Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Happy Catholic is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/happy-catholic-glimpses-god-everyday-life-p1004079/

———————————

Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash, from the Catholic Company, your source for all your Catholic needs.

I got to tell you, right now we’re have something excellently new and cool from Julie Davis, it is happy Catholic glimpses of God in everyday life. Glad to have you on the program Julie.

Julie Davis: Thank you for having me Chris.

Chris Cash: Julie is an extremely talented author – she laughs, but authoring is just the latest in the long line of accomplishments that Julie has all the way from being part of advertising. You own the advertising agency right?

Julie Davis: Yes, my husband and I have it together.

Chris Cash: That’s General Glyphics. Where can people find you at General Glyphics if they’re ever in need of advertising help?

Julie Davis: Glyphnet.com.

Chris Cash: Excellent.

Julie Davis: Which I hope you have a link because that’s super hard to spell now that I think about it.

Chris Cash: We’ll get a link in the show notes, don’t worry; head on to Catholic Spotlight if you can’t figure out how to spell Glyphnet.

Julie Davis: These people are smarter than the average bear, let me just say, I know that.

Chris Cash: You’re correct, although sometimes people really make it really hard to spell things.

Julie Davis: We named it General Glyphics and we thought we were being so clever, and then we found out no one can pronounce Glyphics, no one can spell Glyphics, no one knows what it means. So we shot ourselves in the foot right out of the box.

Chris Cash: So much for being an advertising group, we should start the show over.

Julie Davis: Luckily, we’d seem to do much better for our clients than we do for ourselves.

Chris Cash: Anyway, also to Julie’s credit, she’s an avid blogger and podcaster, one of the most popular Catholic blogs in the Internet, HappyCatholic.Blogspot.com. You can check that out. How do you respond when people say, “Oh, so you’re the happy Catholic.”

Julie Davis: I know, I always have to put that tagline in, “not always happy but always happy to be Catholic.”

Chris Cash: What are you podcast that you do about?

Julie Davis: I do one called Forgotten Classics, and it actually is where I’d read a book over time and give a little feedback that people give me and that sort of thing. But it’s funny because it was set up to not be about faith, I just wanted to read old books that people have forgotten about. A non-Christian reader said “Hey, would you do Genesis as a piece of literature?” I was like, “Wow, okay” so that’s what we’re reading now. So back to the faith, you just can’t escape it, right?

Chris Cash: Absolutely.

Julie Davis: Then also, I have one that just got started, Episode 10 will be coming up next week, and that’s called A Good Story is Hard to Find. It’s got Daniel *** [00:03:26] I discussed popular books and movies, we alternate on those; and what is the one reality, the traces of it that we can see underneath that popular culture as Catholics.

Chris Cash: I think you’re going to have to send me a list of all the links that we just went down so that I can make sure to get all of those on the show notes.

Julie Davis: Yes, I know. People say, “How do you do these?” I say I have a very wonderful, supportive husband and not a very clean house. I spend too much time on these things.

Chris Cash: I can completely relate to that comment right there, although I blame my five children for the unclean house more than me.

Julie Davis: Yes, I’m going to remember that. My dogs, my kids are now out of the house…

Chris Cash: It’s all the dog’s fault.

Julie Davis: Yes, it’s our dog’s fault, that’s it. Thank you.

Chris Cash: Let’s talk about the Happy Catholic, the book, as opposed to the blog. How would you describe Happy Catholic to somebody who was walking through the bookstore and saw this bright, yellow, smiling cover looking back at them?

Julie Davis: I would say it celebrates how we can relate to popular culture in everyday life as Catholics, as a quick look. What it is essentially is that I love quotes, they can just be so good at reflecting a deep truth. I was really surprised after I converted about 11 years ago to find that so many quotes and pertinent bits of popular culture – books, movies, songs – all reflected a much deeper truth than I had realized before. So when I was thinking about writing this book, Servant Press who put it out – or Servant Books I guess is the actual name – they said, “Yes, but we want to know what Happy Catholic thinks.” So I essentially put reflections of the sorts of things that go through my mind when I put one of these sorts of quotes on my blog every day, which is where I use a lot of these quotes in the first place.

Chris Cash: I would say I’ve always been a great fan of quotes and things as well. In fact I used to send out quotes and things in college to everyone I knew. They eventually became a mailing list and finally became InspirationalArchie.com where I post everything that I find nowadays.

Julie Davis: Yes, which is a great spot, I love it there.

Chris Cash: Thank you.

Julie Davis: You’re welcome. So as a fellow quote lover, you know that you can have things that connect in ways you don’t expect like Bob Dylan and Flannery O’Connor, Saint John Vianney and the African Queen – or I don’t know, Batman and the Pope. I don’t do that on everything, but sometimes there are odd connections.

Chris Cash: This book contains quotes from so many different sources. I’m looking right at the beginning, you’ve got a quote from St. Augustine across the page from a quote from Futurama.

Julie Davis: One of my favorites.

Chris Cash: But how they go together…

Julie Davis: Well, that’s the thing. The thing is if you’re really grounded in what the faith teaches and trying to find God in life because isn’t that the point on a lot of it, keeping yourself in his will. How do you do it if you don’t think about that stuff a lot? There’s something surprising in a lot of these things where they like I say they have that same element of truth. It’s there everywhere, it’s really the coolest thing ever. St. Augustine said, “Nature is a book, you don’t even have to read.” Well, if you can find God in nature which is how people did it for so long a lot of the time, surely you can find it in places where people are telling us about the things they love best.

Whether you’re a person of Christian faith or not, the things that you love best are the things that are common to all of us; God, family, God even if you don’t know what to call him, a good life, helping your friend, supporting each other in hard times. Those have reflections that come back to us and show us another little facet of that diamond that has God in the middle of it, if that makes sense.

Chris Cash: Absolutely, I mean I find God in just about everything. Being scientist by my background and training in Physics, it’s just so incredible how the entire world ties together into this tiny, little mathematical equations.

Julie Davis: I know, I never understand how people can say science and faith or completely separate, a lot of Atheist will fall back on that. Like folded hands with fingers intertwined, it’s the same way for popular culture and old culture in faith, it’s meant to be under everything. We’re not meant to have to sit around and pray all day about it. Although contemplatives do, and that’s wonderful because there’s a place for that. It’s not my place, clearly my place is out here.

Chris Cash: But I think most of us are called to be in the world, but maybe not be of the world. So you have to be able to put all of these popular culture stuff into the right context to make sure – as you say, we stay in the world but not of the world and follow what God is calling us to do.

Julie Davis: Right, to have proper sense of perspective, which is actually the definition of humility. A lot of people think you have to lie down and be like a dormant, never take any credit. Of course you as a Catholic know that that’s not really true, the Catholic way is to say, “It’s to understand I’m not so good at this. Please God and other people in my life, I am really good at this. Thank you God for giving me a gift for that, I will hard try to use it the best way I can.” That’s through humility, and we do that with the world around us then that helps ground us too in where we’re supposed to be and how we’re supposed to live. I guess that’s what a lot of these essays reflect is that sort of way of thinking, there’s so many things out there that show us a little bit of God that bring us back to him.

Chris Cash: I think some of our listeners are going to want to know about what brought you to the point of writing this book. I mean obviously you’re an aficionado of quotes, been collecting and using them for many years. Did you have a pile of favorites that you started from? What got you along the lines of putting this book together in the first place?

Julie Davis: I have about six quote journals right now; I’m working on number six. I keep thinking I’m going to run out quotes that I need to write down, but somehow I don’t.

Chris Cash: People just keep saying things.

Julie Davis: That’s crazy, and they keep having a new perspective on them. That’s true, it’s almost like it’s infinite. So what I would do is I would use those quotes every day on the blog. I started off doing it once a week and then I said this is never going to get through them in time, I need to share these more. What would happen is over time various people would write or comment and say, “Wow, we wish you’d put this together into a book.” I kept thinking nothing sounds more – not boring because it’s already been done, there are lots of books or quotes. Then about that same time people also started saying, “Well, other bloggers have written books. Have you written a book or do you have one in mind or are you working on something?” I’d sad book is so much hard work.

Chris Cash: Writing books is scary.

Julie Davis: Yes, why write a book? I’m happy here on the blog, that’s not my thing. Then a particular friend, she and I kind of connect on a level, somehow when she need special prayers that’s when I suddenly turn up in her life and vice versa. We kind of listen to each other more in terms of God might be using that person to tell us something even though we don’t think of it ourselves when we’re talking. So she turned around one day to me and said, “When are you writing that book?” I went, “What?” because she doesn’t even really read my blog. She says, “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do next, write a book?” I was like, “I tell you what, I’ll pray about that.”

So I did, and I finally said “I got nothing God, you are going to have to make it so obvious.” Very soon after that, Cindy Cavnar from Servant Books wrote to me and said, “You know what, I think you can actually write a pretty good book. Let’s talk about it.” So the more we talked about it, she really wanted to see Happy Catholic comment’s on things and I said, “The only thing I can think of is this…” She was like, “That would be perfect.” She also had a similar feeling as a lot of people do, like you. Quotes are great and everything, but we need to know how to live in a world with everything. That was hopefully the aspect I brought of it, how do you relate those kind of pieces of truth to living an everyday life.

Chris Cash: So, was writing the book harder than you thought it would be or much easier?

Julie Davis: Actually, it was both. One was I had to have the discipline to everyday write some of it, and like most Americans discipline is not really my favorite thing. But what I would up doing is going to daily mass, and as the good, old ladies in the back would sit and say the rosary together after mass I would sit in front of the tabernacle and start writing. That would turn into the Genesis of an essay or two. I did that over a period of five or six months maybe. I had originally thought I could sit down, work eight hours a day and get all these reflections done, and what it turned into was actually a more thoughtful process of as I was living my life that started being reflected.

During that time I was going through Lent, which of course is interesting for everyone always. My father die, and all sorts of different significant things happened that I might not have necessarily reflected on in terms of saying, “Well, everybody my father died.” But what happened is thinking about all those aspects of life, as well as the good things that happened along that time, all wound up in this book. It reflected a lot of that. Then the easier thing was I was used to sitting down and having a discipline of writing something of what I was thinking most days because of the blog. So at least I wasn’t afraid of the actual writing part, it was just the making myself sit down and properly target toward what is it that this says to me and what is it that other people may also get out of it.

Chris Cash: As you’re starting place, did you start pulling random quotes out of your old journals?

Julie Davis: My favorite quotes. My guidelines were set at 150 essays, and so I wound up with 149 in there; one or two, there just wasn’t room. But I probably had about 300 and then had to cut back. So I was just trying to get the ones that really spoke to me the most.

Chris Cash: So there weren’t any that got left on the editing floor that you were just really disappointed that I didn’t make it in.

Julie Davis: Not really. There was one essay that I really liked that it would have been nice to have the picture with it that prompted it. There were just room for the essay in general, and so what I did was I put that on the blog.

Chris Cash: Which is the great thing about blogging.

Julie Davis: Isn’t it? If you look on Happy Catholic, I have links there for the book, you can find that one essay with the picture. So it worked out that it didn’t make it in because then the picture could go in.

Chris Cash: Did you build that as “this didn’t make it in the book and it’s good, so just think about what’s in the book.”

Julie Davis: I did, but I did say there wasn’t room, plus the picture wouldn’t have looked very good because it would have to be black and white. So I think that was the way it was supposed to be. It’s funny when I look through this book, it reflects so many things that have to do with television. I didn’t realize how much television I have watched in my lifetime.

Chris Cash: Are you a heavy television-watcher until now, that’s your big vice?

Julie Davis: I don’t know if it’s a vice because it’s something that I tape everything that we watch, and we don’t have cable. So if we want to watch stuff that’s not on the regular channels then I’m going to have to buy or rent the DVD. But because we can tape things on DVR or whatever, we may sit down on a Friday night, it’s our family TV night and watch four to five hours of television at once. So I guess you could say we could be considered heavy TV-watchers. Is that heavy, what do you think?

Chris Cash: Four to five hours in a week, probably not.

Julie Davis: Then a movie on Saturday. Yes, maybe not.

Chris Cash: I think average household is like 20 or so.

Julie Davis: Then I guess we’re just extremely choosy about it.

Chris Cash: That’s kind of how I am too, I’m very choosy about what I watch. I don’t like the TV on even because it’s too much of a distraction from all the other things I’m trying to get done.

Julie Davis: We have ours in the backroom where there’s a couch and all that kind of stuff back there. But we only are back there and only to watch TV, so it’s only on when people are back there watching television. So it’s kind of handy that way.

Chris Cash: I wish I could make that happen in my house, but with six other people running around and flipping every set on as they walk by, I’ve got that attention deficit thing where if I look at it I look at watch 10 minutes later and go I just wasted 10 minutes.

Julie Davis: I know. Well, that’s the Internet for me except I look up and go, “An hour, what happened?” I have to set timers for myself. We only have one television for one thing and always have only had one television. It’s always been in a public place of some sort, and when the kids were little they didn’t watch television that one of us didn’t sit down and watch with them. So I would tape shows for them off of public TV or whatever and we would sit down. When they come home from school, we’d have that half hour of I guess detox period or break period. They’d have a snack, we’d watch half an hour of television, and then no more television until the next day.

Then on the weekends they could have an hour or two, and we didn’t have to be there all the time because we would know what they were watching because it was on a public area, which is also kind of how we handled the computer when they got old enough. We had one public computer, and that was before laptops – that’s how long ago it was – and it would be in a public area also so we could always see what everybody was doing. They had their various games they played but they weren’t on the Internet. Well, that wasn’t available that much then, but they didn’t have account like of any sort, they didn’t have e-mail addresses.

In that way it was funny because we were rather restrictive. But it’s that thing of discerning what is important. This much is important, playing this game is fine, and that’s why I have never understood the people who have to say, “I’m going to get rid of my TV,” unless it’s an addictive problem I suppose. You have to be in the culture, otherwise how can you talk to anybody who’s not. It doesn’t mean you have to watch the really gross stuff or TMZ or the gossip mongering. But if you haven’t watched any television, how are you going to relate to regular people who might need to hear what a Christian has to say about everyday life, that they’re normal.

Chris Cash: Very good points. Like you said earlier, some of us are called to be contemplatives and to stay away from that, especially if it’s something that would cause you to sin. But certainly there is value in knowing what’s going on in the culture around you, from standpoint of at least understanding what somebody’s talking about when they mention the Housewives of such and such county, whatever the popular shows are right now.

Julie Davis: Yes, and that’s a good point because I haven’t seen any of those, but they permeated the culture enough that I have seen spoofs of them or caricatures of those sorts of characters on different TV shows I watch, like Bones did one like that which I do watch. So, I know enough, you don’t have to immerse yourself in something that’s distasteful to know what’s out there. But you have to at least be able to relate to it.

You’re probably like this, I mean there’s all kinds of people that you deal with. My daughters would bring friends home, and a bunch of them are Atheist. How am I going to talk to them and not just be that Catholic mother who just sits in a corner and prays, which is what they would think otherwise if I can’t speak up and talk about it.

Chris Cash: We are starting to run down on the time here.

Julie Davis: I’m sorry.

Chris Cash: That’s no problem. Hopefully our listeners have enjoyed having a chance to hear about what Julie thinks before they read the book. Are there any really favorite parts of the book you’d like to share just to give us a taste of what we’ll find when we open it up?

Julie Davis: I’ve got a huge section of Jurassic Park, one of my favorite books. It took me so long to cut it down to the point where it would fit and still make sense because it makes wonderful points about chaos in the world. I’m not sure if that’s what you mean though.

Chris Cash: I’m just trying to get a flavor besides just saying you got the Augustine quotes and Futurama quotes.

Julie Davis: Yes, I see what you’re saying.

Chris Cash: I’ve got an example here from the talk sheet that you publisher sent over, the reflection from Alice Cooper that says, “Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s rebellion.”

Julie Davis: Yes. You’re right, those are the kind I like a lot. For example, if it’s reading quotes you want, I have a couple.

Chris Cash: I better be careful about getting you started.

Julie Davis: I know. See, you’ll never get rid of me. The one you mentioned, the Futurama one, it’s the kind that I think people might look at and go, “Oh my gosh, they have God as the character, they’re going to be so disrespectful.” The point is that God’s talking to the robot who’d been kind of put in charge of being a God of a little universe, and he found out it was horribly difficult. God says, “Bender, being God isn’t easy. If you do too much people get dependent on you, and if you do nothing they lose hope. You have to use a light touch like a safecracker or a pickpocket.” Bender says, “Or a guy who burns down the bar for the insurance money.” God says, “Yes, if he makes it look like an electrical thing. If you do things right people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.”

The point of the whole show was the whole show was God helping nudge people towards where they needed to be. Now, how often do you find that on popular TV? You would think never, and I just love that fact that God was using “make it look like an electrical thing.”

Chris Cash: It kind of reminds me of the one episode of Drew Carey that I saw where he was thinking about his desire for children and they lined up all the potential children he would have. The last one comes by and says, “I was the one who was going to take care of you when you went into the home.”

Julie Davis: Yes, exactly. There was a whole one on King of the Hill, and I can’t find it right at this second, but basically the son Booby is joining a really hip Christian group and they’re busy singing songs and getting tattoos and having rock concerts. Hank makes a point at the end, he goes, “Yes, that’s what’s cool right now.” But later on you pack all the stuff up and you put it in a box, he goes, “I don’t want you to label God so much like this that you put him in a box later. He’s bigger than that.” That was the point of the whole show, and so you’re just like, “Wow.”

Chris Cash: Exactly, when those really profound moments come in the popular culture. It’s just completely unexpected, especially the way sitcoms and stuff are done today.

Julie Davis: One of my favorite directors is Josh Whedon who did Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly; he’s now doing movies and things. But even though he calls himself a humanist and an atheist, because he understands the power of stories so much – we’re hardwired to love story, in which I believe is from God because how did Jesus talk to use all the time, is by telling stories.

But you’ll find moments in Firefly, which is one of my favorites, this guy who was a monk left the abbey to go see the world and see what good he can do, and his name is Book. He says, “I’ve been out of the abbey two days. I’ve beaten a lawman senseless, I’ve fallen in with criminals, I’ve watched the captain shoot the man I swore to protect, and I’m not even sure I think he was wrong.” Inara, another person in the spaceship says, “Shepherd.” Then he says, “I think I’m on the wrong ship.” Inara says, “Maybe, or maybe you’re exactly where you ought to be.”

You can’t do everything knowing the big picture. All those little steps that seemed wrong were the things that basically showed he needed to be there, they needed someone like that. He was being called to save the day and they looked like failures, but he wound up being an influential member of that crew who changed their minds about things. That’s also not stuff you see all the time.

Chris Cash: You’re right. Julie, it has been a hoot getting the chance to talk with you.

Julie Davis: Well, I enjoyed it.

Chris Cash: Is there anything else you want to share with our listeners before we head off?

Julie Davis: Come by the blog and you can find some more excerpts of the book there.

Chris Cash: Join in the conversation too.

Julie Davis: Yes. Do you have a forum there at Catholic Company?

Chris Cash: We don’t have a forum, we have a Facebook page that’s become quote popular.

Julie Davis: I think that’s what I was thinking of.

Chris Cash: We’re over 11,000 fans now and growing every week.

Julie Davis: I’m sure that’s what I was thinking of. I’m sorry I tend to start getting places mixed up after awhile. But yes, go there and look for – well, I guess not sample of the book, but I would be curious to hear what people think of it aside from doing a standard review which is what really would be good, good or bad.

Chris Cash: You’ve got several copies in the Catholic Company reviewer program. So I know you got one back so far as of the time of this recording. But I think you’re going to get four or five more hopefully in next few weeks.

Julie Davis: That actually does make me think of something that I had been really please with, it’s God uses things and ways that you don’t expect when you’re working on it, as you know. I had been so pleased to see people saying that they thought this book would be good for teenagers or young adults who are struggling with how you live what is thought of as the “Catholic faith” versus a real life out in pop culture. I’ve seen several people who have told me they’ve bought copies to give people for confirmation presents.

There was one person who said he had kids in their early 20’s who had left the church, but he was going to send them copies because he thought it showed with a light enough touch but a faithful enough touch how you could connect. That’s not something I’d meant it to do, but I’m so pleased to hear that it could be that way. I have a heart for those people, I understand. “What culture tells you the church is not what the church is,” as Fulton Sheen said, “Only a hundred people out of a thousand know what it really is and can complain, the rest of them are complaining about something they don’t understand.” So if this helps that, I’m extra happy, my smile would be bigger.

Chris Cash: On that note, thank you so much Julie for coming on the show. Everybody out there, make sure you go out right now, pick up a copy of Happy Catholic, the book. Go visit Happy Catholic the blog and be sure to give Julie some encouragement. She’s got 149 quotes into this one. As she mentioned earlier, there’re another 151 left that we might see in the future edition.

Julie Davis: Well, I guess if enough people ask for it I would have to sit down in front of that tabernacle again and think about it and start writing.

Chris Cash: Alright, so there you go, that is your mission in life right now. Buy the book and hound Julie until she pulls out the other 151 quotes to finish off the two volume set, which was obviously pre-ordained to beat.

Julie Davis: I guess the publisher has to listen to that.

Chris Cash: Well, yes, maybe Bender will help. Have a great day and God bless everybody.

Julie Davis: Thanks.

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Transcript of Interview with Julie Davis about Happy Catholic – the blog and the book. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Happy Catholic is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/happy-catholic-glimpses-god-everyday-life-p1004079/

View the Transcript

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Items Discussed in this podcast:

Happy Catholic

Julie’s Blog
General Glyphics
Forgotten Classics Podcast
A Good Story is Hard to Find

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A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

39 New Saints You Should Know is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/39-new-saints-you-should-know-p1002079/

———————————

Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash from the Catholic Company, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Today in the Spotlight, I have Brian O’Neel. He is from Wisconsin and has written a excellent new book called 39 New Saints You Should Know. We’re going to be talking about these saints, as well as the very soon up coming beatification of John Paul II. And the *** [00:53] here of course is that these 39 new saints you should know they were all made saints by John Paul II.

Brian, glad to have you on the show. How you’re doing?

Brian O’Neel: Chris, I’m doing great. Thanks so much for having me.

Chris Cash: And you know I’m looking in your bio here, I see that your dream is to get all six of your kids to Green Bay Packers games. It sounds like fun, huh?

Brian O’Neel: Well, let me put in context for you Chris. There are people who are put on to that list; the list is season ticket holders that is. And it is something that they could expect to maybe come up – their number might come up for the lottery or you know might come up for actually being able to buy this tickets when they hit their 50’s to 70. There is just a huge – I think we’re number 68,751 to 59 or something. It’s just a ridiculous thing. But as you can – might imagine in an environment like that the cheap things notably seems, they start at least you know a $100 a pot. So, yes, the dream would be you know world *** [02:07] up you know Wisconsin. And so, if we cut our base we’re Bleeding Green and Gold. And well, you know getting – if you take one of the kids and you don’t take the rest of ‘em of course you are persona non grata for the rest of the century. So, you can’t have that. I want to keep all my kids happy.

Chris Cash: I understand. Well, let’s talk about the 39 New Saints You Should Know. What brought you to the point of saying, I want to write about some of these saints that John Paul II turned into saints or at least a name – canonized the saints?

