Father Wilfred J. Raymond, CSC
National Director, Family Theater Productions

Father Wilfred (Willy) Raymond, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross and immediate past provincial superior of its Eastern Province, has served as National Director of Family Theater Productions since September 2000. The mission of Family Theater, which was founded in Hollywood in 1947 by Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, now a sainthood candidate, is to evangelize culture by using mass media to entertain, inspire and educate families. Family Theater’s famous slogan is “The Family That Prays Together Stays Together ™.”

Father Raymond leads Family Theater in producing television dramas and documentaries; producing Voz Latina Spanish-language radio programs – dramas, documentaries and public service announcements; in the digital re-mastering and distribution of Family Theater Classic Radio programs; in conducting the annual Angelus Awards Student Film Festival to honor exceptional quality college-level student films that respect the universal human family; a nationwide public-service billboard prayer campaign; and Hollywood Prays {Praise}/Prayer-and-Pasta nights for young people in the media industry, which he created.

Before coming to Family Theater Productions, Father Raymond was provincial from 1998 to 2000. As such he served as Chairman of the Corporate Members and President of the Board of Directors of Holy Cross Family Ministries, of which Family Theater Productions is a member, and served on the Boards of Directors and the Executive Committees of both Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., and King’s College in Wilkes Barre, PA. He was Assistant Provincial and Vicar of the province from June 1994 to 1998.

A native of Maine, Wilfred Raymond entered the Holy Cross Novitiate in Bennington, VT, in 1965, making his First Profession on July 16, 1966. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy in 1967 from Stonehill College, professed final vows April 1, 1970 at Moreau Seminary, Notre Dame, IN, earned a Master of Theology degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1971 and was ordained to the priesthood on April 3, 1971. In addition to English, he speaks French and Spanish.

Visit Coragio, Father Willy's blog.