On 13 May 1945, the Mutual Broadcasting System broadcast a Mother's Day special with an unusual premise-to unite the country in praying the Holy Rosary. The program featured the Sullivans, a family that had lost five sons in a single naval battle during World War II, and included a guest appearance by Bing Crosby and a message from President Truman. This event was the initiative of Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C, a priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross who had immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in 1928. Inspired by the success of this Mother's Day program, Father Peyton, relying largely on private donations, founded Family Theater Productions in 1947. He enlisted the help of Hollywood stars and other media professionals to produce a weekly half-hour radio drama. The series, called Family Theater, premiered as a sustaining program on 13 February 1947 on Mutual. Programs emphasized moral problems, and each installment ended with an encouragement to prayer, using Tennyson's famous words, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." Although Father Peyton was a Catholic priest, the dramas, by agreement with the network, were non-sectarian. They emphasized moral themes, but were designed as entertainment programming to appeal to a mass audience. The weekly dramas were supplemented by occasional holiday specials.

One of Mutual's contract provisions was that the series had to include at least one Hollywood star each week. The network's commitment to this series was in airtime alone-Father Peyton promised to pay all production costs. In an effort to help with these costs, stars frequently donated their payment back to the producer.

The first Family Theater drama, entitled "Flight From Home," starred Loretta Young, James Stewart, and Don Ameche, and was. written by True Boardman. Subsequent episodes featured Raymond Burr, Bing Crosby, Irene Dunn, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck, and dozens of other major Hollywood stars. Although the final original production was completed in 1958, Family Theater dramas ran for 22 years. When original radio production was halted so that Family Theater Productions could direct its attention to the newer medium of television, the series continued running in repeats on various stations across the country. Many of the programs were rebroadcast as part of a new series called Marian Theater. In total, 482 original programs were produced, and, at the height of its popularity, the series ran on 429 stations nationwide. These radio programs were broadcast widely outside of the United States: in Canada, Latin America, Spain, Mozambique, Australia, and the Philippines. Family Theater won numerous awards for excellence, from trade associations and private organizations, and from non-Catholic as well as Catholic groups. Its motto became a well-known saying in popular culture, "the family that prays together stays together."

Father Peyton died in 1992, but his work continues in the United States and throughout the world. Family Theater Productions, which is now part of the Holy Cross Family Ministries (www.hcfm.org), has six international offices that produce television and radio programs. As of 2000, a dramatic radio series produced in the United States, called La Historia de Quien Soy (The Story of Who I Am), continues the spirit of Family Theater. The Spanish-language drama focuses on the lives of a fictional U.S. Latino family, and explores issues of ethnicity, morality and faith.