Brian O’Neel: Well, I love saint stories, and as anyone who knows how beautiful and how enjoyable reading saint stories are. It is something that you just get so much pleasure out of reading these incredibly inspiring examples of our catholic Christian faith. And so, I would read about these people like Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati or Blessed Franz Jagerstatter or Saint *** [03:14] and so and so forth. And I was just wax rhapsodic about these people and I would be met with these dumb sounded here in the head like type there’s, because it was clear that these people good Catholics so they were had no clue. They had never heard of these people. And the more I studied these saints live the more I thought to myself you know, this is clearly a shame. Because anyone of us will be proud to say that we knew any one of these people. And you know especially when you can say that some of these folks, if you told the – if you went back in time if you know this friend of yours or this person you know whose walking to your village, they are going to be a Saint. There can be in 40, 50 years now, they’re going to be declared a Blessed or a Saint. And you know they weren’t maybe that remarkable. Just like Saint *** [04:08] you know when she died one of the nun say, what are we going to do? Because they had to inform all the other Carmel’s in the area.

*** [04:17] we’re saying about *** [04:15] she never did anything. And you know it’s the same sordid deal, but you know you look at their lives and it’s so inspiring.

And the great thing you know about these stories that are in this book, 39 New Saints You Should Know, Chris is the fact that everyone one of them – none of them is one of these kind of plaster saints that you see or sometimes you read about and you think I could never be a holy, I could never be a saint. If this is what it means to be a saint it’ll never happen. You know there’s this great story about Saint Bernard. He is – Saint Bernard is someone who have said to have – didn’t know what the feeling in his *** [04:55] chapel look like, because his eyes were always cast down in prayer. Well, the real Saint Bernard was driving along on a horse one day with a buddy of his and his buddy was saying how he never got distracted in prayer. And Saint Bernard said, “Oh, really.” So, that’s why his friend said and I go up – I’ll tell you what Saint Bernard replied. I will give you my horse if you can make it through one part of notes there, one of our Father without being distracted once. And his friend said sure on. This will be the easiest bet I’ve ever won. So, he starts of our father who aren’t in heaven how it would be thy – hey if I win this bet, do I get the saddle too? So, you know, I mean that makes Saint Bernard a much more identifiable person for the average person. And that’s the way it is with everyone of the people in this book. There is – I look for that common element that where we could say okay, wow, this person yes they were holy that they went to a lot of pain, they went to a lot of misery. In fact, I can identify with x, y, z factor in that person’s life and if they can become a saint just by persevering and trying to possibly just taking that one step forward, maybe three steps back on occasion, but that one step forward everyday towards being a saint, then you know if they can do it I can do it too.

You know we have some people in there who are great, great sinners. I mean, one of the guy I write about, his name is Blessed Bartolo Longo. And he was a former Satanist priest. Satanically, some say he’s satanic archbishop. And you know to me its a great comforting thing about Blessed Bartolo is that if a man like that can be forgiven by God and be considered amongst the saints countered at the alter, then why can’t I, why can’t anyone whose sins *** [06:57]. So, it’s a – you know there’s a lot of very comforting stories like that.

Chris Cash: Wow and those – you know one of the great sayings about saint stories, especially the ones that we haven’t heard is that they are always such an inspiration of what we can aspire to be.

Brian O’Neel: Exactly.

Chris Cash: I think that that’s always just so edifying to be able to crack open the book and say you know I could be like this person, at least in this way.

Brian O’Neel: Yes, I mean, one of my favorites in – two was – I’ll talk about two of my favorites to briefly, Blessed Franz Jagerstatter and Blessed Anna Schaffer. Franz Jagerstatter, he was a husband. He was a father. He has four little girls that he had to take care of. He was told that if he has got – been in the German Army during the World War II had received two deferments, decided by – it called up a third time. I’m not going back and so I’m not going back in an infantry and that’s for sure. Because he come to understand a very its very use of deferrals, because he was a farmer. He had to bring in the harvest. That Nazism was evil. And that what they were doing to the Jews and he knew exactly what they were doing to the Jews. They were going to Jew to Christianity afterwards. And the archive show that he was absolutely correct. And people kept telling him look, you can’t do this, you have a wife and children to support. Who’s going to take care of them if you are dead? Because there was no guess work as to what the Nazis would do if you refuse to serve them in their army. And he said, “I don’t know that being a husband and a father gives me the right to offend God. Why is that the case?”

And so, he went to his death. He’s a modern day *** [08:50] I call him in the chapter. That I have on the book on him. And he is – you know so he’s inspired me as a husband and a father, because he shows me that there are – my vocation is first and foremost, but serving God is above and beyond that.

Anna Schaffer, she had just tremendous, tremendous heartache, tremendous struggles with her life. She wailed in *** [09:15] God. She was frustrated with God, she wanted God to her will, because she thought her will was his will. And when she – he wouldn’t comply, he wouldn’t cooperate. Boy, I tell you she got really angry with him for eight, nine years. And in the end, she came to understand that well you know my will is not what’s paramount here, what I want is not what’s paramount, what’s important is what God wants and I just have to follow and believe on that.

And so, you know it’s someone who is wanted his life to go differently than it had, someone who have wanted things to go in a bit of different way. And my gosh we’re not doing this for you. Why isn’t this going well? Well, you know you just – she’s a great example for us.

Chris Cash: Okay, well, let’s talk a little about John Paul II and his beatification coming up here. As we’re recording this, it’s less than a week away. So, some of you maybe listening to this after the beatification, but I’m sure that everything we talk about is still going to be important. What is the biggest significance of John Paul II being beatified at this time and so soon after this death?

Brian O’Neel: Well, it’s a kind of a reminder. It’s like taking an old family film and putting it back on display. So you know at a family reunion where everyone is paying attention. What does John Paul II stand for? He stands – he stood for reinvigorating the church, he stood for – after a period where it had become moribund, placid, just it completely on many levels ineffective. And he also took it and he tried to make real, the intense of the *** [11:13] Council. What they really wanted – what they – you know that he was one of this obviously, and what their vision had been and he made it reality. The other great thing – well and then you know through that – more through that point the whole culture wide that he was always speaking up with dignity of the human person, which we’re seeing more and more assaulted. Not only in countries where Christianity is the minority saying, places in the Middle East et cetera, but also even within places where its on not on paper the vast majority of the people are Christian and yet their lives say in Canada in the UK they’re being assaulted even in the U.S. The freedom of religion is becoming freedom to worship not so much freedom of conscience in any you know traditional sense. And so, you know he’s a good reminder of those sorts of things, but he’s also – it’s a great. The thing I love about it is that this man who proposed so many saints who has to emulate, who wanted, who beatified over 1300 people, 1330 people and who canonized 480 some people more. You know if you took all of those together put ‘em up against every pope from the beginning to end that did canonization, they would not come close to equaling the number of people that he raised to the alters as they say. And so, you know it’s just so beautiful this is.

And you know well – and let’s get back to the reason why he did it. He did that because he didn’t want us to think of saints as the *** [12:58] pieces. When he became the Holy Father, you know you had Saint Maria Goretti, you had Saint Teresa *** [13:07]. Those were about the most well known contemporary icons or figures of saint to be, to which the lady had to look up to. Whereas, you know now at the end of his pontificate, there are not just priests and religious and virgins and *** [13:27], things like this that are held up, but people who are husbands and fathers. Like one of the people – through the people I write about in my book are Blessed Luigi and Maria Beltrame-Quattrocchi. They were just the ideal married couple. There is a woman named Elizabeth *** [13:46]. She was an 18th century Italian women living in Rome, who was the product of a very abusive marriage. And she just shows how you can take the worst life and make it into the most beautiful picture of Saint to be. There is a guy with learning disability, blessed Marie-Joseph Cassant who was a Trappist priest who had just a terrible time becoming priest.

And so, you know there are all these contemporary examples of saint to be that he has given us, but none is a greater more contemporary you know more saint to be than him – than John Paul himself, because he really does show us what’s important. He reads *** [14:29] biography of him at the first part of *** [14:33], about the second part, but the first part, it makes so clear the things that we are facing today as a church, as a culture, period and you just praise to God that this man was Pope when he was.

Chris Cash: And you know part of him being able to name so many people as saints was also the fact that his pontificate was so long compared to a lot of popes as well.

Brian O’Neel: Yes. Exactly. He had you know the third or fourth longest pontificate in history. The only person whose on record as definitively having had a longer pontificate other than Saint Peter himself is Pius IX who he also beatified, who was a great, great hero. John 23rd desperately wanted to not only beatify Pius IX, but canonize him as well. Its one of his great dreams as Pope. And he didn’t even get to that stage. Well, John Paul was able to beatify this great pontiff who all set a very long pontificate, and who actually made the pontificate of John Paul II in many ways possible. So, yes, he was there forever. And he’s the only Pope that most people living today had ever known.

Chris Cash: Certainly the only one that I really remember.

Brian O’Neel: Yes, I remember I was living in Europe as a boy when the first set of bells went off announcing the death of – we were taking a little daytrip to Germany over the border and all of a sudden these bells start peeling just left and right. And a month and a half later, it was the same sort of situation. We were in Germany on a little weekend getaway and the next thing we know, the bells are just going off everywhere. This was not – and we kind of find out that both times you know because a pope had died. But I don’t really remember Paul VI, I remember John Paul I part, because he was such a happy smiling it. Just you know that picture of him smiling, just really that’s so striking. And then, all of a sudden they said that a Paul had been elected Pope, and that was just so weird. And you know he did so many things that were so weird. He traveled a lot; he was uncompromising in his pursuit of the truth. And he was you know such a Pastoral individual that he really – I predict that every Pope over the next 50 years is going to even someway be measured against him.

Chris Cash: If not longer, I’m sure you know. It’s just the things like the Theology of the Body that he left behind. He wrote more about theology of the body than all the other Popes combined, you know just incredible wealth just in that so.

Brian O’Neel: Yes and the fact that the man stood up for – you know I mean if you look at it in Encyclicals and when they came out, and the things that he did. Like for instance he called *** [17:40] on the family in the early 80’s. And the conclusion that the *** [17:45] fathers came to, which did nothing more than simply reiterate traditional church teaching, which you know I mean what would you expect. But you know there are so many people who are looking for them to in the spirit of that extent, so called spirit to shadow and move into this great new world that they wanted to create in their own image, not in Gods. And you know how radically controversial that was, the fact that he – when he stood up for the male and *** [18:17] priest was not out of prejudice and not out of some you know works hold clean to tradition, but because of very sound theological reasons and because they were true. And he you know showed us how we couldn’t compromise issues. The Evangelion detailing, great document on the Gospel of Life. This Splendor of Truth, very *** [18:38] Splendor, another amazing document. This documents on women on Saint Joseph on the redemption and he just wrote such powerful things and they all seemed that the pen on those seemed to drop at exactly the right moment, didn’t they? Right when the culture needed that new word, that message you know from this anointed man, he gave it to us. And so, the church will – and all of societies whoever in his death with that *** [19:11].

Chris Cash: Well, I go want to go back to your book for just a minute and you know out of the 39 Saints that you’ve got here in the 39 Saints you should know. I guess one question I got to ask is why is it 39 Saints?

Brian O’Neel: Thank you for that question.

Chris Cash: I knew you would appreciate it.

Brian O’Neel: I do, I really do. It’s very appreciate. Well, it’s a question a lot of people ask, why 39 new saints. The story behind that is that my publisher gave me. I have started of with a list of 55 or so individuals and my publishers one day sent me the contract they said you will give us no fewer than 38,000 words but no more than 40,000 words. When I turned the final manuscript in, it was 39,999 words. And that didn’t count the appendix that they asked me to create afterward. And it did not count before was the Joseph Fessio whose does so many great books for Ignatius press on *** [20:18], what not. As a *** [20:21] about Shakespeare that he wrote. So, I fulfill my contract, but I try to get in as many stories as I possibly could. But in the end there were 39, and it was just going to be Saints You Should Know, then they said well we want to call it New Saints You Should Know. And when I got the proofs for the cover, which was here, this is the – how the cover of your book will look. You will like it. It’s a 39 New Saints You Should Know. So that’s how the book came about, well it was the title.

Chris Cash: Always a fun story behind that.

Brian O’Neel: Every time there is.

Chris Cash: So, why was the 39 New Saints ‘cause they didn’t have room for more?

Brian O’Neel: Exactly. We are half way through to our volume 2 if they ever want to do that.

Chris Cash: All right, well, so everybody out there keep your eyes out for 30 something more saints to come.

Brian O’Neel: Exactly. And if you’re in this week, you know as we record this just a week of April 25th, *** [21:20] to my sister whose birthday, sister *Erin* [21:22] whose birthday is today. But if you’re in the week of 25th till the 29th, if you want to watch I’ll be on EWTN every night this week at 11:30 Central or 11:00 A.M – I’m sorry, 11:30 Eastern at night or 11:00 A.M. every morning, with John, *** [21:40] that we recorded five shows. And they are all planning from what I understand, all planning this week. So, every night – everyday of this week, you have a chance otherwise are archive there’s womenwhoprays.com.

Chris Cash: There you go. And I get that put some pressure on me now to make sure that this gets up posted this week.

Brian O’Neel: No pressure.

Chris Cash: No pressure, right. All right, you have a blog and the URL for the blog is a little bit complicated to rattle off. So, I’m going to put that in the show notes today. So, head-on over to CatholicSpotlight.com. Look at our show notes for this show. If you want to find the right URL for the blog. And then, you also have a Facebook group. You want to tell ‘em about your Facebook group?

Brian O’Neel: Absolutely. It’s a fan page for the book. It certainly not for me exists. Nothing about me that’s worthy to fan up, but about the book its 39 New Saints. If you go to Facebook and in the search engine there at the top of the page, you just type in 39 New Saints, should be the first and only thing that comes up. And you just put there and if there are any book appearances, signing – your book signing, seeking engagements or just you know – its not – most of the time, I just post some little things that are fun. About the saints sometimes, I’ll put posts. You know just go have a look at it and see if it might be you’re of cup tea. And if you do like and we’re on our way.

Chris Cash: Absolutely. So, we will see all of you there on the Facebook page, maybe on the blog too. And make sure you go out and checkout all 39 of these saints. Get the book; it’s a great inspirational read. And I think everybody out there will enjoy it. It’s even something you could share with your kid’s, right?

Brian O’Neel: Absolutely. You – we…

Chris Cash: No, bloody gory stories that you’re going to worry about.

Brian O’Neel: Well, there’s one that’s – there’s not blood and guts, but there is one that’s doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination. But by the Saint *** [23:58] it’s not the ravage that your kids are going to stay up at night. But we had this one book that we got the idea from Scott and Kimberly Horn. Lot of people know them, great converts and apologists for the faith. But they would these daily devotions with this one book on, the Saints. It was different Saint for everyday. And you know its so much of the – you know this persons holy all their life and just that the other thing. I would read these stories to the kids and they just would be so bored with them. And so, that was another reason why I wrote this book was because I wanted something for the parents to read to their kids. Or the kids you know 7th grade on up or something could read to themselves. And it would be something that would interest them. Would really, really interest them and would keep their attention. And you know my own kids say that it does, of course you know I’m holding the bells over them while they’re there. But you know I’m kidding, but no, I mean everyone whom I read *** [24:49].

Chris Cash: Yes, dad. You’re right kid.

Brian O’Neel: Right. We love it dad, we love it.

Chris Cash: Read another one.

Brian O’Neel: It’s the best dad. Yes daddy dearest, yes daddy dearest. So, yes, it is – but you know a lot of people have told me that they like reading it to their kids or their 7th grade son. It’s really got him interested and he’ll read it, which is better than reading you know the Harry Potter subject he wants to do or whatever. So, you know I mean praise God, as long as we *** [25:15] for him, I’m happy if it’s a three year old reading or if a 98 year old reading it. That’s what’s important.

Chris Cash: Thank you so much for sharing all this with us. Was there anything else you want to share with our listeners before we finish up?

Brian O’Neel: Well, for those who are in the either Chicago or Southern Wisconsin area. There will be on this Friday, April 29th, 7:00 P.M. at the Tommy Thompson Center, I will speaking on how you can make the Saints a great teaching tool for your children. It’s in Catholic Home Educators Conference for the Milwaukee area. And their annual conference and I’ll be speaking there with Joseph Piers who authors the forward of my book and a bunch of other great people. So, come out and see it’s again at Friday night April 29th at 7:00 P.M.

Chris Cash: And this is 2011, just so you know. You’re really dating my show today.

Brian O’Neel: I am so sorry. That’s what the great thing about editing software is; you can just cut that out.

Chris Cash: Oh, no, no, we don’t edit. We try not to edit around here. That takes even more time, no.

Brian O’Neel: Well, I apologize.

Chris Cash: I used to do a lot of editing on the show and then I just realized that you know what, you just leave it in. Somebody will be amused, even if they are listening to it in 2014.

Brian O’Neel: There you go, perfect, perfect, perfect. You know it’ll be funny if someone listening to it in 2014 edit out this the whole thing about the year and no she’ll have to know like *** [26:47], there was this big conference in this weekend.

Chris Cash: Well, yes, that’s why I get the year in there for you. All right, thank you so much Brian. You have a great day and God…

Brian O’Neel: There you go. It’s a real pleasure. God bless you, Godspeed and God bless all of your listeners. I hope that God will give them just immense ways to grow ever close to him, and to themselves become saints. That would be the greatest this thing that could ever happen.

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Transcript of Interview with Brian O’Neel about 39 Saints You Should Know. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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39 New Saints You Should Know is available at The Catholic Company.

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A Biblical Walk Through the Mass is available at The Catholic Company.

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Chris: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash, from the Catholic Company, your source for all your Catholic needs. Today in the spotlight, we have Dr. Edward Sri. He has written a great new book on A Biblical Walk through the Mass and a Guide to the New Translations of the Mass. This is a really relevant topic because I know a lot of our listeners are very concerned about what’s going on with the new translation and how is this going to affect the mass and how is this going to affect the great resources we’ve got out there in terms of missals and books and other things that have parts of the Mass in it. So, Dr. Sri, thank you for coming on in the show!

Dr. Sri: Oh, great to be on your show.

Chris: All right, can you tell us about what inspired you to write this book in the first place?

Dr. Sri: For many years, I’ve been giving talks on the bible and the Mass, particularly a biblical walk through the Mass where I go through all the Mass parts from the sign of the cross, the Lord be with you, the Lord have mercy, all the way to the closing, thanks be to God, walking through all of the prayers and the rituals of the Mass and exploring the biblical background. It’s been a lot of fun and packed for the people, the biblical roots of what we say and do in the liturgy because many of us would go to Mass. We know these words by heart and we know them out of routine but do we really understand what they mean and so I really wanted to put a book together that would help unlock that for Catholics so they can enter more deeply in the Mass and I was about two-thirds of the way through the manuscript last April when the Vatican did something that made me have to go back and rework the book a little bit. And you know what that is, of course, that’s the announcement of the new translation finally coming but with great timing in the sense that I was able to early enough in the process, I was able to incorporate the new Mass translation and then really focus in on the most significant changes that we’re going to notice when we start going to Mass on this first Sunday of Advent in November when the new Mass translation will be formally implemented.

Chris: So what are these big changes that are coming?

Dr. Sri: A lot of them are going to really bring out the scriptural allusions that you find in the Liturgy. They’re going to bring out a lot of important theological points. I can give you two examples, the most famous one is “And with your Spirit.” At the beginning of the Mass, the priest says, “The Lord be with you.” And then we reply, we have been replying, “And also with you.” But what’s really happening here is two things. First of all, when the priest says, “The Lord be with you,” that’s not just an ordinary greeting, that’s not just, “Good morning, congregation.” And if we understand those words biblically, we see that they’re very profound. They’re used in the Old Testament, when God is calling certain men and women to play a crucial role in His plan of salvation. They’re about to embark to on a very daunting mission, whether it’s Joshua when he was about to go lead the people to the Promised Land or Gideon, when he’s being raised up to go fight off the foreign nation that’s oppressing Israel or Moses of the burning bush, when he is called to go confront the pharaoh and lead the people out of slavery in Egypt. All of these figures are told, “The Lord will be with you.” Mary was told this at the Annunciation. So why do we hear these words at the beginning of the Mass? It’s not simply to say, “Good morning.” It’s to put us in the shoes of Moses and Joshua and Gideon and Mary. It’s to remind us, we are embarking upon a very important mission from God, something that’s going to be very daunting and what is it? We are about to enter the Sacred Mysteries of the Mass. We are about to hear the Holy Word of God spoken to us through the Liturgy of the Word and we’re preparing ourselves to encounter the very body and blood of Jesus. The Living God is about to enter our very souls in Holy Communion. And so the priest, when he says, “The Lord be with you,” is reminding us of this solemn sacred mission that we are about to begin. Well, when we, in return, say, “And with your spirit,” in the new translation, we’re saying something very profound back to the priest. We’re not simply saying, “Oh, may God be with you too, Father.” What we’re doing there is acknowledging the unique activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the priest, the unique work of the Holy Spirit in the priest that enables the priest to consecrate the Host, to change the bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of Christ, to offer up the Holy Sacrifice in the Mass. Now, while we all have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us by virtue of our baptism, only the priest has the Holy Spirit within him to offer up the Mass and so, when he says to us, “The Lord be with you,” it’s a summons to prepare us for the holy mysteries we’re about to celebrate. As lay people, we in return say, not just simply, “And also with you,” but “And with your Spirit, Father,” that unique activity of the Holy Spirit may be with you so that you can offer up the Mass. And I think that is something beautiful that we’ll have in the new translation. It’s something most languages around the world actually say but English translated after Vatican II simply is, “And also with you.” And I think with that, we lost this important theological point about the priest preparing us and us encouraging the priest, as we begin the Sacred Mysteries of the Liturgy.

Chris: Now, to an average Catholic in the pew, I’m sure we’re all aware that a lot of that is just going to go away over most people’s heads, are the majority of the changes that are occurring this November, are they going to be simple changes that are of great spiritual significance like this one or are there going to be any larger changes that the person in the pew is really going to stand up and take note of?

Dr. Sri: Well, I would say on a basic level, everyone’s going to notice that the Mass is…

Chris: Well, it’s going to be hard not to notice because especially if you go to Mass every week, you’re going to say, “Wait a minute, that’s different.”

Dr. Sri: Absolutely. This is going to be really the most significant change in the Liturgy in the English-speaking world since Vatican II. When you show up at Mass in the first Sunday of Advent in November, you’re not going to be able to follow along unless you’ve been prepared, unless you have a guide to help you through the retranslated prayers. So everyone’s going to notice the changes and then, in terms of the significance of these changes, I think they’re quite profound. People are going to have to ponder, “What does this mean? Why did we change this?” And I know that US Bishop’s Conference has been doing an excellent job sponsoring conferences around the country in various dioceses to prepare the priests, the religious, diocesan leaders to help the people get ready for the new translation. And my hope is that as we approach November, that many parishes will be preparing the people. In the process, they won’t just prepare them in terms of the mechanics of the new translation. Here’s the new words you need to say. I am hopeful that this will be a time of spiritual and catechetical renewal, that as we take time to walk through, okay, now we’re going to say, “And with your spirit,” we’re not just going to leave it there. We’re going to say, “And this is why we’re saying this. This is the meaning of this prayer.” So we realize that what we’re really saying and doing in the Liturgy and I hope line by line, as we walk through and prepare people for the changes, we’ll explain the profound spiritual significance of this. And I think this is a great opportunity, a unique opportunity for renewal in our worship of Our Lord at Mass because like I said at the beginning, so many of us know these prayers out of routine. If I say, “The Lord be with you,” the average Catholic just instantly says, “And also with you.” And we know these words, but we don’t know what they mean and now that we’re going to be taken out of our routine, now we’re going to be challenged to look at new words, get used to new prayers and I think there’s a unique opportunity here as we’re taken out of the routine to be able to ponder anew the meaning of these words.

