Every Sunday morning for 52 years, listeners of a popular radio station in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey heard brief, uplifting reflections from Sister Camille D’Arienzo of Whitestone, New York. Camille delivered a final 38-second reflection on 1010 WINS-FM on Sunday, June 1.
“I had a long, satisfying run on this radio station,” she said in her farewell broadcast. “I’m grateful for the welcome I received, the friendships I’ve enjoyed and the response from our listeners. But as with all things in this life, there comes a time to say good-bye.” (Click here to listen.)
Her commentaries covered many topics and were “always positive rather than condemnatory,” Camille, 92, said in a recent interview. Recent reflections touched upon the death of Pope Francis, the healing love of cats and the transformative power of organ donations.
Because Pope Francis learned about love from his family, he became “the people’s pope who was like a loving grandfather,” Camille told listeners on April 27.
As she mused on a story about a cat sanctuary owner who lost his life while rescuing cats in a fire in her April 13 commentary, she shared a quote attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi. “A cat purring on your lap is more healing than any drug in the world, as the vibrations you are receiving are of pure love and contentment.”
The sad story of a child’s untimely death also was a story of hope as that death helped give other children new life, she said in her April 6 reflection during National Donate Life Month (English only). She described how the deceased child’s father “wept remembering [his daughter’s] beautiful eyes and loving heart. He knew that she would have agreed to donating her organs.”
Camille became a radio commentator by chance.
She was teaching at Brooklyn College and writing for The Tablet, the diocesan newspaper, when Father Howard Basler, the paper’s editorial writer, asked her in 1973 if she would be interested in doing religious radio commentary after he turned down the position. The radio station manager told her he hadn’t considered a woman for the job. A few weeks later she was on the air.
Her commentary couldn’t exceed one minute. She had to record it on Thursday or Friday each week on a special phone line.
She never missed a report and always made clear “The comments expressed are solely those of Sister Camille D’Arienzo of the Sisters of Mercy.”
Scott Herman, a former student of Camille’s and a former CBS Radio executive, recently told the radio station: “When it comes to impact and longevity … no single person has had more of an effect on 1010 WINS listeners than Sister Camille D’Arienzo.” In a 2021 tribute to his mentor, Scott noted that he, a Jewish man, donated to the Sisters of Mercy in honor of Camille and put the sisters in his will.
Camille’s radio ministry was all about mercy.
“One of the spiritual works of mercy is to comfort the afflicted, and I knew many listeners struggled with the loss of a child, a job, a friendship. I felt that offering something positive to them was a gift.”
“Some people have told me that they grew up listening to me. When I announced my retirement, some of them contacted me and said their Sundays would not be the same.” Click here (English only) to read a tribute to Sister Camille by 1010 WINS Radio and click here to read the tribute by Scott Herman.