As a young man finishing up high school, Jim Korda had not thought about the priesthood or broadcasting—seeing himself drawn to a career in architecture.
“I actually had sent out some inquires to different colleges and universities,” Father Korda recalls. Yet friendly interventions would guide him elsewhere—toward a priestly vocation and to a career in religious broadcasting.
This past June, Father Korda, who retired after decades as a diocesan priest last year, received the 2023 Gabriel Award for Personal and Lifetime Achievement at the annual Catholic Medica Convention in Baltimore. This was the latest of many honors that Father Korda has received.
He entered the seminary at the encouragement of Father John DeMarinis, longtime pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in Youngstown.
“‘This is exactly where I need to be,’” he soon concluded after following his mentor’s advice. He majored in English during his undergraduate studies at St. Gregory Seminary in Cincinnati. “I loved to read and I loved to write.”
Though he no longer had aspirations as an architect, he continued to do a lot of drawing. “I wanted to be creative,” he said.
He advanced to Mount St. Mary Seminary, Cincinnati, where he completed his theological studies. Father Korda was ordained in 1979. First assigned to St. Joseph Parish in Canton, Father Korda found that he took to pastoral ministry rather happily. In a few years, however, he encountered another surprise on his vocational journey.
In 1984, Father Bob Bonnot, who had founded the Catholic Telecommunications Network of Youngstown (CTNY) and its Ecumenical Television Channel (ETC), approached him. “I’d like you to go away for a while and study religious communications,” Father Bonnot told him—much to Father Korda’s surprise.
“It was not something that I had thought about or pursued,” Father Korda noted. So he asked, “Why?”
“I just see something in you,” Father Bonnot replied.
Father Bonnot, who would later head the U.S. bishops’ Catholic Television Network of America (CTNA), was once associate pastor at Father Korda’s home parish, Immaculate Conception in Youngstown.
“He certainly did jump in and did great work,” Father Bonnot said.
After clearing it with his pastor, Monsignor David Rhodes, he went away one summer to Loyola University in New Orleans and the next to Marquette in Milwaukee.
In addition to learning about religious broadcasting, Father Korda said, “I began to meet many professionals in religious broadcasting, networked with them, and saw what they did and the potential for reaching people,” he noted. “Eventually, I fell in love with religious broadcasting, and I also grew to see that, unless we as a Church are using the media, we’re missing the boat.”
So, in 1985, he became associate director of communication services for CTNY, working closely with Father Bonnot to get the fledging enterprise going. “Because we were ecumenical and interfaith, we could use programs from the Lutherans, the Methodists and other Churches, as well as from the Jewish broadcasters. In addition to giving us a variety of programs, our being ecumenical made it easier to reach various cable systems to carry our programs.”
Its headquarters at the Pauline St. Paul Monastery in Canfield served CTNY well, Father Korda explained. “The Paulines’ charism is media and communications,” offering a natural fit. In addition, the Canfield location helped in connecting with various cable systems in different counties.
“I was fortunate enough to work with people who were already in communications, so it was really a learning process for me,” Father Korda said. “I had to learn about cable television, religious broadcasting, how to use the equipment.”
“It was also a learning experience for us as a diocese. We were not in this alone—doing it in cooperation with others,” Father Korda explained. They first worked with other Churches and with Jewish organizations. “As time went on, we branched out, doing programs with the Muslims.”
In addition, Father Korda noted, he found his media ministry “a great creative outlet as well.” Putting aside such pastimes as drawing, he focused his creative energies into his various television and radio projects, including Real to Reel and Wineskins, a weekly radio show.
Around 1987, Father Bonnot moved on to New York to help set up CTNA. They later moved their offices to Washington, where he remained for several years before moving to The Vision Interfaith Satellite Network (VISN), an ecumenical /interfaith television network based in New York, which would later evolve into the Hallmark Channel. After some years working in California, he would later return to the Youngstown Diocese in 2006. Father Korda in turn would step into greater responsibilities at CTNY, being named pastoral director in 1987.
In 1987, Father Bonnot asked Father Korda to supervise CTNA’s coverage of Pope John Paul II’s second pastoral visit to the U.S.
“That was a great experience. We basically followed him,” relying on live feed while he stayed inside the studio. “We also would recap the day’s event and produce 5-10 minute segments,” Father Korda explained.
For the next two decades, Father Korda would balance his assignments at different parishes with his work for CTNY, which involved different titles and roles.
“We were able to get on a lot of the local cable channels,” some of which gave them slots for free. “We covered five of the six counties,” with Ashtabula being the only county they couldn’t reach by cable.
Among the various shows that CTNY offered over the years were Real to Reel, a nationally syndicated TV news magazine, for which CTNY added local segments, Mass for Shut-Ins and Spotlight, which focused on individuals and institutions, and Issues on the Line, a call-in discussion program.
Their main radio project was Wineskins, a weekly radio magazine program with interviews and guest commentators. Wineskins runs on Sunday morning on Living Bread Radio—1060 A.M., 89.5 F.M., 94.5 F.M.—and on WKBN 570 A.M.
When Father Korda became pastor of St. Rose in Girard in 2004—with greater responsibilities as pastor of a large parish—he left day-to-day involvement with CTNY. “I did a few things for CTNY occasionally.” He remained at St. Rose until 2010. Then, for about a year, he assisted at Holy Family Parish in Poland.
“In 2011, Bishop Murry asked me to go back to CTNY,” which he did while continuing to serve at various parishes. Eventually, he was named CTNY president.
One of the shows was Church at Home, which looked at families from a Church perspective, Father Korda said. “We did a number of educational programs” focusing on such topics as the saints and Scripture. “In addition, we did a lot of the devotional programs, such as the Rosary, specials during Lent and Advent, and Stations of the Cross.” Father Korda said.
As the cable industry shifted, CTNY was able to work only with Time-Warner (now Spectrum) and Armstrong, Father Korda explained, which limited CTNY’s access mainly to Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
“Now, we rely more on social media.” Last year CTNY closed its studio in Canfield, and the work of CTNY was assumed into the diocesan communications department.
Father Korda retired last year as a diocesan priest, but still assists at parishes where needed and hosts Wineskins. He also looks with satisfaction on his ministry in media.
Among the award-winning efforts that Father Korda presented were shows for the diocesan 50th and 75th anniversaries, a special on St. Columba Cathedral, Bishop Murry’s funeral, the installation for Bishop David Bonnar, and the diocesan Mass for Evangelization. He also received awards for a number of Wineskins episodes, Mass for Shut-Ins and various public service announcements.
“To use televisions and radio to get the word out about the faith, the Church, ecumenism and the issues that we are facing, has been most gratifying,” Father Korda said.
“Whenever we’re in religious broadcasting, we are telling a story, but it’s not just the story of the person we’re interviewing, but it’s also our story as a Church,” Father Korda said. “It’s been important to me to tell our story. And It’s not always about conversion but to build—building a better world.”