Chris: And what are the challenges that we have been facing especially at the Catholic Company and other Catholic stores around the country is that these books containing the new translation have not been finalized and taken to print yet so there’s really nothing available to the wider market other than your book and a few other commentaries on the new Mass translation that are available but going forward, we’re waiting for the new missals and for the translation to be integrated into all the books that we use for things like First Communion gifts and confirmation gifts and the like. How is someone who purchases, say, a First Communion gift this spring, say to get a Mass book, are they going to be able to continue using that Mass book on past November?

Dr. Sri: Well, that’s an interesting thing because the current books that are out there, most of them are of course, still using that older translation. So in a certain sense, people may want to wait until the translation has been put into these books. You mentioned a First Communion book, for example. I wonder if by the time we get to First Communion, we’re getting there soon, if those little books that you can give to kids will include the new translation. I don’t know.

Chris: They’re not. The soonest that anything including the new translation I’m aware of is going to be October, before they’re available.

Dr. Sri: That’s right.

Chris: So we’re really under a crunch, in a sense, in the publishing world. The bishops have not even presented the full and finalized translation to the publishers to start printing yet.

Dr. Sri: Right. I think part of that is the bishops, the translation is done. It’s completed. You can get it on the website and if you wanted to look at it, and I have it in many parts of it in my book I had mentioned. But it’s out there but I think the bishops are concerned that if, they don’t want people to just start using the new translation all independently on their own. They want it to be a unified effort so that on the first Sunday of Advent, that’s when the new translation will be implemented across the board in the United States. So I think that’s part of what we’re running up against and so I can understand. I have a child that’s going to be preparing for First Communion this spring and I buy them a book that has the old translation, I know this book is only going to have about six months to use and then afterwards, we’re going to have get a new one. But I think in this time here, and this is, I think could be a great chance for us as Catholics to really study the new translation and that will help us to be more devoted to the Mass. I think this is a great time for parents to start getting ready for their own children. I would anticipate in the fall, many parents wanting to sit down with their children and start talking about the parts of the Mass and preparing them for the new words. So while yes, it is going to be a bit awkward moment here on some levels as the transition here and get ready, I would want to look at some of the positive benefits with the new translation coming up. I would envision, I’m picturing in my own home, for example, sitting down with my kids and almost doing a little bible study on the Mass or have them have the bible, open it up, they look up some passages that are behind the words particularly of the new translation and help them to see on their own, the connections between oh, we used to say, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive You,” but now we’re saying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof.” Right away, why do you think he’s talking about that and then have my kid look up this passage in Matthew’s gospel chapter 8 where the Roman centurion wants Jesus to come heal his servant that this Roman centurion who works for the oppressors, the Romans, and he’s a Gentile, he’s not even a Jew. He doesn’t feel worthy to have Jesus come to his house and so he says, “Lord, I’m not worthy to have You come under my roof but only say the word and my servant shall be healed.” And I think the new translation’s going to really make that connection much clearer and I’m looking forward to taking time with my own kids and be able to walk them through that a little bit so that once again, they’re not just given, “Here’s just a bunch of new words.” They have a better understanding of the why.

Chris: I think that’s a great analysis there. And I’m looking forward to seeing all the new materials myself. I have not had a chance to review it yet but I think especially in terms of when people are thinking about your First Communion gifts and your confirmation gifts and RCIA gifts coming up, I’m definitely seeing to get a message here that it would be better to stick to prayer books and gift items this spring as opposed to getting Mass books and maybe send something supplemental in the fall.

Dr. Sri: There you go, yeah, that’s right. Now I would say, that might be for the little children, I do think of our materials that could be used for people that are older. I have had many people purchase my book, for example, on the Mass for confirmation gifts already.

Chris: I was going to suggest that in a second.

Dr. Sri: Okay.

Chris: Your book would probably be an excellent confirmation gift coming up this spring.

Dr. Sri: Yeah, the book…I’ll tell you what it does. It walks through every little part of the Mass, so the sign of the cross; it has a little short chapter reflecting on the meaning of the sign of the cross. What does it really mean to say, “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit?” What does it mean to cross ourselves physically and these have profound roots in the early churches, what the early Christians did. But it even goes farther back into the Old Testament, it’s for shadowing of the sign of the cross which in the Book of Ezekiel was given as a sign of divine protection over God’s faithful people. So when we make the sign of the cross today, this isn’t just some empty ritual. This has great significance. We’re saying, “Lord, we want to be like the faithful Israelites in the time of Ezekiel who did not go along with all of the corruption in society. They were loyal to you. We want to be loyal to you. But we need your help and we make the sign of the cross as a sign of protection. We say, “Lord, protect us from all temptation. Protect us from harm. Protect us from evil because that’s what the sign of the cross was understood to be in the early church and in Ezekiel, it was a sign marking out God’s faithful people and protecting them from all harm. So it’s beautiful when you can walk through line by line of the Mass, the Gloria, the Creed, the Eucharistic Prayer and just see over and over again, just how these have reached in the Sacred Scripture and that helps us to understand the meaning. And even in my own process of writing the book, doing the research for it, while I had studied the Mass a lot in graduate school, there were many moments still where I had some aha moments of, “Wow! That is so cool. I didn’t realize this about what this meant in the prayer.” So for example, I give one example here. At the very beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, we all stand up and the priest says, “The Lord be with you.” And then, we will say, “And also with you,” then the priest says, “Lift up your hearts.” That’s a very simple line in the Liturgy and we all respond, “We have lifted them up to the Lord.” But what does it mean to really lift up the heart? As I was exploring this, in the bible, the heart if the center of all of one’s…a person’s desires, their attention, all of their actions flow, their thoughts flow from the heart so when the priest says at Mass, “Lift up your hearts,” he is summoning us to give our fullest attention to what is about to happen now as we approach the most sacred part of the Mass, the Words of Consecration, when the bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. And so when I was looking into this, I saw a number of church fathers had commented on the beauty of this prayer. There was one, St. Cyril of Jerusalem that talked about how at this moment when the priest says, “The Lord be with you,” he is exhorting us to lay aside all the cares of life, all domestic worries and direct our hearts to God in heaven. And I think about it now, how many times we all get distracted. We start thinking about things at work or things with our family, or the football game in the afternoon, or the donuts after Mass, and who knows we get so easily distracted throughout the Mass and it’s hard to pay attention for a full hour.

Chris: Especially if you have children.

Dr. Sri: Especially if you have kids, that’s right. But when the priest says, “Lift up your hearts,” it’s as if he’s reminding us, “All right, you may not have been able to give out your fullest attention up to this point but right now, if there’s ever a moment to give God your best, it’s right now. Cyril of Jerusalem goes on, he says, “Let there be none among you who shall confess with his lips. We have lifted up our hearts but allow those thoughts to remain with the cares of life. I remember being just personally convicted by this and I thought, “Wow, how many times have I gone to Mass and the priest said lift up your hearts and I said, oh, we’ve lifted it up to the Lord,” but I really hadn’t lifted my heart up to the Lord. I just went on, there’s this daydreaming or thinking about these other things and I really did not lift up my heart to God at this moment. So that was one of these moments in just studying the Mass but seeing it in light of the Scripture, in light of the tradition, that when I hear those words at Mass now, it’s a different experience. I feel like the priest is saying, “Ted, wake up, right now, give God your best.” And I think you could go through the entirety of the Mass and have many aha moments like that. if we can understand the biblical background especially in the areas where we find the new translation, you’ll see the Scriptures really shining out much more brilliantly.

Chris: Now the book you have here, The Biblical Walk through the Mass, this is part of a larger project, right?

Dr. Sri: Yeah, like I mentioned, originally, it was just the book Walking Through the Mass, making these points like we just talked about here with the lifting up of your hearts, but then with the new mass translation coming out, we incorporated it and based it all on the new translation. So I made a lot of comments on the areas that we’re going to notice the most in terms of the changes in the translation. And given that many parishes, dioceses, families, individuals are going to be starving for information on the new translation, Ascension Press; the publisher expanded the project and put in a lot of other pieces to it. So there’s the book which could stand all on its own and that’s probably the centerpiece of everything but there are a lot of people that are interested in using this book for adult faith formation and so Ascension Press developed a number of other supplemental materials that could be used for adult faith formation. For example, there are student workbooks where people can use this for small group study and it’s basically a bible study of the mass. They go through different parts of the mass, they look up scriptural passages. They have maybe in the workbook, a quote from the Vatican or a quote from a saint to really bring out the meaning of this particular word from the Mass and then they could come together in their small group and talk about it and Ascension Press put together an excellent, very easy to use Leader’s Guide. So someone doesn’t have to be a theological expert. They can just…they’re going to have all the materials they’re going to need to make it very easy to lead an engaging dynamic discussion that helps draw people into the beauty of the Liturgy. A third piece they put together with the adult faith formation pieces was a DVD set where they videotaped me teaching on the Mass. So it’s a five-week study and people can come together in small groups and at the end of the small group discussion, they can play the video and DVD of me presenting on those parts of the Mass and going a little bit deeper and once again, this just makes it so easy so that the volunteer at the parish doesn’t have to again be a theological expert, they can use them, the resources and then have me presenting on DVD at the end, if they wanted. So there is the book and then now, there are these adult faith formation elements as well. One other thing Ascension Press put together and I thought this was an excellent idea, is a little question and answer booklet. So they had me write a little booklet called A Guide to the New Translation of the Mass. This is like those little pamphlets you see in the back of the church and it has questions and answers about the new translation. Why do we need a new translation? Who did the translation? How would the translation improve our worship? And then it gives a number of examples of the new translation and explanations and then what I really love about it, at the very end, the back cover actually has a perforated edge to it where you can tear off the back cover and the back cover serves as a card that you could take with you and put in your wallet, put in your pocket and the card has all of the people’s parts for the new translation of the Mass. So you could have that with you every time you go to Mass. So I think that’s something, a little pamphlet, very small, very inexpensive that they’re selling in bulk right to parishes that could also be a very helpful resource in the time of transition.

Chris: I think people are going to be begging for that probably. Now you mentioned several times, adult programs. Is there anything Ascension is doing for children or for the younger people in the parish?

Dr. Sri: Well, I don’t know if there’s like something specifically for like only for the children but I do know that a lot of the materials that are being put together will give adult catechists or parents in the home the resources, the background they need to be able to explain the new translation to younger people. I think some of the high school kids and junior high kids could probably access the materials that I mentioned were the adult faith formation. They’re really written at a very level that’s very easy and accessible and engaging. But if you’re looking at younger kids, like kids preparing for First Communion, I don’t know if…I don’t think that’s there any material developed specifically for that age group but I would say that the materials that are there could really help and equip the adult leaders to be able to take it down to the level of a second grader, say.

Chris: So, Matt, if you’re listening, I think the message here is you should get something out there for the kids. Well, it’s been a lot of fun talking to you, Dr. Sri. Was there anything else you wanted to share with our listeners before we finish up?

Dr. Sri: I would just want to encourage all of us here in these months ahead to really prepare ourselves for the new translation. I think a lot of our friends and people we know may not be aware that there’s a new translation coming up and the Lord could use us as an instrument to help let them know about it and help them get excited about it, and help prepare them as well. And so, definitely take time to study the new translation so that you’re equipped to then pass it on to others but the biggest thing we really want to do is pray. I think if we grow in our devotion to Jesus and the Eucharist, we grow in our devotion to Jesus in the Mass in these months ahead, that’s the most important thing we could do to prepare ourselves. We’re going to be much more receptive to the new translation and able to enter its depths in splendor, the more that we are spiritually ready.

Chris: Well, thank you, Dr. Sri for taking this time to talk with us. We certainly appreciate it. Everybody out there, you definitely want to go check out A Biblical Walk through the Mass, Dr. Sri’s book, it is an excellent resource and there just are not a lot of other resources out there that are going to walk you through this is in this much depth and with this much insight. So you definitely want to check this one out. It should be at the top of your list of summer and spring reading and inspires your spiritual development. Thank you so much, Dr. Sri. You have a great day and God bless!

Dr. Sri: All right, thanks so much. God bless!

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Transcript of Interview with Dr. Edward Sri about A Biblical Walk Through the Mass. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash from the Catholic Company, your source for all your Catholic needs. Today, we’re talking about Walking With God, the great new bible overview by Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins. Fellows, welcome!

Tim/Jeff Cavins: Hey, great to be with you.

Chris Cash: Now, since our listeners may not recognize your voices as readily as I do, we might want to at least introduce who’s who.

Jeff Cavins: Sure, this is Jeff Cavins up in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Tim Gray: And Tim Gray in Denver, Colorado at the Augustine Institute.

Chris Cash: Now, this is part of the overall Great Adventure Series, correct?

Jeff Cavins: Uh-hmm.

Chris Cash: So can you explain just briefly, what is the Great Adventure Series and how does this fit into it?

Jeff Cavins: Well, I can start off Chris, by telling you a little bit about the great adventure and then Tim can tell you how this new book fits into that great adventure. The great adventure is kind of the umbrella name for a whole series of studies that Tim Gray and I have put together over the years and it starts with what we call the bible time line, the story of salvation where we take the entire story of the bible and we lay it out in a way that is easily recognizable by the average layman. When you pick up the bible, you start in Genesis and hope to go to Revelation and get the story but most people, when they start off that way, they usually end up quitting shortly after the beginning because they’re in Leviticus and they’ve lost the story and we are people who are looking for the story and we follow story lines. And so, when you lose it, you give up. So what we have done is we have laid out the books of the bible in a way that tells a story and makes sense of all the books and real quickly that’s what we do is we divide up the bible into twelve periods, color-coded periods and then to read through those periods, we identify some books that are narrative in approach. In other words, they keep the story moving and we’ve identified 14 of them and then we show you where the remaining 59 fit in the context of those 12 periods and those 14 books in such a way that it really starts making sense to the person who really wants to know the story in the bible. And then we have a number of other studies off of that bible timeline. We have Matthew and Acts and we have Exodus and we have First Corinthians and we have Revelation and Psalms, and we also have some thematic studies too like the study on the Mass. So we’ve been doing that for a number of years and then we came up with this project which is the book and I’ll let Tim come in on that.

Tim Gray: Yeah, you know, Jeff and I have been able to have the privilege of going all over the country teaching about the Great Adventure Bible Timeline and bible study and it’s really initiating and introducing Catholics to the Word of God in a lifelong journey in that Word, as Jeff just said. That’s what got us, we had so many people asking for a book that kind of does what the Great Adventure Bible Timeline does in giving an overview of the scripture story because the bible has 73 books but it tells one story, as Jeff was referring to and that’s really what we try to do in the book. And there’s a great quote from St. Ambrose that Pope Benedict cites in his recent apostolic dissertation on scripture Verbum Domini and he says, “St. Ambrose says when we take up the sacred scriptures in faith and read them with the church, we walk once more with God in the garden.” And really, that’s what Jeff and I have found in our personal lives and our friendship is the Word of God and reading and praying to that Word, it’s such an encounter with God. It gives you the chance to walk with God every day. And we wanted to open up that experience that Ambrose is speaking of for everybody. And so really, the aim of this book is to get people to discover how they can walk with God by encountering the Word of God daily as a lifelong journey. And then what the book does is it has the 12 particular chapters that focus on the 12…we break up the story of the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation into 12 bite-sized parts, as Jeff mentioned, and those 12 parts become the 12 Acts of a great drama. And so, each chapter is kind of dissecting for people all of these people, places, and events and things that happened in the Scripture and then showing how they’re their integrated and interconnected to a larger plot. And then what that does is people…in fact, somebody called me a couple of days ago and said, I have read through this bible cover to cover four times in my life. I picked up Walking With God, I couldn’t put it down. I got up at 4:00 in the morning and after beating up all night reading it, and I never get up that early. I could not put this down because it was like a light bulb went off in my head and for the first time, I understood what the Scripture was really about. And that’s the exciting thing that happens when people are able to take it and read.

Jeff Cavins: What we’re seeing, Chris, is in culture today, as you turn on the television and the radio, you are seeing people that are searching for answers and there is evidence of that by just simply the popularity of talk shows and therapy shows. You have Dr. Phil and you have Oprah and all these different shows where people really do have serious questions about life and where they fit in and what is life all about and how do you solve problems within your marriage or raising your children or how do you spend your money? What if you’re in debt? All of these questions of life are really answered by God. And God has given us the keys to daily living and those answers are in salvation history. He has revealed Himself in words, in deeds, in such a way that we can understand Him and enter into an intimate covenant relationship with Him that yields fruit in our life, not only for here on earth but in eternity. And so Tim and I are just very passionate about bringing this message to your everyday Catholic out there who, right now, is searching at Barnes and Noble and Amazon for answers when they have a bible sitting right there on the coffee table and God wants to speak to them. We’re just simply opening up that conversation as the new document from the Holy Father talks about that reading the bible is a conversation with God. We’re opening that conversation for people and letting people dialogue with God.

Chris Cash: Now, going back, just really focusing on how this book fits into the Great Adventure Series, I think one thing that’s going to be on people’s minds as they look at this book is, is this a stand-alone book? Can I pick it up and understand what’s going on in this book? Or do I need to have some of the background from the other parts of the Great Adventure Series first?

Tim Gray: That’s a great question, Chris. I think what Jeff and I intended in this book is to make it a stand-alone in the sense that it starts you through the story of Genesis and we don’t assume that you’ve read the story of Genesis such that you would really get all the plot and how all the characters fit together. So we take you by the hand and just, we want to guide the reader through this great drama and all the way from the beginning of the Scripture, so from Genesis to the story of Jesus and the Church and so, that’s really…it’s for anybody who has an interest in the Scripture and that’s the goal. Now, with that being said, we also designed it to be a complement to the Great Adventure Bible Study so that when people walk through the 24-part Great Adventure Bible Study, now they’ve got a book that they can go back and they’ve heard it, but now, oh yeah, as they get to sit down and read it, this book complements that study beautifully and so it’s going to fill in some details and it’s going to reinforce some of the big picture that we teach there but then we also hope that, and I’ve seen this with people who start reading the book and they love it, it just increases their appetite for walking with God and then we’ve got this lifelong Great Adventure Bible Study series where, all of a sudden now, they can go deeper into First Corinthians. It’s just mentioned in a brief way in the book. Well now, they can do a whole study on James or the Book of Revelation and just go a lot deeper and that book then launches them into a lifelong study of the Word.

Jeff Cavins: What Tim is talking about, Chris, there is the key and that is, it’s a lifetime of study. It’s not an either/or question for us as to should a person go through and read the book or should they go through a study? The answer is both. You should read and you should study and if the Lord is laying that on your heart, you should go on for more education. But we want people to be introduced to a lifetime of study. And a lifetime of study doesn’t mean you’re going to be in this book for the rest of your life over and over and over, and that’s all you’re going to do. It’s part of the picture. We would hope that you would read the book and get a great understanding of God’s plan of salvation history and that you would go through the studies and that you would learn some things that maybe you didn’t see in the book and then afterwards, you might read the book again and suddenly, the light goes on and you see something that you didn’t see the first time you read it or going through the study. And we have students that read the book, go through the studies and then they go on and they get a master’s degree at the Augustine Institute and more lights go on. But the only reason that more lights go on is because littler lights went on earlier and they are continuing to build on their understanding of God and that is a lifetime project.

Chris Cash: Now you just mentioned the Augustine Institute. For our listeners who aren’t familiar with that, could you explain what is the Augustine Institute?

Tim Gray: Sure, Chris. The Augustine Institute is a school that several of us, Jeff Cavins and a good friend of ours, Chris Martin and Archbishop Chaput have been thinking about it for a while and what we did five years ago in launching it was we wanted a new kind of graduate school to start the new evangelization. And John Paul II talked about the new evangelization being new in method, in ardor, and expression and that’s really what we try to do. And so, one of the things we do that’s innovative, I think, is we have a video distance education program so that we have a studio classroom with three cameras with a professional videographer and so, our classes are captured with great videos. So for example, there’s a class that we have on salvation history that Jeff and I taught together and we have that available and we now have students from over 37 states and over six countries who are now doing their masters or taking audit classes but a lot of them are doing their masters from home and they don’t have to come to Denver. They can just get the courses and the video sent to them and have the web support. And it’s exciting to see how more and more people now are able to go deeper into the Word of God. And as Jeff said, that lifelong learning is really key because Pope Benedict in his recent exhortation on the Scripture said that, “Our deeper experience of God depends on a growing familiarity with the Word of God.” And so, we need that deeper study of the Word that leads to hopefully deeper spiritual life.

Chris Cash: Now, you also have a series of seminars that you do around the country. Could you tell us a little about the seminars and how somebody could find out where the closest seminar to them is?

Jeff Cavins: Sure. Both Tim and I do seminars every month around the country. We do an all-day Saturday seminar on the bible timeline which is the entire story. I know that sounds like a lot but it’s doable and it’s exciting. In one Saturday, we tell you the whole story and we give you the materials to take you through the bible in kind of a narrative fashion so that you understand that story. And that’s really geared towards people who have never even read the bible before. We can take you from that point of, “Here’s the bible. We know you’ve never read it before. Let’s get an understanding of it and let’s go through it as a starting point in your life.” We also do the same thing for several books of the bible. We both do daily seminars on Matthew and Acts and Revelation, a number of studies. And they’re really geared towards immersing you in that book hoping that you’ll want to go deeper in the book and we have these seminars all over the country and so both Tim and myself are available for these and you can find out about not only how to put a seminar on at your parish in our website but you can also find out about how to develop a long-term study in your parish and develop leadership in your parish. You can find that out at biblestudyforcatholics.com. It’s just very simple, biblestudyforcatholics.com.

Chris Cash: And are you finding a lot of growth in that through your program?

Tim Gray: It’s really spread more and more over the country and I think what’s really exciting is and why Jeff and I love to do this is I can think back to parishes where we first did a seminar whether it’s a place in Omaha or Tulsa or wherever and then that parish starts the Great Adventure studies and more and more people start joining these studies and so what you have is a parish all of a sudden becomes this center of life and activity centered on the Word and fellowship and renewal. We like the one-day seminars just kind of a jump-start for that but it’s amazing what happens. I mean, I know one parish right in California where we went out and did it and we had about 210 people with them. They got people so excited from the one-day seminar that they invited their friends and the people in the bible study of the parish were over 450 who came weekly for the bible study. And so what you see is a deepening of as people keep in congregating and going and be familiar with the Word of God, there’s just a deeper renewal. I think Pope Benedict mentioned that if we’re open to the Word of God, a new Pentecost will happen for the Church. And so, we get to see these great little new…these little Pentecosts that happen to all these different parishes and dioceses all over because as people get on fire from hearing the Word, it creates community, it creates energy, it creates renewal.

Chris Cash: Now, are these available in any way? Do you do webinars or anything that people could tune into from a distance?

