Opening Page
More than just music in your iPods
Peachy Limpin
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I missed going to mass last Sunday because I was too sick to go to church and I slept through TV mass for the same reason. But I won’t miss a sermon again because there’s this priest who podcasts his sermon, reflections, and other thoughts on his website.

You read it right. iPods are no longer just for storing music, or x-ray images as I’ve written before, or for audio books that are circulated in libraries in the US. The religious have realized the potential of podcasting that they have begun to explore the medium with great results.

One such priest is Fr. Stephen Cuyos, a member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who podcasts from Rome while on sabbatical. Father Stephen is a certified Pinoy, a certified techie, a blogger, a Cappuccino-lover, a Linux user and an open-source devotee.

Fr. Stephen discovered podcasting while reading technews over the Internet and has been podcasting since April of this year. His earlier podcasts focused on the life of Pinoys in Italy, their joys and struggles. One of his guests in his podcasts was Analisa Bueno Magsino, a mother of two and former domestic helper and now a consultant, cultural mediator, and editor–in-chief of a Filipino newspaper in Italy.

Podcasting, according to Fr. Stephen, is a tool for his ministry. “Through it, I am able to proclaim and share my personal reflections on God’s liberating message of joy, peace and love on a global scale.” He also sees it as a tool for dialogue making it a point to feature other people in his podcasts and his conversation with them. “I never wanted to do a monologue. It is my objective that all my podcasts are characterized by interpersonal encounter, reflective listening, give and take, mutual respect, and cooperation.” Finally, it is, for him, a tool for empowering the poor and the marginalized in society. “I believe that podcasting can give a powerful voice to the poor, minorities, women, children and others who are consistently and increasingly marginalised in our globalized world.” Interfaith dialogue is also possible with podcasting as evidenced by the feedback he got from a female Baptist pastor who recommended his podcasts to her flock.

Fr. Stephen “painlessly” adjusted to the medium being an audiophile which went with his job as Program Director of Radyo Pilipino ng Vaticano. According to him, the only thing he had to learn was putting RSS enclosures to generate his podcast feeds. I wish I could say the same for me. Until now I still can’t listen to his podcasts because my computer is not equipped with the appropriate software.

Podcasting is an ideal medium to touch people because of its global reach, its being user-friendly, free and downloadable content, and it suits a mobile lifestyle. In terms of production value, it’s very easy to produce because according to him, “down to the minimum, the only thing needed to produce a podcast is a microphone, an audio player/mixer, and a computer with internet connection.” It also has the capacity to reach those who cannot read nor write. “Podcasters do not only transmit but also receive, thus making the listeners not only hear but also speak. Through feedbacks, podcasting does not isolate but rather connect people.”

On the other hand, he finds it a bit expensive to produce quality podcasts as this requires higher bandwidths and to maintain a podcast site.

He podcasts from his bedroom-cum-studio using Behringer B-1 microphone connected to a Behringer Eurorack UB1204 Pro which is in turn connected to a Toshiba Satellite laptop. And when he’s out, which is most of the time, he uses a Sony MZ-NH700 Hi-MD recorder and a Sony MS908 electret condenser microphone. As for the software, he uses Audacity for his Linux and Adobe Audition for his XP. He uses only royalty free music for background tracks and his MP3s have the following specs: 128Kbps, 44100Hz sample rate and 16 CBR resolution. Honesty, I do not have any idea about the equipment he uses except for the laptop.

So if you miss going to church for one reason or another, tune in to Father Cuying’s podcasts at www.stephencuyos.com. Now there’s no reason to miss out on the Word of God.

But go easy on your ears while using your iPod or other mobile audio players because you wouldn’t want to damage your hearing. It’s been proven that prolonged exposure to loud sounds damages the ears.