a new fundraiser that features a massive puzzle featuring the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.

The image, from the west dome of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, was enlarged into an 8-foot-by-3-foot, 96-piece puzzle, pieces of which will be offered for sponsorship to raise funds to support works of mercy, via the radio station’s ministry and parishes in the areas served by the station.

The puzzle campaign commemorates the radio station’s 20th anniversary, and is co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Catholic Review Media.

Pieces can be sponsored at levels of $2,500, $1,500 and $500, with 32 pieces available at each level. Archbishop William E. Lori sponsored the first $2,500 piece.

Father James Boric, rector of the basilica, said he was very pleased the puzzle image comes from the basilica, which will receive a portion of the funds raised.

“The funds will help us with Source of All Hope (urban ministry) and perpetual eucharistic adoration – both of which are designed to bring souls to Jesus. Mary always draws souls to her son, so it is fitting that Guadalupe Radio Network and the Basilica of the Assumption are teaming up to do this work,” he said.

Joseph Schuler, general manager of WMET 1160 AM, said Catholics’ devotion to Mary is significant. 

“She brings us peace, and strives to point us to her son, peace himself,” he said. 

Mary is depicted in many images throughout the world, he noted: “She’s our spiritual mother. She’s at our side, interceding always, saying: ‘Seek Jesus, do whatever he tells you.’ Through her assumption, just as she reinforced messages of hope and compassion as Our Lady of Guadalupe, she shows us God has a place for us. And she desires, at the resurrection of the body, for us to join her.”

Schuler said the project focuses on works of mercy because the current pandemic caused many people to concentrate on their own safety, but now many are looking to see how they can help others.

“The pandemic’s effect, in many ways, initially puzzled us, and caused us to look inward,” he said. “We worried about our own needs. Later, we became more aware of the great needs of others – people losing their lives, people sacrificing their lives on the job, folks losing their jobs. We witnessed more families frequenting food pantries. Through this effort, we wish to draw attention to those great needs, and to support them through our Catholic radio ministry.”

He hopes parishioners in the dioceses served by the radio station – including the archdioceses of Baltimore, Washington and the Military Services, and the Diocese of Arlington – will be inspired to see the great needs around them and stoke a little friendly competition.

The parish with the most registered parishioners who participate in the fundraiser will receive up to $20,000 (when the project is fully supported) for works of mercy in the parish; the funds can be used for food pantries or St. Vincent de Paul services, coat drives, school supplies, Title I school lunch needs or service to those experiencing homelessness.

Contributors can sponsor a piece in their own name or in honor or in memory of a loved one or a priest or religious who particularly inspired them.

Those who contribute can also receive benefits:

• $2,500 level – two months of once-per-day WMET radio spots; contributors at this level also receive a photograph of the image on which the puzzle is based from Catholic Review Media, taken by visual journalist Kevin J. Parks.
• $1,500 – one month of once-per-day WMET radio spots.
• $500 – contributors receive a special catechetical book, DVD or CD.

WMET carries the Catholic Review Radio program on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. 

For more information on the fundraiser, visit www.grnonline.com/puzzle. 

Email Gunty at editor@catholicreview.org

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