Jeff Cavins: Well, there’s two answers to that. One is for the Great Adventure Bible Study, we’re currently looking at that and developing a strategy where parishes can participate. Say for example, Tim Gray is doing a one-day seminar on the First Corinthians, can parishes participate in that? We want them to and that’s what we’re working on right now. When it comes to the Augustine Institute, there is already established a distance ed program where people can get a number of degrees via the internet working with some of the top teachers in the country and that has proven to be a very, very powerful and effective experience in raising up leaders at the local level and deepening formation.

Chris Cash: Well, was there anything else you wanted to share with our listeners about the program before we finish up here?

Tim Gray: I just think that the best investment of my time that I found in my life is when I invested in prayer and a reflection of the Word of God. And I just know that so many people, so many Catholics hear Scripture every Sunday in every mass and they hear a little bit from the Old Testament, a little bit from the Psalms, a little bit from the New Testament and the Gospels and what we do is as you walk through this story, all of a sudden, it won’t feel like a little bit from the Gospel, a little bit from the Psalms, and a little bit from the Old Testament. It’ll feel like I’m hearing the story of Israel and I’m hearing the story of Jesus and I know where that little snippet comes from in the larger story of Jesus in Israel and God’s story and then it makes it so much easier to see how it fits into your story once you see that which is really exciting.

Jeff Cavins: And for me, Chris, I have grown in my appreciation of the Liturgy in my study of Scripture and now, we’re at a historic point where the third missal is coming out and there have been some changes in the wordings and nuances made and there is an attempt to be a bit more biblical and you can see this, for example, in the very first thing we say in the mass when the priest says, “The Lord be with you,” and we respond, “And with your spirit.” We see that same language, Paul saying that in Galatians 6:18, “The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” And so, this is a wonderful opportunity for people to study the Scripture and go deeper in their understanding of the Liturgy. Truly we’re at an exciting time right now as Catholics and it’s exciting to be a part of it.

Chris Cash: Well, I have been very excited to get to hear about this series from you. I’ve always enjoyed getting to talk to you about everything to do with the Great Adventure. This is an excellent addition to the series. Everybody out there, you really want to pick up this book, right now and make sure that you get started digging into Scripture whether it’s with this book or with the Great Adventure series at a different place but just pick it up, get started, and by the time you’re done, I can tell you from personal experience, once you’ve been through one of these studies, you’re going to want to go through more because you just learn so much about the history and timeline of the bible and it just makes so much sense that you just want to find out more and more and more and it’s just an incredible program and I really thank you guys for taking the time to put this together. I know you’ve spent what? The better part of 15 years now?

Tim Gray: Yeah.

Jeff Cavins: I agree. We’ve been working a long time. Tim and I have known each other for about oh, 15 to 16 years. We’ve been working together on these almost from the beginning.

Chris Cash: So there’s 15 years of these guys putting together what they found to be the meat. I kind of think of what you’ve done is taking God’s director’s cut of the bible and condensing it down to the pop culture version, you know?

Tim Gray: Well, certainly people can understand that and while the average person in the pew can understand the bible, the bible is very, very deep. It’s kind of like onion peel. The baby can understand something of God’s Word and those who are involved in postgraduate studies will be challenged and can go deeper in their own faith. So it truly is a marvelous book.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you, Jeff; thank you, Tim for coming on and sharing about this and you guys have a great day and God bless!

Jeff Cavins: Thank you.

Tim Gray: Thank you and God bless.

———————————

Transcript of Interview with God Jeff Cavins and Tim Gray about Walking with God. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Walking with God is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/walking-god-p1111439/

View the Transcript

Vote for us at Podcast Alley – Please vote for us every month to help us get our show in front of more people

Help promote Catholic Podcasts.

Items Discussed in this podcast:

Walking with God

Be sure to check out Tim’s website
and also Jeff’s Website

Follow us on Twitter @CatholicSplight

You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-426-1207. Be sure to join our Catholic Company Facebook Group where we send out announcements about upcoming interviews. You will be able to call in your questions for our future guests. You might just be on our next show.

Subscribe to our feed | Subscribe with iTunes

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A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Catholic Scripture Study Bible is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-scripture-study-bible-rsv-large-print-edition-p1111562/

———————————

Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the podcast that we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash from the Catholic Company, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Today in the Spotlight, we have Gail Buckley from Catholic Scripture Study International program. We’re going to talk a little bit about Catholic Scripture Study International as well as her new reference Bible out. Someone referred to you it is a study Bible, but it – this one is not so much a study Bible as is, is a reference Bible.

And Gail, I’m glad to you have on. You want to talk a little bit about what do you mean by reference Bible and what this encapsulates?

Gail Buckley: Absolutely. Hi Chris, thank you for having me on with you.

Chris Cash: Well, I – you know first off, I should probably say what’s it called so that someone could find it?

Gail Buckley: Okay.

Chris Cash: Gail, it’s not Gail Buckley’s Bible.

Gail Buckley: Oh, no, okay. Well, no, actually, it’s Gods Word absolutely. And I was privileged to add some 76 extra supplemental pages to it. But it’s called the Catholic Scripture Study International Bible. And I think Saint Benedict Press who is the publisher refers to as the official Catholic Scripture Study International Bible. And of course, you can find it on their Website and handbooks and buy it for a Catholic Scripture Study International as well.

Chris Cash: And of course the Catholic Company.

Gail Buckley: And the Catholic Company, absolutely, absolutely. Your first stores.

Chris Cash: So, any of your Catholic bookstores should have this on the shelf, it’s a great resource.

Gail Buckley: Yes, it is. And what I said I qualified it more as a reference Bible is because we’ve had people say well who wrote the study notes. And so, I just wanted to make it clear that this is not Ignatius Study Bible. It doesn’t have you know long study notes in it. At the end of each testament, the end of the old testament, the New Testament, we have what they are called explanatory notes. And of course, at the bottom, you have the little footnotes. But it’s not like the Navarre or the Nation Study Bible for the states.

What we have is several pages on Apologetics, several pages on articles that on are faith you know things about purgatory and health and other aspects of the state, things about advent et cetera. And then, we have several pages of a topical index that I did that I had people call me on numerous occasions, you know no one that I work with the Bible and I teach Bible studies you know, and ask me things like, where can I find a Scripture verse about friendship or where I find something on fornication or whatever you know. And so, I did a topical index with several topics and then under it you can find where you can look up those verses. And so, it’s a easier reference. There’s charts, maps and beautiful pictures as well. I think its what’s really great about it is that you know like when you have someone who is not Catholic who thinks that something is not true unless you can find it in the Bible and they say well where is that in the Bible, you know like they might be speaking about purgatory or celibacy or a Marian doctrine or something. And with this Bible you can open it up to the front where we have Apologetic sex and look up you know celibacy, Marian doctrines, purgatory whatever. And right there in the Bible, its got the references for you to go to the support you know that it might not be explicitly in there, but its subverse in the battle that makes very much sense about purgatory or that explains something that helps them to understand those doctrines.

Chris Cash: Now, what kind of reception is this reference Bible getting out in the scholarly community as well as people out there in the trenches doing Bible studies in Parishes?

Gail Buckley: Oh, we’ve got wonderful feedback. In fact, I don’t think I’ve had one single complaint about it. Well, it’s so that the first printing they are doing the second printing that’s due out the 7th of March. And all the feedback we’ve been getting from both scholars and you know the lay person using it in classroom with the study has been wonderful. They think it’s beautiful. The words I hear the most are beautiful or fantastic, what a great easy reference you know to be able to open up and go to these things about our faith to have it right there at our finger tips, to be able to have it right there in the Bible.

Jim Burnham from San Juan seminars, wonderful person, a good friend was so kind to let me use his, what they refer to as the Bible Cheat Sheet, they sell it on EWTN that plast or that laminated.

Chris Cash: Yes, I used to have one of those that I had stuck in my Bible, anyway for you know – it came in handy.

Gail Buckley: Yes. Oh, yes, exactly it’s wonderful.

Chris Cash: I’ve been confronted on a train before about why you were praying the rosary and then, they’ve gotten to a long discussion. And those kind of references can come in real handy if someone gets into a discussion with you.

Gail Buckley: Absolutely. And we often get in places like on trains and on airlines and places like that where I have recently heard a priest say oh, its almost a penance sometimes you sit down a plane and that way you can quickly get on the ear phones and everything and stick a book on your face. Its usually somebody sitting beside you that says oh, you’re a priest let me ask you this you know. But you know we have that where it’s often confronted with these questions. Jim was so kind to let me use this laminated sheet. What we did is we took the information from that and put it in the Bible right on the pages instead of having to laminate a sheet. It’s right there in the Bible printed on the pages, so that you can go to the Bible and have it. And so, when they say where is that in the Bible, you can open your Bible and say its right here. So, it’s really nice.

Chris Cash: And what do you think is the favorite thing that people are finding out from this Bible?

Gail Buckley: The favorite part…

Chris Cash: Or do you have a personal favorite part of what’s in here?

Gail Buckley: Yes. I – my – well, of course I love it all. I mean, I worked on all of it and put together and then Catholic United for the Faith also gave me permission to use what they have called faith facts, which are articles. They have over 200 of ‘em and I went through them and choose you know some that I liked. And of course, I would have liked to have put much more in it, but as the people at Saint Benedict Press told me, if you are putting more in there we’re not going to be able to sell it, because you’re going to be price it out in the market. We’re going to have to limit how much we can put in here. So, the faith facts are really wonderful as well. But I guess my favorite part would be the Apologetic section. Being a convert to the faith, I like having those easy references that defend our faith and just you know way to come to get to it easily in the Bible, carry the Bible around with me. I don’t have to carry around a separate sheet. Not that that those sheets are not wonderful, but to have it right there in the Bible. And of course, I worked very hard on the topical index and I would like to make that longer too. But I think that’s a good thing to have as well, easy reference to look up words you know where its something in the Bible tattoos or about hoax or you know different things like that.

Chris Cash: So, kind of a many concordance in there as well.

Gail Buckley: Yes, that’s exactly what it is, a many concordance you know.

Chris Cash: Which is always useful.

Gail Buckley: Yes, exactly.

Chris Cash: How does it tie in to the Catholic Scripture Study program that’s been going for several years now?

Gail Buckley: Yes, well, it’s certainly a wonderful thing to have a Bible with you when you are doing the scripture study. We did print in our scripture studies; we print the Bible sections the study is on. But I always want people to have their Bible with them as well. And so, it’s great you know to have our own official CSS Bible. We’ve got in the front of it our patron saint, Saint Jerome and we use his motto. It is a scripture is it’s of Christ, so I have an article of Saint Jerome in there. And so, they feel like those people that – you know we have about 20,000 people using Catholic Scripture Study program and around the world, and so for them to have their own Bible is kind of nice. But this isn’t just exclusively for a Catholic Scripture Study people, because it’s really a great tool for any Catholic you know to have – because it has all this extra information. Its nothing really specifically tied as far as the information in it to Catholic Scripture Study except for this wonderful thing to have a Bible that has this extra information in it when you’re doing Scripture Study.

Chris Cash: Well, why don’t we talk a little bit about what is Catholic Scripture Study International as a whole in case somebody is interested in getting involved in a Catholic Scripture Study?

Gail Buckley: Okay. Okay, well, I started the Catholic Scripture Study program back in 2003. I was working at the time at Catholic exchange where I was the program coordinator or Bible coordinator for Bible studies that we had online that we were promoting. And so, I was the one who taught all the people either by e-mail or phone about trying to get a – start a study group in their parishes or their homes or whatever to using the Bible studies that we had. And all I ever heard all the time was oh, I’m sorry we – I couldn’t do that, I could never lead a Bible study, I’ll study this on my own, but I’m just not knowledgeable enough. So, what I did is developed a program, I taught a program whereby we give them everything they need. So, the person that’s going to be leading this Bible study doesn’t even have to know scripture, because we give them the commentary so they’re written by renowned authors and scholars like Scott Hahn, Mark Shea, Steve Ray. We’ve got wonderful authors. They have written these commentaries to go with the books, like a we do say a study on Matthew, we do a link the 28 week study and we go in-depth. But we give them the commentary, we give ‘em all the parts of the study, the questions. We provide the answers to the leader and on top of that we provide video lectures done by a priest. On each lesson that sort of sums it all up. In addition, to that we have a forum where they can e-mail the author to ask additional questions if they want to. And so, the person who steps up to the plate to lead this study really doesn’t have to know anything, because we provide everything they need, all the answers, the videos. And so, if someone asked ‘em a question they could say well, we wait and see what Father says on the video about that. And if Father doesn’t address their question, they say, well, why don’t you send a e-mail to the Website or you know. So, they never have to really answer any questions.

I also wrote a program manual that gives a step by step instructions on how to set this up and implement it in their parish or their home. Every step that they need to take and just the easy a, b, c’s you know. And so, it’s like Steve Ray likes to call it Bible study in a box. He said you just open the box and its all ready stir – at border stir and it’s all ready to go. You don’t really had to have any experience or notes, scriptures, you just set it up in your – so it’s really a wonderful thing for priest too, because they are so busy. A lot of them want a good Bible study, a good faithful Bible study, faithful to the Magisterium in their Parish, but they don’t have time to lead in. They don’t have time to train somebody and they don’t want to be worried about whose leading the study and what they are saying you know. So, this way they can hand this over to some lay person in their parish and know that its faithful and they don’t have to worry about people being there *** [12:58].

Chris Cash: And one thing that I have always noted about the Catholic Scripture Study program is it doesn’t just tie in the Bible. It also includes lessons on history and on the – and ties Catechism into the lessons as well, which you don’t see in a lot of studies.

Gail Buckley: Right, right. In every lesson of every study we do, every lesson contains a link to the Catechism. We have a Catechism – different Catechism quotes that relate to that lesson. We have a same quote in every lesson. We have a paper quote in every lesson and a summary. So, we tie it all together. Plus for a example, I think if you are familiar Scott Hahn’s work. He does a lot of typology. And so with typology what I mean is how the Old Testament relates to things in the New Testament you know. It prefigures things in the New Testament like the man in the Old Testament prefiguring the Eucharist. You know in the New Testament Jesus says you had to eat my flesh and drink my blood, things like that. And so, we go back and forth so that people get an overall view of the Bible. So if they’re study and say the Gospel of Matthew, they’re going to go – be going back and forth in the Old Testament and they start to see how it all comes together. They get the big picture instead of just studying the same verses of Matthew, we go back and forth. It also helps them to learn the way around Bible. We have people that when I first started teaching Bible Study, would come in you know when I’d say okay well turn to genesis, and they’d say is the back or the front. Well, things like that, and you know and they have come so far. I mean, they are just one *** [14:40] coming to my classroom now and they have all their concordances and their Navarre and their *** [14:46] and all kinds of stuff laying out on the table when they are all set to go. And they are on top of things now and they really know their way around.

And but I don’t want to make any but I think they have to be you know, know a lot of scripture to come to a Bible study class, because the questions and all are written so that they’re good for a beginner or scholar, because they’re not *** [15:11] down, but yet we give references where they can find the answers and they don’t have to sit there and think you know I have no idea where to go. And so, everybody really enjoys it. And the fellowship is wonderful to come together in a group study like that.

Chris Cash: How many different scripture studies does the Catholic Scripture Study series encompass?

Gail Buckley: Well, I think we have about 16 to 17 books now, we’re working on about four others right now and a lot of things in the works, but we have a whole difference. And we don’t just have Bible studies; we have a study on Humanae Vitae that Father Frank Pavone did a videos to go with that. We also have studies with that *** [15:53]. And we’re now Pat Madrid is planning to do an Apologetic study for us. So, we have you know – I’m thinking about doing a Catechism study as well with some others that I have talked to they are doing that. So, it’s not this scripture, we have a lot of faith related studies. But we have short studies and what we call program studies, which are those lengthy studies I was talking about. The short studies you know like they have a study on Ephesians, it’s like 12 weeks I believe. And we have a study on Amos, it’s a five week study. We have a great passion study for Lent, a five week study that’s very popular. And our ADVENT study, Father Mitch Pacwa did the videos for our ADVENT study last year.

Chris Cash: Now, if you are looking for more information on the scripture studies, where would someone be able to look and find that?

Gail Buckley: Our Website is cssprogram.net or they can go to catholicscripturestudy.com. But cssprogram.net is the best way to get there. And we’re having a conference this summer in August in Charlotte, North Carolina, so if they go to CSS conference they can find out about that. We have the great speakers Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Father Mitch Pacwa, Father Winslow, lots of good people.

Chris Cash: Now, do a lot of parishes start these in the fall or when would be a good time to be looking for someone doing a study?

Gail Buckley: Well, it varies, but the majority of our classes or majority of the group that use our studies are from start in the fall and end in the spring, they do the full length studies. You know I think it’s a seven month study in one book of the Bible. But that varies, we’ve got – I’ve talked to one group, contacted me yesterday and next year they’re planning to do three of our short studies that random all together, so that they can get three different things. They are going to do our witness study and our – the printing and study and then the Humanae Vitae study. So, and they started different times, especially the ones international, they are not on the same schedule we are, so they are different times.

Chris Cash: Is there a way for people to find a study near them?

Gail Buckley: Yes, we have on our Website a place that’s called Find a class, unfortunately not all of our classes are registered there. Depends on the study leader whether you know we’ve got a big class out in Omaha Nebraska with 250 people and they are not registered on our site, because its up to the study leader you know whether they want to register their class there and the take of the extra resources we might have there. We have some groups, like that one group, they don’t use our videos. The leader has been doing Bible study for years and she does her own lecture, so she doesn’t use our video lectures but she uses our written material. So, that’s why she’s not registered on the Website. But so, not all of ‘em are registered there, but they can get a good idea. And if they can’t find it they can call our toll free number, which is on the Website or write to us at info@csfprogram.net and ask if there’s a study near them. If it’s not listed on the Website, we might be able to tell them.

Chris Cash: Now aside from the conference that you are getting ready to put on, are there other places that people could see you speak about scripture study or are you available to be invited to speak?

Gail Buckley: Yes, I do speak in the conferences or at parish events or whatever and I am always available for you know that. And I don’t have any – see I’m trying to say – don’t have anything coming up anytime soon except for the conference here in Charlotte. But there’s a video of me on our Website telling about Catholic Scripture Study if they wanted to see me and hear me. But and then, there’s some things on YouTube, where I’ve been with Steve Ray programs and things like that. And of course, the Journey Home.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you so much Gail. Was there anything else you wanted to share with our listeners before we finish up here?

Gail Buckley: I can’t think of anything except that it’s not too late to get a study for Lent and get it in your parish or do it individually. If you want to order for us, we get them out right away. And we would love for anyone to come and try our studies, so I think you’d love it. And I hope they’ll get the CSS Bible, it’s a wonderful Bible. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about it.

Chris Cash: Well, you’re welcome Gail. It’s always a pleasure to talk about Catholic Bibles to begin with. And this is an exceptionally well done one, so you know thankful – we’re all thankful for the time and effort that you’ve put into – putting these resources together in a useful and understandable way for the rest of us, so thank you so much.

Gail Buckley: Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. You have a blessed day.

Chris Cash: You too, god bless.

Gail Buckley: Bye, bye.

———————————

Transcript of Interview with Gail Buckley about Catholic Scripture Study Bible. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Catholic Scripture Study Bible is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-scripture-study-bible-rsv-large-print-edition-p1111562/

View the Transcript

Vote for us at Podcast Alley – Please vote for us every month to help us get our show in front of more people

Items Discussed in this podcast:

Catholic Scripture Study Bible

Be sure to check out The Catholic Scripture Study International website

Follow us on Twitter @CatholicSplight

You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-426-1207. Be sure to join our Catholic Spotlight Facebook Group where we send out announcements about upcoming interviews. You will be able to call in your questions for our future guests. You might just be on our next show.

Subscribe to our feed | Subscribe with iTunes

Subscribing to our feed lets you know when new shows are available

so you will never miss any of our exciting guests.

A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Grace Before Meals is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/grace-before-meals-recipes-inspiration-family-meals-family-life-p1004857/

———————————

Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash from the Catholic Company, your source for all your Catholic needs. And today in Spotlight, we have Fr. Leo Patalinghug, an exciting and energetic Filipino priest and also an excellent cook. We are going to be talking about Grace Before Meals, the name of his cookbook as well as a show he does now. Your show is on PBS, correct?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: No, not exactly. It’s more of the name of the movement. The show is promised to be carried by PBS when we finally get the funding for it but really the whole Grace Before Meals name is the movement and the show is only part of it. So we actually do things on EWTN, things on Catholic TV up in Boston. There’s discussions of doing things in other networks as well, not just PBS. So there’s a lot happening there.

Chris Cash: And by the way, everybody you can find more information on Fr. Leo over at gracebeforemeals.com, a very nicely done website, by the way.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Thanks.

Chris Cash: It’s got a lot of great content, a lot of video. You can see Fr. Leo and some of the things he does. Can you tell us about the Grace Before Meals movement?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Yeah, it started actually after September 11, 2001. A lot of that information is actually captured in the first chapter of the book which is called Recipes and Inspirations for Family Meals and Family Life. So after that attacks of September the 11th, I was on a retreat and the idea of a priest cooking show came out which I honestly thought was the stupidest idea I ever heard but all of a sudden, people start to take it really seriously and somehow I got put in the middle of it all and just by providence, I met several people who loved the idea, put the idea out on the web. Things kind of got viral for a while and so people got very excited and it just kind of grew to the point where now we have about a million visitors every month, about 10,000 subscribers. The book is going very well and popular and I travel around the country with a message to try to encourage family meals, not just because of the sociological statistics that showed the health benefits of it but most importantly because it leads us to a deeper sense of knowing the greatness of family and why God calls us to a regular family meal every Sunday at Mass. So it’s a movement that really combines food, family, and faith and at the same time, have a lot of fun with it.

Chris Cash: Can you explain a little bit about what you’re doing to try to encourage family meals and what exactly do you mean by a family meal?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Well, I think the obvious is, a family is you eat together as a family. I mean, at one point, we used to do that all the time but with the growing popularity of fast food and I really, I don’t have any problem with fast food, I just think that the mentality is that I’m too busy to eat with my kids. That’s the problem for me.

Chris Cash: So it’d be fine if you sat down at the table with your fast food then?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Absolutely. My family did it. I don’t want to say fairly regularly but we did it well enough. A family meal is basically eat together with your family on a regular basis. That doesn’t mean just on Thanksgiving. Why do we limit Thanksgiving to only one day a year when in fact, Catholics celebrate Thanksgiving every day. There’s a Mass that happens every day. The word “Eucharist” means thanksgiving so I try to encourage people to bring back the feast days, to make the dinner table an opportunity to discuss the events of family life, just for example, I got an email from someone and I get this all the time but I’m still happy to get them. There’s a chapter in my book that discusses breaking up with a first boyfriend or first girlfriend. You know that really is an opportunity to learn a lot about love, about relationships, about dating but sometimes, families don’t really talk about those things. So I have a recipe called Comfort Stuffed Peppers and this one family actually picked up the book by chance and they got it because they saw the chapter about breaking up with the girlfriend and boyfriend and how a good meal with mom and dad and this heartbroken young person can really be an opportunity for grace. Well, they did it. They did the recipe. They loved it and they just realized that the questions that come with the chapter, that particular chapter really, really helped their family. So what we try to do is encourage families, not just to eat together but to cook together but if you don’t have that time, at least talk with each other and so that’s why the book has questions to engage conversations and even little prayers to let people know that God is part of that conversation.

