Ministry profile

BY NANCY COOKE

In 1987, Dave Vacheresse was working with the poor in Birmingham, Alabama, as a lay missionary with the Salesians, a Catholic men's religious community.

Dave’s Salesian mentor, Brother Charles, often talked about a dynamic nun living in the area who had recently started a Catholic television network that was gaining popularity throughout the country. They went to see her live program on a Tuesday evening in January. Dave recalls, “She was very engaging. Her program that night was profound, educational and absolutely hilarious. I was drawn to her presentation style.”

At the end of her program, Brother Charles introduced them. Dave says, “Immediately after the introduction, Mother drew close to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘you need to join my (religious) order for men right away.’ I was stunned. I was only weeks into my new life of faith. Over the next several days, as I prayed about what to do, I knew I had to accept her invitation. I formally entered Mother Angelica's Order of the Eternal Word for Men community, in early February.” Later, Dave discovered that there was a waiting list for men who had requested to enter, but had been asked to wait because of a lack of space. Although Dave ultimately discerned that he was called to serve as part of the laity, he says “the two years I spent as a member of the order prepared me for everything I have done since. I was so new to the faith that I was literally a blank slate. I learned about life with Christ and His Church from Mother Angelica herself.”

At first, Dave was a camera man who juggled many duties on the television side for Mother Angelica. In January, 1993, she encouraged him to work for the new shortwave radio station she had built near the main EWTN Campus in Irondale, Alabama. He functioned as program director and news director for the station. Just four years later, in January of 1997, Dave and his family moved to Reno, Nevada, to manage EWTN Radio’s first full-time affiliate in the U.S. That single station later became their largest affiliate group with 32 stations throughout the western United States.

After establishing the west coast stations, Dave continued to build and manage affiliate groups and stations throughout the rest of the country. He returned home to EWTN Radio in 2009 to become General Manager. Over the course of the next 6 years, EWTN grew from 100 affiliated stations to nearly 500 worldwide. It also launched several new daily programs including: Morning Glory, Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders and Take 2 with Jerry and Debbie. “It was an amazing period of growth for the entire EWTN Network both in the United States and around the world,” Dave recalled, “I was Then in 2001, Mother Angelica had two strokes and was confined to her room in the monastery. Her health was permanently impaired, and continued to decline. Several years before she died, he recalls her last words to him : “Oh hi, honey...” He pauses, then says, “I did not know the Lord when I first met Mother Angelica. I had no idea how to connect with Him. But I watched and learned from her…and I am who I am because of her.”

After having spent his entire adult life living in Alabama while working for EWTN, Dave wanted to get back to his home state of Ohio. He says “I have always had a great deal of respect for how Deacon Mike and Kris Learned went about starting and growing this dynamic radio apostolate in the Diocese of Toledo. I count it as the single greatest honor of my professional life to have been asked to carry on this work. I look forward to many years of continuing to move Annunciation Radio forward in its mission to serve the people of the diocese and change the lives of many for the building up of the Kingdom of God.”