As Mass for You at Home prepares to celebrate 50 years on free-to-air television, a fundraising program has been launched to help enable the ongoing broadcast of Catholic Mass.

Mass for You at Home, which first aired on August 1 1971, is broadcast on Channel 10 and WIN television on Sunday morning at 6am. It is also shown on Foxtel’s Aurora channel and can be viewed at www.massforyou.com.au.

The Melbourne Archdiocese has overseen and been the primary funder of the program but due to changes in religious programming obligations, the annual cost of producing and broadcasting the Mass has increased significantly in recent years.

The project is now a partnership between the Diocese of Wollongong, which is producing the weekly Masses, and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

Wollongong Bishop Brian Mascord said COVID-19 opened up new possibilities for celebrating Masses and delivering other Catholic content in online formats, but that has its limitations.

“By extending our ministry to include free-to-air television, we reach people who can’t necessarily access Mass in other ways – people without internet, the housebound and isolated, those who are in hospital or aged care, those in prison – as well as those flicking through the channels,” he said.

Archbishop Christopher Prowse, chair of the Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry, said the fundraising program, with a target of $350,000 for the remainder of the year, would help cover the costs for 2021 and beyond.

“Through prayer, promotion and any financial gifts they can offer, people will help maintain a prayerful Catholic presence on free-to-air television that many Australians highly value,” he said.

Information on the fundraising program can be found at www.massforyou.com.au