Chris Cash: Now you mentioned that the movement isn’t quite to the point of having the funding for the TV show, do you want to explain just a little bit about the status of the movement at the moment, where you are in that journey?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Yeah, I mean, the TV show was never really a thought for me. The movement really was just to get people thinking and talking about it so if we left it there, we’re 100 percent successfully. I don’t need to do anymore but I’m busy. I mean, I’m a professor at a seminary in a university so it’s not like I have all the time in the world to devote to Grace Before Meals but we continue to grow simply because excuse the pun, people are hungry for it. They are eating this message up left and right. So as far as where we are with this, we have an award-winning website with a podcast that have won the People’s Choice Awards. I write an e-mail blast every week and people who subscribe to it, they love it. It’s just a regular message that connects food, faith, and families. The book is out. Let’s see. We also have done a tremendous amount of media work on most of the major network magazines, TV news magazines, that is like so Fox and Friends, CBS, Sunday Morning Report, ABC World Report, PBS, and also the Food Network. So we’ve done spots on all of those things and they continue to do more. And then finally, another component to the Grace Before Meals movement is me speaking around the country and even the world and I basically go to different parishes, different events and I’ll do a conversation, excuse me, a little presentation about Grace Before Meals that also includes a cooking demonstration most of the time. So people hire me to come out and do talks for the diocese events, parish events, and so on. I’m all over the country spreading the message and as far as the TV show is concerned because I don’t know, I think Catholics are really weird about this. They shun entertainment at times because people in Hollywood can lead us in the wrong direction but at the same time, they watch it so they are completely in love with the idea of a priest cooking show.

Chris Cash: Well, I think people even outside of the Catholic faith would probably be fascinated by it. I mean, anytime you get a priest on TV, there’s a fascination standpoint from those who both love and hate the church.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Yes and no. I think people like the idea, if they are Catholic and they’re not adverse to it but at the same time, I think people have sometimes a negative impression of Catholics on TV. They definitely like to see us only when we are on the news for bad ideas or when we talk about fighting against evil spirits and the devil. So it really all depends. I think people still need to want to the idea that priests are normal people but for your listeners, you got to realize that our Catholic media needs a lot of work. So we’re in the process of trying to improve our image as Catholics that kind of collaborate with the public sphere. So you know, people outside of the church have been very supportive with the Grace Before Meals movement and there’s constantly talk about making an actual show with me, whether it’s called Grace Before Meals or not. Now, I’m not at liberty to say anything about these things just yet but I can say that if I were to mention the names of people who want to talk, it would blow your socks off. But I’m not one to brag about it because nothing’s done yet. We also have to understand that it’s not easy. It is not easy to generate the publicity. It’s not easy to produce a half-an-hour show. I think our Catholics might need to wake up and to realize that it takes a lot of talent and a lot of money to produce a good show. And so that’s why we’re in the midst of all this.

Chris Cash: Even a simple show. Even a simple show, I tell you, is not cheap.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Yeah, absolutely. It takes some very dedicated people, but not just dedicated people. We also need to get talented people. We need to get people who really have a talent for it, who have practice and skill and a success rate to put something together. That’s where the status of the show is. Obviously, it’s still in progress but as far as the movement is concerned, I’ve reached my targets. I could be done with it completely.

Chris Cash: Now, if somebody wants to get involved with the movement and learn more about it, I assume they can find out everything they need to know over at gracebeforemeals.com?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Yeah, absolutely. We’re really judicious about how we get involved with different groups who want to sponsor. Just because we still want to really remain as true to our Catholic identity and at the same time, we want to make sure that we can be creative and to do what we need to do to make this a positive brand. I had no idea that I’d be talking like this when I was ordained a priest but we really have to just be very true to our mission and make sure that we don’t come across as too Catholic to the general population who doesn’t understand what we’re doing or they don’t feel welcome at the table. So I walk a very tight rope in terms of how we come across. Granted, we will always be Catholic because I’m a Catholic priest but at the same time, we can’t be so, for lack of a better word, pious-ceous or catechetical to the point where people can’t see just the fun and the entertainment value of what it means to be Catholic.

Chris Cash: You come from a long tradition of priests who have been in the media and has walked that line very well. I mean, Bishop Sheen is well known for having been a very popular voice.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: He’s not the only one though, to be honest with you.

Chris Cash: Oh, I know he’s not but he’s probably the…

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: No, no, no. I said that he…I’m suggesting that he actually is one or the only one who’s walked that line well.

Chris Cash: Oh okay.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: If you want to, we definitely can talk about the different people on the media, I’d rather not but Fulton Sheen and I do pray that he becomes a saint. He did walk that line well. I think sometimes that we don’t which is why we, our church and our popular media people might get into a little bit of trouble because it’s a hard line to walk and the church is so funny because we want to support them but at the same time, if they do make a mistake, they don’t get the support so the whole Grace Before Meals thing is on a cutting edge of the new evangelization which basically means, we’re at a crossroads, we get a tremendous amount of support but at the same time, we can also get a little bit of criticism from even our own Catholics who might think of this as just a pure gimmick. I mean, my goodness, I’ll be putting out an email on my email blast on my blog about a very faithful Catholic person who just basically said, “We need to shut out operations down and for me to get back to the parish.” And that’s coming from a faithful Catholic and what do we do about that? Well, we respond with truth and charity and let people know that the new evangelization is going to require our Catholic church to take some bold steps, some very bold steps and to make sure that we do not shun the media but the rather, we try our very best to collaborate with them. So Grace Before Meals is more than just a priest cooking show. It’s a movement to try to reawaken the evangelization efforts of the church which, we’re a sleeping giant.

Chris Cash: Right, and I think it’s important to note that if we keep our priests and our evangelization centered on church and church alone and don’t engage the culture in the places where the culture is, out in the new media, on Facebook, on Twitter, in all the different realms on cable television, then we are not doing our job as Catholics to reach out to those who need us.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: You’re absolutely right and as this particular ministry or apostolate is very specific, we just can’t have anyone doing it as well. Sometimes, we need to really discern who does what in the church. Not everyone should be a canon lawyer. Not everyone should do marriage preparation. Not everyone should do youth ministry. Not everyone should do media work and I never thought that I’d be doing it. My goodness gracious, this is as much as a surprise to me as it is to my family, that I’m doing this kind of stuff because I was trained as parish priest. I didn’t really have any training in the media field and while I am pretty skilled in the kitchen, I didn’t take a full-blown course in the culinary arts. I’ve taken many little courses and I have a pretty good track record for making some good meals and being very creative with it but I had no idea that I’d be doing this. It really shows God’s very unique plan for everyone and hopefully your listeners will hear that that there is a plan for everyone. What we’ve got to do is discern it, to put it into practice, to make sure it’s always rooted with the church and for the church and to be dynamic about it at the same time, not to be afraid. To be honest with you, to do this work, it frightens me a little bit just because it puts me in a realm that I was never used to or thought that I would be in. But God provides.

Chris Cash: Now did you have any professional training as a chef or as a cook?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Well, I’ve worked in some restaurants not as the executive chef or sous chef, really just kind of like on the line and that was for a pizza and gourmet hotdog stand.

Chris Cash: A lot of good training there, I’m sure.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Yeah, well actually, yeah, I was very surprised at just how much I did learn, at least about those two things, pizza and hotdogs which actually can be considered gourmet food, depending on what you do with it. I mean, I’ve eaten a hotdog that costs $15.

Chris Cash: I can’t say that I’ve done that.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Yeah, it was amazing actually but most of my training is home and self taught and then when I lived in Italy, I got to know a lot of restaurateurs and just observation. I have to admit, I am a fan of the Food Network so I would watch a lot of things and learn some skills and put it into practice. I do think that cooking is a combination of both a disciplined skill that someone learns and a talent that someone naturally has and I think that I have a natural talent and a pretty educated palate because my parents grew up teaching us how to eat very unique foods, not just Filipino food but foods from different cultures and nationalities as well and then of course, when I lived in Italy for six years as a seminarian, I really picked up on a lot of different European style cooking techniques so while I don’t have any professional training, I do have a lot of pastoral applications of food and like I said, it’s worked so far. I haven’t made anyone sick. I don’t think at least. I always hope that.

Chris Cash: All right, well we’re going to take a short break to hear from our sponsors as well as from as CMG Booking, they helped us to line up Fr. Leo to talk today so I promised them that we’d play a little promo. But we’ll be back in just a minute and we will be talking a little more about cooking as well as I think getting to the topic that everybody wants to hear about which is a throw down with a certain Bobby Flay. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

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Chris Cash: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight. We’re talking with Fr. Leo Patalinghug about Grace Before Meals, an excellent cookbook and I have not had a chance personally to try any of it out yet. I’m a little bummed about that. I am really though looking forward to getting to try some of the recipes in here especially a certain one that was used in a throw down with Bobby Flay. You want to tell us just a little bit about that experience? I’ve seen the show. It was an excellent show. They did a very good job of presenting the story and being respectful of the church at the same time.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Oh yeah. Absolutely. And most of the producers were Jewish and so they…it’s kind of funny because they really made the church look great, relevant, fun. A lot of the images that they took were of just really authentic Catholic families and a lot of smiles and boy, it’s kind of neat because it’s a cooking show but at the same time, it really became an evangelization opportunity, not with what we said but really what they showed, just joyful witness, just on authentic spirituality. Families coming together. And I didn’t know that it was going to be thrown down, to be honest with you. Everyone always asks that. Did you know he, Bobby Flay, was coming to challenge you to a throw down? The answer is no. Why would I expect him to come? I’m not famous for anything.

Chris Cash: Well, from the look on your eyes when he showed up, it was pretty obvious.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Oh yeah, it was pretty frightening. So basically, they got in touch with me. We set up a date to do some filming. I thought that they were just going to do a regular interview with me. I’ve done that already on so many different networks. So it was pretty standard. I was a little mystified by the fact that they wanted two days. However, when CBS followed me around for the Sunday Morning Report, that took three days. So I wasn’t as, I don’t know, surprised about this whole thing? So what happened on the second day of the shoot, I was basically doing what I normally do when I travel, I was giving a Grace Before Meals presentation. I was explaining the ingredients and then I kind of make an analogy about life and how it’s made up of many different parts and sometimes, if we put it in the wrong order, it turns out to be a mess. So that’s what I was doing and as I was speaking, explaining the ingredients, Bobby Flay showed up and I tell people, I prayed like I never prayed before. It was so shocking to see him and when he issued me the throw down, I mean I had no idea what came over me but I think it was just like the Holy Spirit encircled me and I said, “With God as my witness, I am not afraid. Bring it.” And boy, it’s like the heavens opened up. And all these cameras and lights and more people and Bobby Flay’s assistant showed up. And then it became a real cooking competition and so what happened was he cooked, I cooked, we plated, and there were two judges who showed up and they honestly were blind testing this food. They didn’t know whose food belongs to who and in the very end, I won. So it was pretty incredible of an experience.

Chris Cash: Which I always think is even more incredible because Bobby Flay’s specialty is southwestern food and to best him in a southwestern throw down seems…

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Well, it was a little different actually because my fajitas are not traditionally southwestern. I do use some of the components but I also use some Pan-Asian flavors as well to kind of wake it all up. It’s called fusion fajitas because it brings in so many different cultures and cooking techniques and ingredients and it elevates or at least changes the way a normal fajita would taste. And Bobby actually tried doing something similar with his. He usually does Tex-Mex but him knowing…because he knew that he was challenging a Filipino-American priest and of course, that surprised him but so what he did was just, he kind of changed some of his flavor profiles too to compete against mine. If he would have just gone traditionally southwestern, mine would have beaten him hands down because sometimes that flavor gets a little redundant. However, he wanted to change it up and so it was a real competition for some deep eastern flavors and so he got an incredible fajita. I tell people that I’ve cheated because I put holy water in my marinade but that’s not true. I just tell people that.

Chris Cash: Oh that’s too funny. And did you find the whole thing intimidating or were you pretty up for it?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: No, I was definitely intimidated but at the same time, this is just what we do. We have to take a bold step. I didn’t have much time to think about it and I’m going to be on national TV at this point and honestly, I was willing to take a very step so that Grace Before Meals could have a larger platform and I was ready to lose. Well, not ready…I was ready to compete. I was also willing to accept loss and I even kind of started crafting a concession speech. I was, had I lost, I was going to say, “Bobby, I just want to thank you. You’re an answer to our prayer. I prayed for humility and patient every day and you just were God’s instrument in bringing that to me.” That’s what I was going to say had I lost. So I really didn’t have anything prepared for my victory speech and so the only think I could say was, “Thank God.”

Chris Cash: So I take it, it was a shock to you to get to present a victory speech if you didn’t have one prepared.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Absolutely, I wasn’t planning on winning. I was just planning on competing. I didn’t think that far ahead. Fajitas create some attention because the choice of meat I use is not the traditional flank steak, excuse me, not the traditional fajita steak which is a skirt steak. I used something close that cut of the meat which is a flank steak and I chose that because my whole movement is about family meals. The flank is going to be ultimately cheaper than the skirt steak and I also wanted to show how you can cook with meat well and keep it tender, moist, and juicy. Flanks have a tendency to dry out because there’s so little fat in it. and so I think the judges picked up on that technique and they even said that the meat melted in their mouth which was music to my ears.

Chris Cash: That’s exactly what you want to hear as a cook, I’m sure.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Absolutely.

Chris Cash: Well, we are starting to run low on time. I did want to give you a couple of Facebook shoutouts. We didn’t get any questions out of our Facebook fans but we did have Adrian Purtell and Deborah Stevens, both wanted to shout out a “Hey, we love your show” to you. And was there anything else that you wanted to share with our audience before we finish up?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Well, we do a lot of crazy things at Grace Before Meals including some food and wine tours. I’m leading a Mediterranean pilgrimage in May. I’m leading a food and wine tour to the, excuse me, retreat to the Napa Valley where I concentrate on the transubstantiation of wine. We sent out some email blasts and of course, people can get information about my booking and my web shows and all that we do. Just go to gracebeforemeals.com and join the fun because it is fun because our faith is not boring.

Chris Cash: Absolutely!

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: And neither should your meals be boring either so that’s why I wanted to spice that.

Chris Cash: Yeah, that is so easy too. To just fall into the same routine of macaroni and cheese and hotdogs especially when my kids, that’s all they want to eat, right?

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: Just as long as you’d pray before you eat. I’ll be happy.

Chris Cash: Yeah, I tried to make something interesting last night and unfortunately, all they wanted was the rice. Maybe one day, I’ll get back into that more interesting food stage of life again. But thank you so much for sharing with us and our audience today. We really appreciate it. All of you in the audience, make sure you go over to Grace Before Meals, sign up for the mailing list, like it on Facebook, whatever you need to do to start getting that information from Fr. Leo and find out what’s going on with the movement. Get involved in the movement and share with others about it. Thank you so much Fr. Leo for coming on.

Fr. Leo Patalinghug: My pleasure, thanks for having me.

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Transcript of Interview with Fr. Leo Patalinghug about Grace Before Meals. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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Grace Before Meals is available at The Catholic Company.

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Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic world. Today, we have Abby Johnson on. She is one of the new prolife heroes that we have out here in the movement today. I don’t know, do you feel like a prolife hero at the moment, Abby?

Abby Johnson: No, I don’t. I do feel new and cool, though.

Chris Cash: That’s something.

Abby Johnson: Good thing I’m on the show.

Chris Cash: That’s positive. I know you’ve been keeping a grueling interview schedule over the last few days since the book has just recently come out. What was it? Twenty-one thousand people on your first interview? The webinar?

Abby Johnson: Yeah, on the webcast. It was amazing. Initially we thought there’d be, I don’t know, 5,000 and it was crazy enough on 8,000 and then like the end, right before, we had over 20,000 and it was just incredible.

Chris Cash: Well, I am so glad to see such a huge response to this book. By the way, the book Unplanned is somewhat of a history, somewhat of an expose of your experience with Planned Parenthood as well as the reasons why Abby left Planned Parenthood and came over to prolife side. So why don’t you just give us a brief synopsis of what we’re going to find, what we’re going to learn by reading the book.

Abby Johnson: I think that you’re going to kind of learn what motivates people to work at Planned Parenthood. I think you’re going to learn what motivated me to leave. I know you’re aware of that. I think that you’re going to see, in my opinion and from my perspective, the best way to reach people that are working in the clinic and the best way to reach people that are going into the clinic for services. There’s a lot of different approaches out there. I’ve seen several even out in front of the clinic where I work and I know what reached me and so I think that you’ll see that definitely. And I think that you will find out some new information about Planned Parenthood, things that you may not have known which is one of the reasons that I think people were so excited about the book is because people want to know what’s going on at Planned Parenthood. They want to know about the inside of the abortion industry because it’s a place for most people, they don’t get to go.

Chris Cash: Or they don’t want to go.

Abby Johnson: Yeah, they don’t want to go. They don’t want to go and I think that people…

Chris Cash: I know a lot of people who are even pro-choice that wouldn’t even think of getting near a Planned Parenthood clinic for many various reasons.

Abby Johnson: Yeah, I think people though, they kind of, they want to get into the head of women that choose abortion or people that work inside the clinic and I think here in the book, I’m able to kind of give them some perspective on that.

Chris Cash: So what do you think is going to be the most surprising thing that somebody’s going to find out from reading your book?

Abby Johnson: I don’t know, I think that a lot of people, they want to villainize the pro-choice movement and people there in Planned Parenthood and they’re not going to find that in the book.

Chris Cash: Well, they’re real people. I believe that a lot of the people who are in Planned Parenthood and the pro-choicers, that they are very sincere in their beliefs, at least that’s what I found in dealing with the family members and friends who are of that opinion. They’re sincere in their beliefs.

Abby Johnson: Absolutely. And they believe that they are helping women and listen, there’s passion on both sides of the issue, as there should be. And any time that this type of passion is fueled, it can turn bad, it can ugly. I think that as pro-lifers, we have to always keep in mind that our fight is not against them. The clinic workers are not our enemies. The abortionists are not our enemy. The sin of abortion is our enemy and we have to keep that at the forefront of our minds at all times.

Chris Cash: Now, one thing that I have to say is, in my mind, you have to have had a tremendous amount of just bravery and courage to do what you’ve done. It’s one thing to walk out of the clinic and say, “Okay, I don’t want to be associated with that anymore. I’m going to be pro-life and I’m going to just walk away from it all.” But to actually stand up with the pro-life groups and to put yourself out on such a public forum just seems to me to have required a lot of bravery. In fact, we even got a question in from one of our fans, Robin Seamas, sorry Robin, if I’m butchering your name but she asks, “Do you ever worry that your life could be in danger for exposing information about Planned Parenthood?”

Abby Johnson: That’s a good question. I’m not going to say it never crossed my mind. It does every once in a while but it’s not something that I worry about. It’s not a debilitating thought for me. I guess, because I feel like I’m doing the right thing now and I do feel protected. I do feel God’s protection and if something were to happen to me, then I would know that I left this earth on the right side of this issue and I would know where I was going. I would know that I was going to spend the rest of my life with Christ and I can say that I don’t know if that would have been the case before. And I remember at times and I said this in the book, I remember at times wondering when I was working at Planned Parenthood if I would go to hell. And just never really reconciling that worry or that thought and just kind of thinking, “Well gosh, I just hope I don’t die. I hope I don’t die any time soon.” And that was kind of the end of the thought process. But that was troublesome for me. It was the thought, I worried about it. Now, I don’t worry because I just feel like if something did happen to me, I have that assurance.

Chris Cash: Now, I want to take that thought process just a little further in that you obviously felt like what you were doing personally was wrong. So do you feel like that’s a pervasive feeling among people who work in the clinics that they, at some level know that what they’re doing is wrong?

Abby Johnson: Well, I feel like most people think it’s the lesser of two evils so you provide a safe place for women to have abortion or you leave them out and they have an illegal abortion and they possibly lose their life from it. And so I think that that is where a lot of workers stand. So they’re not making the choice for them but they do feel like that as long as the abortion is legal, that there should be a safe place for them to go. And I feel like that’s where a lot of the workers are with their thought process.

Chris Cash: Now, I also want to turn around that question from Robin a minute ago, from the standpoint of when you were working in the clinic and walking by the pro-life picket lines every day, did you ever feel like your life was in danger from that standpoint?

Abby Johnson: I did not feel like my life was in danger from the people that were out front at the clinic because I knew them. I knew who they were. I knew their names. I had relationships with some of them. But yeah, I did at times feel like something could happen to me. Every day when I was going to work, I would go up to the front, I made the schedule every day, to remind myself, “Okay, who’s on schedule today?” and I would plan out, I would kind of think about, okay, where are these people usually during the day? Where their offices were and everything and where they would usually be and I would plan out a route to get them out of the clinic safely, if someone were to come in with a gun or a bomb, someone who wanted to threaten them and I would try to plan out how to get them out safely and how to leave me in the building. Because I figured that if someone were to come in and wanted to harm someone in the clinic, it would be me because I was the director. And so that was I did. That was the first thing I did every morning was to go in and figure out, okay, what staff do I have here? How would I get them out? How would I route them out of the building to get them out safely and leave me in here. It’s a weird thought to think about now but I just figured that’s my responsibility. That’s the responsibility that I’ve taken on. And I didn’t really think much about it. It’s just something that I went through every day.

Chris Cash: And how many years were you directing the clinic?

Abby Johnson: A little over two.

Chris Cash: Did you actually have any instances where you had to evacuate people or get people out of the way or it was just something that you felt like you should always be prepared for?

Abby Johnson: No, we always thought we should be prepared for it because it’s something that is very instilled in the workers. We had training. We had the FBI involved especially after Dr. Tiller’s murder. We had the FBI involved with our clinic. The police were very involved with us. We had training from US Marshalls. So it was very pounded in our brains that the pro-lifers wanted to kill us and that they were following us around town and that we weren’t to take the same way home every day from work and that the safest place for us was actually at the clinic and we really weren’t safe outside of there.

Chris Cash: So you might even feel safer now than you did then?

Abby Johnson: Yeah. It’s an interesting thought now looking back on it but that was the way that we had thought and some of it is because of anti-abortion violence that takes place and there are some people that are against abortion that honestly make the pro-life movement look really, really bad. But there are people on the fringe in every movement and what happens though is those people, the media allows them to speak for the entire movement and so the clinic workers, when security comes and when the Planned Parenthood national security team, when they’re training new employees, they are using those people on the fringe to say this is how the whole pro-life movement is. This is why you can’t trust them. And that’s very intentional.

Chris Cash: Now, you mentioned having relationships with some of the pro-life protesters outside the facility. How did that develop over time and how close as friends did you become with some of those people?

Abby Johnson: Well, there was one…I had cordial relationships with some of them outside the building. It’s one girl in particular, Elizabeth, who I mentioned in the book pretty frequently. She and I did develop a relationship, I mean kind of a fringe, kind of a weird awkward friendship. She just started talking to me one day and it just snowballed into more and more conversations every day. And I remember thinking if there wasn’t a fence between us, I think we’d be really good friends. And I remember telling people. I told my husband that and told some of the people that I worked with at the clinic. I remember looking her up on Facebook and trying to see some of the activities she was involved in and things like that. I remember one time, when I would be at college, she said, “If you ever wanted to go hang out, have coffee, go out to lunch or something, or dinner, we could go and do that.” I remember that day she went to our office and almost picking up the phone to call the coalition because she was working there at the time. Because I really just felt like there could be a solid friendship between us. But I never did because I thought, “Oh, if anybody found out, that would be really bad.” And so, I never did but now, Elizabeth is one of my best friends. Thank God that I had left. She didn’t know back in 2007 that that friendship that she worked on and developed with me was going to go anywhere but it was huge. It made a huge difference in the leaving of Planned Parenthood and me turning to the pro-lifers for help when I left.

Chris Cash: Was it just having that sense of I know somebody and I know I can belong there?

Abby Johnson: Yeah, well that and one day when I’m pulled in, she had actually brought me flowers to work and I thought, “Oh my gosh, I cannot accept those flowers because that’s a little weird and everybody’s going to know that we’ve been talking and everything. I can’t do that.” So I just ran in the building really quick and just left her out there looking sad, holding the flowers. And I felt really bad. Well, she ended up leaving the flowers there and I went out and got them and she had attached a little card on the flowers and it had a bible verse on it and it had “I’m praying for you every day. Love, Elizabeth.” And I kept that card. This was back in 2007 and the flowers eventually died but I kept the card. And I kept it on my desk for two years. And whenever the Monday before I resigned, the Monday that I actually went to the coalition for help, I didn’t know where to go. Most of my friends were in…all my close friends were involved with Planned Parenthood and I didn’t know where to go and I was very scared and thought, “Who can I talk to about this?” I looked out the window and I saw *** [00:18:14] and she ended up praying and I felt like God was kind of urging me to go to them and I thought, “No way. I’ve been here for eight years and people know who I am. If I walk in that door, they’re going to think, this is not legit. They’re going to think, this girl is trying to pull one over on us. But I looked on my desk and I saw that card from Elizabeth that was still there after those two years. And I thought, well why did I keep this stupid card? Because obviously, it means something and that Elizabeth cared enough to do this for me and they will be there for me. And I know they will. And so that was just the encouragement I needed because of that little card on my desk and that was what pushed me over the edge to finally go to them and reach out.

Chris Cash: Now, what did Elizabeth say to you to really strike up this conversation over time? Obviously, she wasn’t…I imagined she didn’t say, “Why don’t you stop killing babies?” or something like that.

Abby Johnson: Oh no. No, no, no. It was just like, “Hey, how are you doing?” And I would say, “Hey, I’m fine.” I walked in and it was kind of like, “Hey, hope you have a good day.” She just kind of added to it and then all of a sudden, it was like, “ Hey, hope you have a good day. I just wanted to let you know, I’m going to be praying for you.” And not praying for you by name. I mean, that’s so powerful for somebody to hear. And it just kind of got snowballed and we just kept talking and we just kept building from there and we would talk at the fence for a little bit and it just kind of developed into this trusting relationship and she never was ugly to me. She was always respectful and she listens to whatever I had to say. There was never an argument or anything. But I remember liking her immediately because I thought she’s a lot like me. I knew that she had a strong personality. I could tell she was assertive and I could just tell she was like me. And I liked that about her. She wouldn’t back down for me. A lot of the people out there, I could kind of say something, kind of smart off to them and they would back down. They wouldn’t talk to me anymore. But she didn’t. She kept at it and I liked that about her. I respected her and that came across me and so we just kind of developed a relationship from there and I trusted her.

Chris Cash: Now, I have another question from someone in our audience who asked, “What kind of advice would you give to girls who wants to follow their heart instead of what’s popular?”

Abby Johnson: Well, that’s hard because I know that it’s…*** [00:21:47] is not popular to be pro-life. It was not popular to not be sexually active. I guess it’s not popular to be a lot of things but sometimes, people would say, “Well, these are words from heaven.” All right, great but everybody hates to hear it right now. And so, a lot of people don’t want to hear that right now but I think it’s important. I really feel like that if I would stayed, if I would have kept my heart guarded, I wouldn’t have fallen into the hooks of Planned Parenthood. But I did it. I didn’t guard my heart. I didn’t keep those walls up. I didn’t keep an open line of communication with Christ and I ultimately shut Him out and I think that it’s important for young women and young men both equally, I think it’s important to choose people to be around that have the moral belief that you do and that way, you’re not just swimming around on your own. It’s been, I have a lot of people that criticize me for what I’ve done but I have a lot of people that support me and that’s what helps get you through it. And I would encourage young men and women to keep yourself protected and surround yourself with people who are like-minded and who share your beliefs about Christ and what’s important and whether you’re talking about abstinence or whether you’re talking about pro-life issues or whether you’re talking about drugs or whatever it is, surround yourself with like-minded people and people who love the Lord and people who are going to help guard your heart and guard your thinking and help protect you.

Chris Cash: Well, we’re running out of time here. So I just wanted to give you an opportunity. Was there anything else that you felt like you just wanted to share with our listeners about the book, about the experience, just kind of wide open there?

Abby Johnson: Well, I want to encourage people to get out there and be pro-life. It’s not enough. We just got a report from Planned Parenthood that shows for the first time in a couple of years, abortion rates are on the rise. It’s not enough to just sit at home and pray. It’s not enough anymore. We are in a critical time right now in the United States and in the world. We have got to be get out there in the clinics and pray. We’ve got to pray more than we ever had. We’ve got to volunteer our crisis pregnancy centers. We have to do more than we ever have and it’s not enough to check a box and say we’re pro-life. It’s not enough to vote pro-life. We’ve got to be active in this fight and active in this movement and I encourage everybody to do that. There’s a place for every single person, no matter how old and no matter how young. There’s a place for you in this movement.

Chris Cash: And you’re involved with Forty Days for Life which, by the way, is doing an excellent job of getting people out into the clinics for prolonged periods of time.

Abby Johnson: Yes, it’s an amazing group.

Chris Cash: Our local Knights of Columbus chapter has commitments with Forty Days for Life to have a night out there every single day of the 40-day period that they set up. So it’s been a great thing to have those encouraging reminders that we’ve got to be out there and be a presence. Even if you’re not sidewalk counseling, even if you’re just standing there. That presence still makes a difference.

Abby Johnson: Yeah, everybody has a call. Some people are prayer warriors. And some people are counselors and prayer is just as effective as sidewalk counseling so you’ve got to have both. And you don’t have to reach out to the women but prayer is just as effective.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you so much, Abby, for taking some time out of your busy schedule to talk to us. Everybody out there, make sure that you go out now. Pick up a copy of Unplanned, Abby Johnson’s story, I think you will find it very encouraging and it will open your eyes on quite a few fronts, probably find out quite a few things you didn’t know about Planned Parenthood but also find out some ways to reach out and make a difference. This is the Catholic Spotlight. Thank you very much for listening and God bless! Be sure to check out our baltimore catechism and Sacred Heart of Jesus gifts.

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Transcript of Interview with Abby Johnson about unPlanned – The dramatic true story of a former planned parenthood leader’s eye-opening journey across the life line. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

unPlanned is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/unplanned-abby-johnson-p1004877/

View the Transcript

Vote for us at Podcast Alley – Please vote for us every month to help us get our show in front of more people

Help promote Catholic Podcasts.

Items Discussed in this podcast:

unPlanned book

Follow us on Twitter @CatholicSplight

You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-426-1207. Be sure to join our Catholic Spotlight Facebook Group where we send out announcements about upcoming interviews. You will be able to call in your questions for our future guests. You might just be on our next show.

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so you will never miss any of our exciting guests.

A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Oplatki at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/white-pink-oplatki-christmas-wafers-p9990270/

———————————

Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash, director of eCommerce from catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs. And today is pretty exciting because number 1, it’s been several months since we’ve had a show and I’m really excited to get started again and get some shows up there. I appreciate any of you listeners out there who’ve been hanging on and waiting for a new show. It’s finally here and today, we’re going to be talking about something that is really cool and kind of different from a lot of our other shows. We’re talking about Oplatki and I have three excellent guests on today to share with us about their experience with Oplatki in their personal households and in one case, how they want to start using Oplatki in their personal households, a celebration of Christmas. So starting off, we have Michelle Reitemeyer and I practiced a lot to get that right. Did I get it?

Michelle: You got it. Very good.

Chris: So Michelle Reitemeyer and she’s from Georgia and your blog is…

Michelle: The Rosetta Stone which actually URL because I don’t teach foreign language on my blog is mreitemeyer.blogspot.com but you can Google Rosetta Stone blog or Michelle Reitemeyer and you can find it there.

Chris: Very cool and then also on the line, we have Megan Smillie from Texas.

Megan: Yes, I blog under Life in a Nutshell and my URL is actually the lastthingonmymind.blogspot.com because it usually is even though I really enjoy writing and I’m from Texas.

Chris: And finally, we have Karen Grant from New Jersey.

Karen: Hi, I blog at Karen’s Adventures in Mommyland and you can find that at kareninmommyland.com.

Chris: I tell you. I always get such a kick out of everybody’s blog names and the creativity that goes into some of that. I’m the engineering type; I’m not that creative so I always admire that. Well, I guess starting off, we just want to talk about what is Oplatki and Michelle was going to share with us just kind of a general overview and history of Oplatki, where it comes from, and why it is such an integral part of the Christmas celebration in some cultures.

Michelle: Okay, sure Chris. They did it in Poland pretty much at the beginning of the time that Christianity started in Eastern Europe and their Oplatki is a little Christmas bread, Christmas wafers, the one I’ve seen they’re about the size of your hand and there’s usually a nativity scene printed on them and they resemble communion wafers and that’s intentional because it really harkens to the Eucharist and it’s that celebration of the breaking of the bread. It’s a reminder of the Eucharist that we all come together to share and it’s just a really neat tradition.

Chris: Now, are Oplatki consecrated?

Michelle: No, no. I do think that in some places, they send their general blessing but now of course, they’re not consecrated.

Chris: Yeah, I knew the answer. I just wanted to make sure we got that in there.

Michelle: Yes, right. I know you know the answer but…

Chris: Now what is the purpose of having the Oplatki in the household?

Michelle: Okay, I do a Jesse tree also and my symbol for the…the last symbol that goes up on the 24th is a manger but coming out of the manger is the Chiro and there’s this foreshadowing with the birth of Christ, of the fact that well, it’s not just about the birth of the baby. He wouldn’t be our Savior if He didn’t also suffer and die for us and then open the gates of heaven. So when you have this communion wafer symbol, this Eucharist symbol, you have that foreshadowing of…even though you have this joyous birth, even more joyous is being able to go to heaven and so you have that foreshadowing there but also the traditional breaking of bread and sharing with one another, it’s that love, it’s the wishing each other, the happiness for the coming year and whether it’s prosperity or peace in your life or whatever, you have that opportunity once a year as a family to come together and share those blessings with each other that maybe during the rest of the year, you’re not always so quick to call to mind as you’re going through your daily life.

Chris: Sounds like a good plan for Christmas obviously. Now there’s a special kind of dinner that goes along with Oplatki celebration and Megan was going to share just a little bit about this dinner and how it is traditionally celebrated as well as maybe talk a little about the practicalities of how it happens in your household.

Megan: Okay well, first a huge disclaimer. I don’t actually do this dinner. It’s my mother. So she has done it for years. I think she started when I was in junior high and her mother did it before that and then her grandmother did it before that and it’s supposed to start out with the children looking for the first start, usually the north star. The way that you set the table and Michelle, jump in here if I miss anything, you put straws under the tablecloth to symbolize the manger and after the children see the first star, you bring the baby Jesus to the *** [00:06:29] and place Him in there and maybe sing a song or something. Sometimes there was an extra place set at the table for Christ so there’ll be a seat there that’s all set for Him to join us. And then we do the Oplatki. We call the Oplatek. I’m not sure how it’s exactly with the…

Chris: Technically, Oplatki is plural and Oplatek is singular.

Megan: Okay. And so we say our grace and we each take our Oplatek and we go around the table, walking around the table and we take from each other, so you break off a piece from the other person and you wish him a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and you give them a hug and you eat from their Oplatek and you just around and you make sure you get everyone. And then we’d do five courses with cookies and sweets at the end. The first course is pickled herring with sour cream and crackers. That of course is usually skipped by most of the family. Pickled herring is not really something that everyone looks forward to.

Chris: At least not in our culture.

Megan: No, no.

Chris: I’m sure it must be a delicacy somewhere.

Megan: It must be. It must be. The next one we do is a borscht. It’s a very creamy soup. That might be the mushroom soup that you were talking about earlier in the show. My mom actually does make it and it’s my favorite course. You put rye bread and you cut up boiled eggs. We also do kielbasa which is not usually…that’s not a traditional thing that you would do. Kielbasa is traditionally Polish but not for the beginning of dinner. Usually the beginning of dinner is meatless. But anyway, we put that in there and hash browns like potatoes. It’s a very hearty food. The next course is the kapusta which nobody in my family eats. It’s a cabbage and corn, I think, kind of like a casserole-type thing.

Chris: I think you’re going to have to send me the spelling of all these things for our transcriptionist who’s going to have a field day trying to spell it all.

Megan: [Laughter] That’s funny. So we do look at…the next is the pirogi and everybody knows about pirogi. The fillings that my mother does are cheese, cabbage, and then she also does a blueberry.

Michelle: Oh!

Megan: Yeah, the blueberry is really good.

Chris: I’ve had Christmas strawberry pirogis that were just incredible but…

Megan: Yeah, this can be like a dessert. I mean it’s just…no meat filling. The last thing she does is she makes some sort of fish like cod or something because traditionally, it should be carp because it’s a very cheap fish and so in Poland because there’s a lot of poverty, the people are using things like cabbage and carp and potatoes and eggs and stuff to form this meal. And then, she’ll also go out and buy these special cookies called chrusp cookies. I think that’s spelled C-H-R-U-S-P for your transcriptionist.

Chris: Thanks.

Megan: And they’re like just kind of wafer cookies, not Oplatek but almost like Italian cookies with the powdered sugar on it and then they look like steel points or whatever and that’s what we do. Other traditions are to have a shot of vodka between each course. I guess my siblings did that last through. I feel it’s a lot more interesting.

Michelle: I guess if you get older, you can do these things. And my mother said when she was growing up, Santa…Father Christmas would come. At the end, they’d hear the bells outside and the children would run outside and let Father Christmas in and he’d bring them presents and then they’d all go to midnight Mass so that’s kind of…

Chris: After all those shots of vodka…

Michelle: Yes, believe it or not, I think they made it through. But being American, it’s kind of difficult to make all of these things. My mother has had years of practice and a lot of tradition behind her watching her mother and her grandmother do it. I don’t know if I would be able to do all of that but we’re starting with the project and we will personally be working our way through there, probably skipping the pickled herring for a while but we’ll see what we can do.

Chris: Now you mentioned about everybody taking a bite out of everyone else’s bread. Is there symbolic meaning to that?

Megan: That is a good question, Michelle? Do you know what that symbolism is?

Michelle: Well, it’s not really a bite. You break off a piece and you share. Yeah, everybody usually has their own wafer and like I said, they’re about the size of my hand so there’s plenty there and everybody can just have a small bite so that you’re all sharing together. I think that the whole point is just that you’re all sharing together.

Chris: Now, I’ve also heard some people actually included their pets in the sharing.

Megan: Their pets?

Michelle: Supposedly…I’ve read this on your website. I’ve never seen it but yes, supposedly there’s the pink wafer but I cannot attest to this, having never witnessed that before but I have a dog. I don’t know, maybe I’ll give the dog some pink wafer this year but I cannot confirm or deny the rumor about the pet sharing.

Megan: I guess that answers my question about the pink wafer.

Chris: [Laughter]

Michelle: Now my girls fight over the pink wafers so there’s a little bit may…

Megan: Nothing less for the dog.

Michelle: It’s the one everyone wants.

Megan: Yes.

Chris: It’s just special, I’m sure. All right, well, we’re going to take a real short break here to hear from our sponsor and when we come back, we’ll be talking a little bit more with the ladies about the Oplatki celebration and how it’s done in their households. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

Chris: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight with Michelle Reitemeyer, Megan Smillie, and Karen Grant talking about Oplatki and this lovely tradition that we’re trying to help promote and bring back in this country. It has such a rich traditional symbolism in it and it is a great way to promote sharing and family togetherness at Christmas. So going back over to Michelle, would you be so kind as to share a little bit about your personal family traditions around the Oplatki?

Michelle: Sure, we as Megan described, the children are set to look for the first star which keeps them out of the kitchen so you finish getting things done and we’ve usually been blessed with cloudy weather so I can get everything cooked and there’s no star appearing at all and then we finally, we send out to convince them that a plane or an aerial or something is actually the first star and then we go into the celebration and we do a candlelight procession to the crèche bringing the Infant Jesus to our crèche scene and we bless the crèche. We usually sing Silent Night or something and my husband is not a big singer type but he still manages to participate as long as there’s nobody else around and we bless our Christmas tree. We light the Christmas officially for the first time and then we usually start the meal. I don’t do different courses. I’m not just that…usually we have an infant or a little child who’s bothering me. This would be my youngest is three this Christmas so it’ll probably be a little bit easier for me to do things but I tend to just bring the food out and we always forget the Oplatki and so probably five or ten minutes into dinner and then I go, “Oh, we forgot.” And I run around trying to find it and usually…there have been a couple of years where I put it in such a safe spot that I could not find it.

Chris: Note to everyone, make sure you put your Oplatki where you can find it.

Michelle: So anyway, and my mother, she always…when she was raising…always dipped it in honey. That was one additional thing and sometimes I do that. The kids like it a little bit. It makes it a little bit sweeter and the kids usually enjoy, especially those who are too young and have not received their first Holy Communion yet, they recognize that this tastes a lot like Communion wafers so they’re very eager to try. And I have not always done the shot but my mother did always do a shot and I know that is traditional. I did get to enjoy a dinner in Slovakia at a family’s house once and yes, you start the dinner with a shot of vodka. They didn’t do it in between the courses but they definitely did at the beginning. So maybe I’ll try to remember vodka this year too, I don’t know. And I don’t usually put the straw under the table. I don’t usually have room. This year, I actually will have room at my table. I could put an extra plate setting but I love it. I think those traditions are beautiful. It’s just constraint with you have six children and a small dining room. Yeah, my kids have American taste buds and so our food…we have pirogis. There have been years that we’ve had fish sticks just because I’ve had an infant and not been able to make more elaborate than that. I’ve made onion soup instead of a mushroom soup or whatever. And then of course, there’s always lots of cookies and stuff for dessert so at the very least they fill up on that if they don’t prefer any of the other food but we’re very…we’re definitely very flexible and not feeling that we have to rigidly apply the actual Polish-type meal to our celebration and it’s still a good celebration even if you don’t have the Polish food.

Chris: Very cool and now finally we’re going to talk with Karen Grant for just a few minutes. Karen, you have never done Oplatki in your house before, correct?

Karen: That is correct.

Chris: So what was it that made you decide that you should try it this year?

Karen: Well, every year when we gather, our holiday celebrations with my husband’s side of the family, his one aunt is always mentioning…they’re of Slavic descent but we don’t really see any of the Slavic heritage in anything. A lot of the Italian celebration seems to overshadow anything Slavic in his family. So I mean, it’d be a nice way to teach the girls a little bit about their Slavic culture and heritage and I try to give them something from all their heritage. We do things that are Irish. We do things that are German like we have the pickle on the tray. There’s different things that I could do and I like to incorporate everything so that they have a really cool sense of their heritage.

Chris: Oh, so you actually do the Christmas pickle as well.

Karen: Yes.

Megan: And we do too, I love that.

Karen: I love my Christmas pickle.

Chris: I have seen several debates including internally at Catholic Company about whether or not anybody actually did that and…[laughter].

Megan: Oh, I think it matters.

Karen: I suspect that they’re getting my pickle glass…I have a glass Christmas pickle and it’s actually not the last thing that goes on our tray. I hide it when the kids are not there and then they have to try to find it. So we kind of have a variation on it.

Chris: Well, I have always been an advocate that somebody must do it or else they wouldn’t be around. [Laughter]

Karen: Somebody started it somewhere.

Chris: And do you have any specific plans, Karen, for how you’re going to celebrate this?

Karen: Well, I figured we’d be doing it before dinner, probably either right before or right after grace but it’s more than likely going to be an Italian dinner because that’s what my kids like. They’re not going to go for Slavic food. We’ve had it at different family functions and they just steer clear of it. They find the tray with the cookies and that’s where they hang out.

Chris: Hey, that sounds like me.

Karen: Maybe if I made the Slavic cookies or something like but I’d have to look for some recipes.

Chris: All right, well, we’re running to the end of the show here. I just wanted to give everybody one last chance, if there was something else that they wanted to share about the tradition or even something else going on that they wanted to share about real quick. Michelle, did you have anything else you wanted to share?

Michelle: No, I think I’m all talked out now.

Chris: [Laughter] All right, and Megan?

Megan: I just want to encourage people to try it if they so choose. I know my mom’s very…it’s changed over the years as things have changed. She used to make all of her own produce. I think she orders them now and same with the cookies. You don’t need to kill yourself making everything and to try different things. If your children aren’t going to like mushroom soup which most kids don’t, then do other things but I think establishing some sort of a tradition is wonderful and our faith is so rich and so filled with wonderful things to do. This year, we’ll be having a newborn so we’ll do the *** [00:22:05] but maybe next year. Next year, I can branch out a little bit so take my own advice.

Chris: And Karen, did you have any final wisdom for us?

Karen: Not really, I think it’s good to just explore other traditions for your kids especially if it’s part of their heritage and it’s a way to help them get in touch with their roots.

Chris: Well, thank you so much, ladies for taking this time to spend with us out of your busy schedules. I hope that all you listeners out there appreciate learning about these traditions and find some way to incorporate it into your own personal Christmas celebration this year. It’s been great talking with you and everybody have a wonderful day and God bless!

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Transcript of Interview with Michelle Reitemeyer, Megan Smillie, and Karen Grant about oplatki christmas wafers and the traditions surrounding them. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Oplatki at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/white-pink-oplatki-christmas-wafers-p9990270/

As promised in the show, Michelle has posted a couple Traditional Slovak Christmas Eve Supper recipes over on her blog. If anyone tries some of them, let us know how it went. In fact we would love to hear more stories about how oplatki are used in your home. Just leave comments below.

View the Transcript

Vote for us at Podcast Alley – Please vote for us every month to help us get our show in front of more people

Help promote Catholic Podcasts.

Items Discussed in this podcast:

Oplatki Christmas Wafers

Follow us on Twitter @CatholicSplight

You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-426-1207. Be sure to join our Catholic Spotlight Facebook Group where we send out announcements about upcoming interviews. You will be able to call in your questions for our future guests. You might just be on our next show.

Subscribe to our feed | Subscribe with iTunes

Subscribing to our feed lets you know when new shows are available

so you will never miss any of our exciting guests.

A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

See the video Lisa made for this contest: The Catholic Company Lisa Hendey Book Contest Video.

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

The Handbook for Catholic Moms at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004840/Handbook-Catholic-Moms/

———————————

Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash, director of E-Commerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

And today in the Spotlight we have a very special guest. She’s been on this show before but we’re excited to have her back, Lisa Hendey. She is the creator of Catholicmom.com, an excellent awesome resource for all Catholic Mom’s out there and lot of Catholic dads too. But she has a brand new book out the Handbook for Catholic Mom’s. Welcome, Lisa.

Lisa Hendey: Hi, Chris. Thanks for having me on this show today.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you for coming on. I know you’ve got a very busy interview schedule. This is turning out to be I think probably one of the most popular books of the spring, so you know everybody out there who hasn’t got a copy of this in your hand already, you’re behind the curve.

Lisa Hendey: Well, thank you. It’s an exciting time for us.

Chris Cash: So, why don’t we talk just briefly for those who have not heard our other interview about Catholicmom.com, which by the way, look back in the archives you want to hear more about Catholicmom.com or just head on over to Catholicmom.com, whatever fits your style of learning I guess. But, why don’t we talk just briefly about Catholicmom.com and what you do with that and then, we can segway into what people are going to learn from your awesome new book?

Lisa Hendey: Terrific. Well, the Website Catholicmom.com, we’re actually celebrating our 10th year this year of being a Website and it started way back when with a lot of Website for Dummies Books, and the interest on my part to learn more about my faith and about parenting and family life. At that time my children were school age, there – we have two sons Eric and Adam and both are teenagers now, but at the time it was before my husband Greg had joined the Church. And so, I really felt it’s a big responsibility to share our faith with those boys and to do that you know sort of on my own. I mean, obviously, in conjunction with the Church but really the primary responsibility for faith formation falls on us as parents. And so, I felt the need to sort of surround myself with support and building a Website seemed like a great way to do that.

Chris Cash: Now, what was it that got you started putting together a book? ‘Cause you know putting together a book ah jeez I just think about it and I cringe. What made you decide to take the plunge and actually put a book together?

Lisa Hendey: You know I am so fortunate Chris that this project really is a dream come true. For years on the Website, we’ve had a Catholic Book Club and we’ve offered interviews with and reviews of different Catholic books and we’ve worked closely with the Catholic company to do that. You know to provide some support for all those Catholic authors out there that are writing so many great books. And so, that was a – part of the site for a long time. And through those interviews and through those book reviews, I was in touch with a lot of different Catholic publishers. And one of those publishers was Ave Maria Press, which we – I’ve had a great relationship with them for a long time in promoting their authors. And about two years ago, I was in contact with them about a different project and they approached me at that time and invited me to start thinking about a book of my own in conjunction with the Website and of course at the time I thought oh, my goodness, I have no idea how to write a book. I’ve been a pretty pervasive blogger for the last several years, but there is a big difference in you know actually putting a book together. And I was so fortunate that Tom Grady who is – that we had of Ave Maria Press the publisher there, really kind of mentored me through the proposal process and set me up with my editor Eileen Ponder whose just I think the best editor I’ve ever met. And really they’ve been such a blessing to work with throughout the process. And they basically invited me to consider you know with the book what type of book I really wanted to write, you know whether that be like parenting book or as it turns out to be a little bit different from a parenting book. A book for mom’s but not specifically about things like how to change diaper, how to get a get a sleep at night, so. I know its – it kind of you know turned into I have to say so many of the authors that I work with, they write their book and then they take it around and you know share with the publishers, and hopes that somebody will publish it. And I was so fortunate that that in my case it happened a little bit differently and that they were really interested in putting out a book, you know that would be in tandem with the Website.

Chris Cash: That prolific bloggers status does carry a little weight with it there.

Lisa Hendey: Well, I think that publishers are interested in working with authors who have sort of a platform for not only for the book, but also for continuing you know things that could happen after you put the book out. So, it was really a good combination I think.

Chris Cash: Yes, you know there is this dirty little secret in the publishing industry that very few people realize, but publishing companies don’t sell books, authors sell books. And if the author doesn’t get out there and sell it, which you know obviously Lisa’s in a good position to do. Its big – it’s not that easy to sell a book if the author isn’t out there promoting it in some way. So, you know publishing houses are always looking for authors who have a venue to do that.

Lisa Hendey: Well, I don’t know any secrets of publishing, I’m just a mom. I’m a mom and sometimes a blogger, but I will say that my publisher Ave Maria Press has been just a huge blessing through the whole process. I mean, really to see how a book comes together. If you’re someone like me who loves books, its such a dream to be able to go through a process like this to see you know each step of the process. And including, they were so kind and I know my Facebook friends have seen these pictures, but they actually have the printing press right there at the publishing house. So, they actually went down, my publishers and my editor went down and took pictures of my book on the press as it was being printed. And including like the people who run the bookbinding book machine and turn the pages, and you know put the covers on, put them in the boxes and all that. All those people I got to see. So, this book has been such a team process from the very beginning and you know including in the writing of it, and to see that team effort even through the printing of it was just amazing.

Chris Cash: And of course, I sent you some pictures the other day, it is on the inside cover. So, it’s the first book in our first book catalog over Catholic company, so.

Lisa Hendey: I know, thank you so much to you and to Helen for that. It’s just a tremendous support you guys have given to this project.
Chris Cash: Well, it’s been given a real place of honor and I’m – it will be the first book anybody sees when they open up the book catalog so.

Lisa Hendey: You know Chris, I – its funny, because if it were just my book, I probably might be even a little bit – I am very humbled by that and almost a little bit overwhelmed by it. But there are so many voices in this book that I’m happy for all of us involved that it will be you know it will be so visible to people.

Chris Cash: So, what was the biggest challenge for you putting this project together? I know you said it was very different from the blogging you know. Where did you find your biggest challenges and your biggest surprises in going from blogger to book writer?

Lisa Hendey: Well, and probably the biggest challenge came not necessarily in the writing process. But in my personal life last year I was diagnosed with non-invasive breast cancer. And co-incidentally right around the same time that the serious writing on the book began. I had surgery and seven weeks of radiation treatments, so to do that while writing a book was really proved to me that the Holy Spirit you know had a big hand on this process. And because essentially, once the book was outlined and ready to begin writing, what I would do pretty much everyday during those seven weeks is put up a little post in the morning about what I was going to be writing about. And then, went of and dropped my son of at Catholic school, went to mass, went for my radiation treatment and then drove to the library to begin my writing. And by the time I got to the library, which was usually you know around lets say 9:30 or 10:00, I had a handful of e-mails and comments on my Facebook page, and you know posts on the blog about whatever the topic for the day was. And so, so many people were *intergrowing* [09:59], sharing their experiences and their quotes and their stories for this book. And that really helped to get through what probably could’ve been kind of an impossible situation otherwise.

Chris Cash: Now, how many different voices are in the book?

Lisa Hendey: Well, we have over 30 different contributors who gave us formal sidebar contributions and those are little essays that run anywhere from 300 words to in some cases like couple of pages long and that deal with the specific topic for that chapter. And basically, once I got approval for the project, what I did was just sit down and kind of come up with what I call my dream team. For each chapter, I thought of whose the person that’s the best you know that I have really admire both writing wise and faith wise that could best address this particular topic. And I wrote down that list and began e-mailing people and you know basically begging for them to be involved, and universally everyone said yes and came forward. So, those are some noted writers and in of themselves. People who are really bestselling Catholic authors involved in the project. And then, along…

Chris Cash: Yes, who could turn you down Lisa?

Lisa Hendey: Well, they could easily, because they weren’t you know compensated for their involvement in this. And they basically did it out of their – I think their conviction that what we were writing about was very important for mom’s. And then, along with all those form of sidebars, literally hundreds Facebook friends and friends from Catholicmom.com and from Sqpn.com and Faithandfamilylive.com. And they shared their thoughts and ideas as well. So, it’s really a collaborated effort, because with so many different voices you get a lot of different perspectives on the main topics.
Chris Cash: Well, why don’t you share just a little about what kind of topics are covered you know? What are people going to find when they open this book?

Lisa Hendey: Well, what they’ll find – basically the book is divided into four sections. And the subtitle for the book is nurturing your Heart, Mind, Body and Soul and those are the four sections of the book. And the Heart section deals with – and let me say first of all, before I break that down too much, but essentially the main message of the book is that we as moms need to nurture and care for ourselves, so that we can better care for our families. And so, every chapter of the book has as a theme you know how that particular chapter fits into, how you as a mom can take care of yourself.

And the first chapters in the Heart section, all deal with our relationships. So, everything from our marriage relationship to our parenting relationships, and even we have a chapter on finding a faith family. So, finding beneficial relationships in the parish community. The second section, the mind section deals with everything from work issues like whether or not that be in or outside of the home, and to time management to family finances and things like that. And the third section is body and that deals with health and fitness and nutrition topics and how as a mother to make those a part of your life. And then, the last section which is my favorite part of the book is this old section and that really looks up the treasures of our Catholic faith, and how we can use those tools like the rosary and inner *** [13:37] your relationship with saints and mass and the Eucharist. How we can use those tools to nurture ourselves spiritually.

Chris Cash: And then, what is it that really differentiates this book from the other mom books that are out there?

Lisa Hendey: You know many of the mom books that are out there these days deal with parenting topics or how to pass along the faith to your children, and those are very important resources. Some of my favorite books that line my desk are books by some of the sidebar contributors. So the – this book that actually deal with you know those topics you know basic parenting topics that from a Catholic perspective. But this book is really for a mom, for her to take the time and the energy and the care necessary to really look at herself and really you know take the effort that it takes to you know nurture these traits in yourself. So, many of us are very giving and service oriented in our lives and we will do these – you know we’ll make sure that five other people’s sets of teeth are brushed every morning. And that you know eight *** [14:52] schooling kids have their homework lined up and all of their vaccines done ontime and you know we’ll get our kids to practice and feed them healthy meals and things like that. But we don’t necessarily always do all of those things for ourselves as well.

Chris Cash: Now, what about the response that the book has been getting as it’s going out into the market? I know it hasn’t been available for very long at the time we’re recording this. But what kind of response are you getting from people who have seen it and had a chance to read it?

Lisa Hendey: You know I’m thrilled by the response and also, once again very humbled by it, because it’s been really positive. The advance copies that have gone out has been met with just tremendous you know very positive remarks, and I am beginning to get reviews from people that I really respect that have great things to say about the book. And interestingly, one of my first you know reviews posted on the internet is actually from a Catholic dad. I’m recommending the book not just for moms but for dads. This is of help, so. That’s an interesting thing that. And a lot of the traits in this book, well it’s aimed specifically at moms really deal with anybody who is interested in you know really nurturing themselves in our Catholic faith.

And I do want to say to that, one of the special things that we did in the book was to try to include segments for just about any type of Catholic family. So, the book has chapters for single parents and also a chapter on sort of special circumstance parenting, so either adoptive or foster parenting or families who have children with special needs. And how mothers and those types of circumstances might reach out and care for themselves as well.

Chris Cash: I wouldn’t know anything about that.

Lisa Hendey: I’m sure you would. And I think that actually there maybe a quote or two from your family in there, so. I…

Chris Cash: Oh, there is. Well, I haven’t seen ‘em yet. I haven’t actually gotten my final copy of the book. I’ve got a very non-descript looking advance copy, which you know when it came to my desk, I think it landed on my desk and it wasn’t there for more than ten minutes before my wife walked by and stole.

Lisa Hendey: Well, I’m sure the real copy is on its way to you soon and I hope you’ll enjoy it. I know that just from the way that it’s been laid out by the publisher, it’s incredibly user friendly for moms.

Chris Cash: Was there anything that was really surprising for you as you were putting this project together?

Lisa Hendey: I think part of the surprise for me was just how involved people got in the writing process with me. I mean what a blessing that was because I sort of was convicted that of the fact that we really needed a book like this. And part of the reason for that was that just for so many years, monitoring the e-mail that I get. And I – some of the e-mails that I receive from moms out there, I mean literally will bring tears to your eyes. And with the level of you know frustration and difficulty that many women go through in their parenting vocation. And I think that Chris you work from your home with five kids around you and you can probably relate to what a lot of other parents are going through, and that – sometimes that can be difficult and isolating. So, I felt pretty convicted about the topic that I was writing on, but what surprised me was just how many people were willing to share their own personal experiences. And also, they’re – sort of how they make this work in their homes. And you know this is some of the struggles that they face and how they are trying to overcome that in our homes. I think it really points to me to a larger – you know to our universal Church at work, especially on the internet.

Chris Cash: And have you found that the writing process for the book has enhanced your own Website?

Lisa Hendey: Well, it’s certainly a blessing for the Website to have you know this resource pulled together. One of the things about the book is that at the end of every chapter, we include links to put in the Websites for whatever the topic of that chapter is. And so, certainly you know having a book like this that will go out to moms that points not only to Catholicmom.com, but to other great Catholic Websites out there. Hopefully, that will be kind of a directory that brings attention to my site but also to another sites as well.

Chris Cash: And have you recovered I know from the writing process? I know that for a few weeks there near the end of editing there was pretty much do not disturb sign hung out on just about everything.

Lisa Hendey: Yes, you know you probably could ask my children that. It was *** [19:57]. I don’t know if you – you know I am not sure that you recover necessarily immediately after the writing, because I think as an author – and this is certainly my first time as an author and possibly my last time, depending on how this book does. But one of the things that you learn is that you’re not – your job is not finished when you you know finish writing, but now the mission of carrying this book out and sharing it with people began since. So I’m really excited about the speaking opportunities that are coming to me and the opportunities to write for other Websites and for other you know newspapers and magazines and things like that that you know hopefully the work that we’ve done on this projects will continue when I take it out and introduce it to people. So, I think that I’m eating my *** [20:49] and saying a lot of prayers everyday for that, for the grace to get through this.

Chris Cash: Well, I don’t think you’re going too much worry about the book not selling well, because presales over Catholic Company, I can tell you for sure have been quite brisk. It’s already at the top of our Home and Family book category and has been there for quite a while. So, there is definitely a lot of interest in the book. Like I said its – if you don’t already have a copy of this book shame on you. Go get one, wherever you want to get it in our local bookstore Catholic Company wherever, pick one up. But…

Lisa Hendey: Well, I just want to – yes and you know one of the things, well, thank you for mentioning Catholic bookstores too. I think that’s really important that we support those local Catholic bookstores. And I’ve actually been working on the books like *** [21:40] on my Website and on that we’re going to be including links, all the Catholic bookstores that are carrying the books, so that people know you know where they can go locally to get a hold of that *artists* [21:49]. Catholic bookstores are a real treasure and we need to truly support them. But and you know as…

Chris Cash: And I totally agree. I always tell people you know look and look to support your local Catholic bookstores you know, because if you don’t support them, they will go out of business. And…

Lisa Hendey: Right and that will be the end of I think books like this. But the other thing about this book, even though it says the handbook for Catholic moms, and a lot of the material is putting in anyone as I said before. But also, I want to challenge the dads and the men in your listening audience, and that if you have a special Catholic mom in your life then maybe this is the book that you go buy for them as a gift. Because a lot of moms may not you know take proactive action of doing that for themselves. And I think that with holidays like Valentine’s Day coming up and with seasons like the season of Lent coming up, it’s the perfect gift to give to somebody special on your life.

Chris Cash: So, you’re saying that you’re going to send me my Valentines Day present for my wife?

Lisa Hendey: I’m saying that a dozen roses well *** [22:57] and will cost more than the handbook for Catholic moms. And that I think that really some of the presubs in this book are you know things that are going to make a real difference in people’s family life.

Chris Cash: Absolutely. Now, do you see this being adopted for like parish discussion groups as it is setup in a way that it would be conducive to that?

Lisa Hendey: I hope so. I think it is. And I think that I will see that happening, I’ve actually began discussions with one Diocese in Illinois and they’ve invited me to come out next January and do an entire retreat weakened for Catholic women and their diocese is based on the book. So, they’re going to you know formulate the entire retreat weakened around the book, and I think that its really both for moms groups and parish Bible study groups and things like that, there is a lot of fodder for conversation in this book. And I also really just want to say it to anybody that you know has a group like that that please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me, because I have a lot of travel plans for the next year, and if there is anyway that I can get to your parish, I’d love to do that.

Chris Cash: Very cool. And also, keep in mind that a lot of stores have bulk discount programs. If you’ve got a book like this where your parish is ordering 20, 50,100 of them, you know Catholic Company, we have a – what we call parish products program, where we’ll work with you on additional bulk discounts to help make that possible. And I’m sure that there are similar arrangements that can be made through many other stores out there. So, don’t pay retail, get your order together in a group and bargain with it.

Lisa Hendey: Well, I think it’s – I think that it’s a book that like I said will really bring women together. And I think that it’s a great jumping of point for a lot of different conversations that can happen. I could see you know there are 22 chapters in the book and I could see a week by week discussion about you know each of the topics and sort of how that fits into women in the parishes life together. I think that will be a great thing.

Chris Cash: All right, well, was there anything else that you wanted to share about it? I know we can probably talk for quite a while longer, but was there anything else you know? Running short on time here in such – was there anything in particular you wanted to make sure that you said to our listeners before we head out?

Lisa Hendey: Well, two things Chris. The first is just to say that for people who are buying this book through the Catholic Company, if you would like your book personalized, we have book plates, stickers that you can request from me and I’ll sign that and send it of to either you or whoever you are giving your book to. Then I’ve already have some requests I’ve mentioned earlier Valentines Day, I have a couple of *** [25:53] that have been working with me to sort of surprised their wives with the gift of this book. And so, we did these stickers and you can basically e-mail me at Lisa@catholicmom.com with your name and your mailing address and I’ll find one of those and get it of to you. And if you want it personalized, just be sure to include the name of the person that you’re – that you like to personalize too.

And the second thing is just to thank you Chris for the great work that you do. I mean, I’ve been an admirer and a fan of the Catholic Spotlight for a long time and as a listener, and then I have to say that as I still hesitate to call myself as an author. But as an author it’s really wonderful to have a venue like just to come on and to share you know and in more detail what some of the goings on behind them the creation of a book. And I just want to thank you for the great work that you do.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you very much. I think putting a show together like this is much easier than trying to write a big whomping book of course. And of course, you have a show too Catholic Moments. Everybody check that out, it’s over on the SQPN network. You can also find it at iTunes on Catholic Moments or over at Catholicmom.com. I’m sure there’s plenty of links there too, right?

Lisa Hendey: Yes, yes. Thank you for mentioning that and just thanks for the opportunity to chat with you today. I always love talking to you.

Chris Cash: Now, have you got any ideas for future projects in the works yet or you’re just trying to take a breath here?

Lisa Hendey: You know I have a few ideas and I probably won’t say anything. Won’t say too much about them, but I’ll ask for your listeners prayers for that and that god guide me to whatever the next step in my life might be. If that’s another book, then so be it. And there maybe something else worth seeing, but thank you so much for the time today.

Chris Cash: Well, you are very welcome. You have a great day and god bless.

Lisa Hendey: Thanks Chris.

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Transcript of Interview with Lisa Hendey about The Handbook for Catholic Moms. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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Navarre Bible Commentaries at The Catholic Company.

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Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash, director of E-Commerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Today in the Spotlight, we have Kevin Lay. He’s a subject matter enthusiast for – from Scepter publisher. He is going to talk with us today about the Navarre Bible Commentaries and what makes them so special. Welcome, Kevin.

Kevin Lay: Thank you, thank you. Happy to be here.

Chris Cash: Now, Kevin can you tell me just briefly about what is the Navarre Bible?

Kevin Lay: Okay, well, it’s the commentary. It’s basically made up. First of all, you have the – if you look – if you would open up the Navarre, you have a number of introductory articles and such and then, when you get into text itself you have the scriptures, which is of course center. And that the version we use is the RSV-Catholic Edition. And then, beneath that you have a commentary that is basically not the kind of commentary you might encounter if you would go to a library and are looking for a technical commentary. It’s a commentary that’s directed toward living the Christian life. A commentary that’s drawing from the Church fathers, from the saints, from the teaching per se of the church, from the Pope’s and so forth. It’s drawing from the whole of 2000 years of history if you will. And bringing that to bear both in the theological sense of understanding the text as well as the practical sense of how to live the Christian life.

Chris Cash: Now, you know I have opened up and used some Navarre Bibles before and it’s always striking when you open it up and you see maybe a quarter of the page has the text of the – of a few versus on it. And then, see the entire rest of the page covered with the commentary.

Kevin Lay: Yes, yes.

Chris Cash: It’s just – it has so much commentary that it is – could seem overwhelming for some people I think.

Kevin Lay: Well, you know its – it shouldn’t be because it really is directed not to the – you know some kind of technician. I want to use that word theologically, but it’s – you know it’s not a one that goes into the various – you know it will treat some of the meanings of words and so forth. But it doesn’t get lost in the smaller details that a scholar might want to go into. It definitely is directed towards living and to putting the word of God you know in the center of well you know – within ones life, center of course is Christ and basically to put it into action. You know to understand it and to live it. And it does it in a way that’s just not only you know understanding what the text itself means, but it goes into how – see I don’t want to repeat myself here, but its basically it brings it to life in a way that is very practical.

Chris Cash: Oh, I wouldn’t worry about repeating yourself. I repeat myself all the time, so.

Kevin Lay: Well, I’ve been using this – you know the Navarre Bible since I became Catholic in 1989 and a priest, a friend of mine actually first introduced me to it. And I was just amazed that and I started using it and it was – you know first I was kind of an idea of apologetics and such. But really you see it a – it’s a very useful resource to live this Christian life. Maybe we ought to go inside the origins of it too that would maybe *** [04:05].

Chris Cash: Oh, absolutely. First off, I also wanted to touch on the fact that at least in some versions of the Bible or in some of the Bibles, you also see the Latin text.

Kevin Lay: Yes, yes.

Chris Cash: Now, that can be real intimidating to some of us who are not Latin Scholars, which is probably like oh, 99 percent of us right?

Kevin Lay: Well, I have 5 years of Latin and if my Latin professors are listening they would probably cringe it on me saying that. Because I was very – I was probably one of the worst Latin students there was. But yes, its – it shouldn’t be intimidating. It’s actually in a way it even adds to the beauty of the text, because you know you kind of see wow, this is really cool. This is from my own perspective. But you have the RSV, from the RSV-Catholic edition scriptures which is probably one of the best scriptures to use. In a sense of an English translation for the study of sacred scripture, because it’s more literal and it’s actually the text that’s pretty much used in the catechism. They use the RSV. As – and another enthusiast for documents come from the Holy See. At this point, that are translated in English, they basically use the RSV’s is my understanding. But so have the RSV text and then you have the Latin text, which is from the new Latin Vulgate, which is the one that came out I think in 1986 if I remember correctly from the Holy See, it’s the official Latin version of the sacred scriptures called the Latin Vulgate, the new Latin Vulgate rather, and then you have the commentary. So, in fact, all of ‘em – in fact I should add real quickly here. In the current volumes, in the original set that came out you had this Latin in the center. In the current volumes of the 12 volumes that as well as the three volume of the New Testament, they actually took the Latin and put in it back.

In the new version that just came out a new edition of the newest Navarre I should say, the – it’s called the expanded edition which is a different work from the others. We won’t go in all the details of what this means. But it’s – the Latin is actually put back in the center, so it’s really not in the center of all the text; it’s only in the newest one currently.

Chris Cash: Understand. Now, if I am an armchair theologian versus a serious theologian, am I going to still get a lot out of this? And do I have to be an armchair theologian to be able to understand what’s in here?

Kevin Lay: Oh, yes. No, not at all, not at all. It’s definitely – it’s written in such a way, it’s not directed toward only you know theologians, also the theologians can use it and some very serious scholars of course recommended it. You know…

Chris Cash: Including Dr. Hahn, he’s recommended it in many of his audiotapes from San Jose.

Kevin Lay: Oh, yes, yes. Definitely, definitely. But it avoids you could say the particularly technical language, so it’s really not going to overwhelm somebody in that regard. And that’s one of the duties of it. It doesn’t – you know you don’t kind of have to have a degree to be able to understand it. It’s definitely user friendly.
Chris Cash: All right, so can you tell us a little about the origin of the Bible? What was the Genesis of them deciding to take on this project?

Kevin Lay: Okay, sure. Basically, it comes out of the University of Navarre in Spain. This is the university that’s linked up with Opus Dei. And the Founder of Opus Dei, Saint Escriva who was canonized, that was few years ago actually by Pope John Paul II. He actually – he was the Genesis of the idea of the Navarre scripture commentary. And so, in fact in Spain he actually did at whole new translation of sacred scripture of course that’s in Spanish, so we don’t use that. We use the RSV. But his idea was to begin this whole series and this is in I guess the late ‘60’s early ‘70’s they began at in Spanish and then it got translated into English in the ‘80’s. And then, up until I guess it was just 2000 and I’m not sure exactly the year there, that was in the 2000 that we finished the final work of the Old Testament. So, far it’s being able to cover the entire Bible.

But basically, it came out of Saint Escriva and his idea. It came from the university, the faculty of theology from the University of Navarre. And they basically decided to do this text as a help to persons who are not you know executes you know. There – its definitely to help them have a deeper understanding of sacred scripture, to have you know at their finger tips if you will, you know various things from the Church fathers, which is very important, the sayings and so forth, the teachings of the church as well as the work of the scholars.

Chris Cash: And it’s become a very, very popular commentary.

Kevin Lay: Oh, yes.

Chris Cash: As a Catholic bookstore worker, I have – it’s always been exciting when a new Navarre came out, because we knew there’ll be a lot of people coming in to get it.

Kevin Lay: Yes, yes, definitely. And the newest one, the expanded edition is going very, very well.

Chris Cash: So, what’s your personal experience with the Navarre?

Kevin Lay: Well, I think as I mentioned when I converted in ’89, you know like I said that I was a Baptist actually and but I was not a very good Baptist if you will. I didn’t like to read the Bible much. And it was actually through opening the Bible that I started actually my way, my journey towards the Church, and looking for the Church, the Christ I found it. So, when I became Catholic you know my priest friend, he introduced me to the Navarre Bible, he was a monk. And it is – it was like wow a lot of the things that – the questions that I had it went into, it was you know but then I had it – at one point when I was giving the Hebrews, but you know ‘cause it gets into a lot of technical theology a little bit there, but anyhow, its very – it just – it answered lot of the questions apologetically, answered lot of the questions spiritually as to what the text is meant. It kind of helps you – you know it helped me to live – you know to try to live the scriptures you know instead of just approaching it as a book to read. You know I mean really seeing that the word of God is at the heart of things. And then, of course to understand what exactly that you know these scriptures might mean or may not mean. Because when you’re beginning this kind of thing, you know you read, you come across passages that you know pull out your eye and cut of your arm and you don’t want to walk around life without arms or eyes, so it’s good to know that that’s not meant to be literal. I think *** [11:03].

Chris Cash: Very, very fair idea there. I certainly do appreciate having my eyes and arms. But can we get a brief rundown on the different versions of the Navarre that are available currently.

Kevin Lay: Sure.

Chris Cash: In fact, there is a New Paperback version that’s just came out.

Kevin Lay: Yes, sure that’s coming on very soon for the Old Testament. In the beginning, you had the 12 volumes of the New Testament, so that’s basically the standard set of the New Testament. And then, you had after that you had the – well you had also then the old testaments are seven volumes in the Old Testaments. Those are a Hardback, so there’s – there was no Paperback.

Chris Cash: And they are ginormous.

Kevin Lay: Oh, well, yes they’re – well, you know the Minors Prophets are thin, ‘cause you know they’re very few of those. But you know yes you could look at the Major’s Prophets, its pretty big book. Yes, definitely it’s a Hardback set, so it’s not a easy thing that’s to carry around if you want to take the whole thing with you anywhere.

But basically, yes, so let’s go back to the different ones. You have the 12 volumes in the Paperback that began the – in the New Testament, seven volumes in Hardback. That’s a standard for the Old Testament. And then, you had what came out its called the reader’s edition, which was the gospel, which is three volumes and Hardback. The first one was the Gospels and Acts and then the Letters of Saint Paul was the second one and then the third one confined with Revelation, Hebrews & Catholic. Now, you think well what’s the difference between that and the 12 volumes? Actually, now really nothing, because basically what happened in the beginning it was meant – to what you were talking about the Latin, to takeout the Latin and so it would you know first of all be easier to print in one volume. And maybe not scare somebody away if they’re little nervous of Latin but I don’t think that’s really a reason. But anyway, we’ve taken up previously I think the space.

And eventually, what happened as that they – as the original versions they change – the took the Latin from the center and put it in the back and they short it down a bit in the font so it could fit in the book. They basically realized that hey you can – we can just put this back into the hardbacks and just have a hardback version, and that’s what happened. In the Gospels and Acts, Letters to Saint Paul and the other one, they basically put the Latin back into the text in the back. So that kind of – there was a bit of a change. If you have an old edition of their Gospels and Acts, you’re not going to have Latin and if you have a new edition, you’re going to have the Latin in the back.

So, that’s basically the standard set and like I said the 12 volumes and the three volumes are basically the same in the New Testament. In fact, some people get the most, ‘cause they like to carry you know the single ones around with them when they want to go to particular scripture size *** [13:52] you know circle or something. And they don’t want to carry a bigger book, so they carry just one individual volume and so forth with them.

Then there was a combination New Testament, which is the – would be called now the compact edition of the New Testament. And that was basically an abbreviated version. It’s a bit different, but it definitely is smaller in quantity of the Commentary. It doesn’t have the Latin at all. But its definitely – it could be useful to people who might feel overwhelmed or they want to have a smaller version of the New Testament to take with them just so they have you know the whole New Testament together. Because it definitely is a briefer version that you can not feel overwhelmed with, so that’s the compact edition. Then we just came out with you know just recent not too long ago was the New Testament expanded edition we call it. And this is actually a new work, it overlaps somewhat with what happened in the standard edition, ‘cause you know you obviously you can’t say different things about you know Jesus *** [15:10] where, no he didn’t. You know he in fact *** [15:11] going to comment on the same things in lot of similar ways, because some of the knowledge there is just simply the facts and just simply the standard way of expanding, understanding things. But this is definitely a different work, it is a new work. It involves different sources from the Patristics from the Church Fathers, different saints, including different newer documents from the Church, including those of Pope Benedict the 16th, the first two *biblicals* [15:38]. And I think it’s a different feel to, its different approach to it.

The 12 volume set and the stand – and the three volume set and the New Testament, they would – it covers a – they cover a more ground in a sense. That the commentary is going to be longer, ‘cause you’re going to have it spread out between the number of volumes. But and that commentary can go into other aspects of the spiritual life as well, you know in a more – in a different way than the one does. The new one has a little – bit more focusing on the scripture and doesn’t go often as much perhaps you could say into these other areas of the spiritual life that the other ones do. But the same time it’s organized a bit differently. Its organized more in blocks if you will and in a way I think, because it came out during the – you know with the *** [16:30] Pope Benedict the 16th, I think it bears a bit more of an impression of him. This is my personal opinion here. But in reading it I find I have an impression of *** [16:41] uses him, but it’s a impression of his work and scholarship you know according to the scripture and such, his approach. You have a kind of a feel I think, a different feeling in that sense with the new text.

So, that’s the expanded edition of the New Testament. And that one actually, like I said before has the Latin back in the center of the text. And it’s actually – it’s nicer. Nice book in itself, of course they’re all nice, but it’s very nice in the sense that it’s a bit different. It has bigger book, it has a different off – certain off white color paper. It has red for the subject matter of the different you know as well as some other reds of the numbers of the text. So, you of kind of red coloring within it of basically you know like for instance Jesus’ prayer and Agony in the Garden, like the little subtext there in the scriptures that’s in red. So, it has a little nice feel there too.

They’re all excellent books, they – some people get them all, which is very helpful, because you know if you can forward that. Because basically you’re going to be covering a lot of it, same ground is true, but you’re also going to be covering other ground as well. That is in the new works.

Chris Cash: And of course if you got lost in some of that specifics, you can yes you know its good…

Kevin Lay: All right. It’s a lot to say in one *** [18:10] ‘em all.

Chris Cash: It’s good to hear about some of the differences here. But you know in case you weren’t taking notes, a lot of this information you can find in the descriptions of the Bibles over the Catholic Company and as you page through our Navarre Bible section. We have a whole section as you can imagine just for the many various Navarre Bibles. And it’s actually sorted so that the most popular ones are up at the top, so you know if you’re just looking to pick something out you’re going to – as a starter you’re going to find the most popular items sitting at the top categories.

Kevin Lay: Yes. Yes and definitely you know it’s a little bit maneuvering to figure out, because you know there’s so much in the Navarre, so people do have this question all the time. So, its – but each text is worthwhile. Believe me it’s – the new one has its merit; the old ones have their merits. In fact, when I’m using them I go back and forth between them because I’ll remember oh, there’s something I remember reading in the other one, I’ll go back to that one and I think oh, its if I see in new in the new one’s. So, it’s really a treasure trove of information. And also, I think another point to bring out is the usefulness of it for Lectio Divina, it’s very – you know that’s such an important spiritual way of praying in the Church that Pope Benedict emphasized greatly. And with a new – the recent *senate* [19:36] on the word of God that will be coming out and Pope Benedict will be coming out with documents and hopefully this year. All in the – from that *senate* [19:45] but that *senate* [19:48] definitely picked up his call to and the churches call to Lectio Divina, which is the – you know these spiritual – reading a scripture in a very prayerful way. There is you know – it’s a classic you know fourfold approach you know that they talk about.

Chris Cash: We’ve have a – we have a couple of shows already devoted to Lectio Divina, so rather than going into that now. I’m going to refer all of you listeners back to the previous shows we’ve done on Lectio Divina. You just look back on our archives and find a wealth of material there as well as some other books there; it will be good for that.

Kevin Lay: Oh, great, good. Sure. Well, *** [20:25] just add one little that we’re with tie in particularly with the Navarre is that meditation part I’m going to talk to you at second kind of stage, because you’re reading the commentaries. Of course, you know you want to read the scriptures per se it self and you know not just rely only on the commentary, but the commentary can be helpful in providing information for that mediation part.

Chris Cash: All right and you know on a persona note, I always recommend to people that a good starting place in my mind is to get that compact New Testament. I think if somebody is out there in saying for the – in hearing about Navarre for the first time and saying where should I start? The compact New Testaments are really good place to kind of get your feet wet and see – get a flavor of it and then you can expand from there once you have gotten yourself in tune with that.

Kevin, thank you so much for coming on this show. And I will be looking forward to get my hands on the new version of the Bible.

Kevin Lay: You’re welcome. Very good, enjoy.

Chris Cash: All right, you have a great day, Kevin. God bless.

Kevin Lay: You too. Thank you very much.

———————————

Transcript of Interview with Kevin Lay about The Navarre Bible Commentaries. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Navarre Bible Commentaries at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-catalog/466/Navarre-Bible/

View the Transcript

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Items Discussed in this podcast:

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Be a Man! at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1033415/Be-Man-Becoming-Man-God-Created-You-to-Be/

———————————

Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash, director of E-Commerce from catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Today in the Spotlight, we have Father Larry Richards. We’re going to be talking about his great new book Be a Man! Becoming a Man God Created You to Be. Father Larry, Glad to have you on the show.

Father Larry Richards: Great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Chris Cash: Now, I have seen you speak before; you are always very, very energetic. I hope that some of that’s going to come through on the interview today.

Father Larry Richards: Yes, let’s hope.

Chris Cash: Absolutely. And you know now, what led you to want to write this book in particular? I believe this is your first book, isn’t it?

Father Larry Richards: My first book, absolutely. And I’ve done a lot with men throughout the years, when it comes men’s conferences and then I taught all boys for eight years at a Catholic High School. And so, I just see like the people are – like there is a hunger there for what it is to be a true man. And there is nothing really, you know society tries to teach us what is to be men, and they do a really bad job from with it you know. If you see the culture and different things, they make this macho image of a man, and so that what being the man God created us to be. So, someone asked me to write a book a couple of years ago, three or four years ago. Now and I said that’d be the greatest thing and I jumped on it immediately and I says but we’d have to call what I want to call it. And they say well what that be and I say that would be call Be a Man. And they say a woman was a woman and she says Father, why would you want to call that? And I said because the last word King David said to his son Solomon before he died. He says I’m about to go to way of all flesh; take courage and be a man. And I just have always – that’s always run inside me like yes, that’s what we’re called to be, we’re called to be men. I’m not called to be feminine; I’m not called to be a woman. I’m called to be a man, that’s what God created me to be, so. I say okay, lets write about it and we did.

Chris Cash: So, what do you see as the big challenge to men in trying to be a man that God has called them to be?

Father Larry Richards: I think the first challenge it has to be to be the spiritual leader. You know again, think all the way back to Genesis, you saw God created the male and female. So, he created this different. And our role is to be the protector. And if you go back to Genesis, the fall, you know scripture scholars tell us that Eve was not alone during the fall. Adam was right with her, but he kept his mouth shut. He did not protect her, he did not speak up and he asked to sit there and that’s then the problem. Again, if I’m doing a men’s conference, I usually say – I’ll say gentlemen. Would you sit there and if someone is going to break in your house tonight and they were going to kill your wife and kids, would you do everything in your power, including die to save your wife and kid? And the answer I get yes, father. And I go well, that all the flesh and the devil has break in into your family everyday and going after your wife and kid, because your spiritual wimp, you’re leaving them unprotected and you’re not being who you called to be. And so, you got to sit there and become this man and sit there, who sit and says you got to go through me before you get to my wife and kids. And most men are not living that type of reality and so they got to be challenged this way, you got to do.

Chris Cash: So, how are you approaching this in trying to help men to recognize this challenge and approach it in a way that they can be empowered to go for the living?

Father Larry Richards: Well, again in the book the way we – you know I have 10 chapters in a book and each chapter anyway I have people to read it in the order which reads, it begins with like you’re going to die. You know like *** [03:50] we tend to – you are going to die and some of – one guy said the other day, Father I almost didn’t have my *** [03:55] when I start reading the book. You are going to die, oh, what do I just start the book. But I want people to put the eternal perspective into their life that this world is very flagellant. We move it through it very fast. And so, we got to sit there and think what do we want people to say about us if they were dead, what do our families will say about us, our wife to say about us, our kids to say about us, what do we want God to say about us. And then, we got to get into and so like and there is 30 things you must do in this book. So, each chapter ends with three task you must do and then there is three questions. But the task are very basic things. Like one of the first one is, you guys sit there and write down what you want people to say about you, what God you want to say about you when you die. And then, start making these your goals and then start living today to get there huh. And then at the end there is the 30 things, little check marks that its for me if I’m going to read a book, I want something to change. I’m not going to waste my time reading anything if I’m just going to get into thought on it.

So, here after reading the book, there is 30 things in your life that you should change to become more of the man that God created you to be. So, it’s very practical. And so, and then, the things you have to be a man who knows you know, years ago the protestant that guy John Eldredge wrote a beautiful book called the Wild AT Heart for men. And it’s a great book. You know and he talks about how men are, they are different to women. And we have a wild heart, but one of the things it deals with is it all men have a father issue. You know we always have a father wound inside of us. And okay, that’s nice, but the reality, the second chapter is coming to know that you are God’s beloved son. And Christ you know, Christ is the Alpha, Omega of all men, so as the Alpha, Omega of all men, we look at his life to see what it is for me to be a man. And so, Jesus ministry began when he was baptized and the sky opened up and said you are my beloved son whom – with whom I am well pleased. And that has to happen to each individual man, if they come to know that they are God’s beloved son. And their strength isn’t from how big they are, how many muscles they have, how many – how good they are in football, basketball or wrestling. Their strength comes from the knowledge of who they are before the father. And that comes to the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And so, my example, my hero of today man would be John Paul II. You know who in our life time changed the world more than John Paul II. And the way he did that was you know when he was a little boy, his father gave him a prayer of the Holy Spirit and he said to his Father and he says pray this prayer every day. And John Paul everyday of his life prayed that daily prayer of the Holy Spirit. And so a man who fully prays and surrenders himself to God’s spirit is one who starts living Gods will and can change the world. So, but if anyone tells if there is one thing Father what’s the guy got to do? He got to become a man of prayer. Period comma and of all paragraphs.

And again I do a men’s conference, I do confessions, like I have these questions. So come in and I’ll say do you pray everyday and but I get more than anything else from men is oh, I try and I go, what you try? Are you kidding me? You try to eat everyday. No, father, what’s more important, praying or eating? Praying. You know so its time to stop making excuses for why we don’t pray and start becoming men who really pray everyday.

Chris Cash: You know Father maybe you should come up with a prayer stake that would get…

Father Larry Richards: Exactly.

Chris Cash: Men onboard with that.

Father Larry Richards: Exactly, whatever it works Pagans.

Chris Cash: Now, why is that you used the word Pagans so often in your talks?

Father Larry Richards: Well, because I just think most of us – a Pagan is one who does things their way and so the God’s way. My theme song, I say the theme song everyone has held; I liked it in my way. And so, we like to live even Christianity our own way whether we are conservative or liberal or whatever. I come to – I – you know so I’m a Pagan in lots of way. There is still many things in me that I want to do in my way, so I’m my own God of my own life and so they’re doing in God’s way. So, that’s always so when someone does that – does something when you are doing your way, yes, you’re a Pagan. Oh, thank you Father for the affirmation. The truth hurts I know.

Chris Cash: All right, well, now how should a man deal with you know say they come to your conference, they read your book, they go home and they say I’m going to be a man that God has created me to be. And they go in and they talk to their wife and suddenly they get the feminist push back?

Father Larry Richards: Well, again, I think that the problem is it’s like this – I think the problem with the church has been is the whole feminist movement. It went too far. I think the movement had to happen, but then it went to the opposite extreme. Like all the women who were ultra feminist who sat there and wanted us to – you know all the things they complained about men. You know they’re aggressive, they’re pushy, they have to have their own way, they became. And they you know pushed back and so, and they went to the opposite direction. Like I always sit they are – like I do about 25 weddings a year and no matter when, when I’m doing a wedding, it’s always the same. And its amazing people have asked me to marry them, but there is the – you know the *** [08:51] sitting there and you know they are all cute and la la in love. And I always start with the girl and I say sweetheart, you read the Bible everyday don’t you? And I always get oh, yes, Father. And I said, “You lie to a priest, you go to hell.” Oh, no, Father. Then I say, “Well, if you ever read the book of Ephesians, you know when it says why be submissive to your husband. No, father. I said do you think that’s what it means that you are supposed to be submissive to your husband? And I always get, no father. And then, I jump up and I go yes, that’s what it means for the rest of your life. Every morning when you wakeup you got to say how can I serve my husband, how can I put his needs in front of mine. What you can tell is he is ready to kill me and all the women in the audience are thinking, another reason I hate the Catholic Church die father, die you know. And it’s getting this thing and I looked to the guy once and I said, son it’ll cost you another 50 bucks. And he says best 50 bucks I will spend for that you know. And so, this comes on and anyone who knows me knows when I’m equal opportunity offender. So, the other issues that I’m ready to fall, so the older guys who are like yes, that’s right. You tell and they are supposed to be submissive. Then I’ll say son, you read the Bible…

Chris Cash: They don’t know the next line.

Father Larry Richards: Exactly. They’ll son, excuse me, you read the Bible everyday, don’t you? And they go, oh, no father. And I said, well, you know what it says after to yours wives, be submissive to your husbands? No, father it says husbands love your wife huh, as Christ love the church and gave his life for her. You know what that means son? Your life is over. Ah, everyday for the rest of your life, you called to die for your wife. And when you die for her and if she is dying for you, that’s what you are both called to be as Christian. People who give their lives away. So, what happens when a guy goes at home with his wife and says you know you are supposed to be submissive, that’s the wrong way to deal with it, because now it becomes a issue of power. And that’s not what it’s about. Power in the Christianity is service and giving your life for others. So, the main job is the leader of the household means, you’re the servant of the household and you give up your life for your wife and kids and they’ll gladly surrender to that. It’s when a guy looks at them and says that was the power so you obey me. Oh, shut up you pig. You’re called to be the servant of the family, that’s what you’re called to be.

Chris Cash: All right, we’re going to take a short break here to hear from our sponsor. In just a moment, we’ll be back with Father Larry Richards to talk a little more. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

[BREAK]

Chris Cash: And we’re back on the Spotlight with Father Larry Richards, talking about Be a Man! Becoming the Man God Created You to Be. So, Father Larry, what did you find to be the most difficult part of writing this book?

Father Larry Richards: It is not much. I mean, I really – I did it when I – when I found the Blessed Sacrament when I was and suddenly praying. And I just think that it was just sometimes the challenge is out there. I think that you know, I always come of as someone like to challenge people, but sometimes something you know lets – I don’t want to beat people up though either, you know so it’s the – that’s why…

Chris Cash: If you beat ‘em too much they won’t come back.

Father Larry Richards: Exactly. So, but it’s – you know I always consider myself like a spiritual coach, like if you’re going to be – if you want to be a good football player, basketball. And you get a coach and your coach looks at you and says you know you’re doing good, just like you’re. Just come – show up once a week or so and have good thoughts about the game. You’d say get the heck out of my face. And so, but then the spiritual life, we’ve been told for years you know God loves you just the way you are. God is a big Barney in the sky. I love you, you love me and there’s no challenge. That’s why guys don’t like to go to church, because they’re sitting there and its *** [12:42] toast half the time. But men respond to, when you challenge them to be the best they can be. And often you know there are people say, well know Father; I just think women are more spiritual than men naturally. That’s garbage. You know look at the Muslims faith. These men are willing to kill for their faith, die for their faith. Pray in their synagogue and their synagogue, again their mass everyday or in public and they’re willing to do that. And there’s many, many millions of men that are willing to do that in the Muslim faith. How much more in a Catholic faith? And I think that the problem has been that men haven’t wanted to do it, because we haven’t challenged them to do it. You know we just sit there and say okay, just try to show up on Sunday. We give – we ask for the very minimum instead of the most and calling them to be saints, the way Gods calling us all to be saints.

Chris Cash: So, what was your favorite part about putting this book together? Any favorite chapter?

Father Larry Richards: My favorite chapter I think is the second chapter where we’re dealing with the reality that you are God’s beloved son. Because I think that most men never come to that realization that they’re beloved in the Father eyes. That even though we mess up in different things, then when God looks at us like last Sunday, Gaudete is Sunday. I love the first reading, from Zephaniah. And it says, “God rejoices over us.” He rejoices, he sings because of us. And sometimes we have this image of God that God is just out to get us, he’s never happy with us and he’s – you know we’re just these miserable people. And that’s why I like these David as the – one of the examples I use again and again in the book. Here David was who is a murderer, a rapist and a adulterer and yet, not only in the Old Testament, but again through Paul in the New Testament God says of David, “Look at David. He is a man after mine own the heart who will do my will.” And this is a man who is a terrible, terrible person in lots of way, but what we call him today. We call him Saint David, because he knew he was beloved to the Father. And what has to happen for all of us we’re really going to be transformed and not just go you know like again I tell her, if I’m going talk on confession. I say the only reason you don’t sin is, ‘cause you’re afraid to go to hell, you don’t want to go to hell. But then who you are ultimately loving, you are loving yourself. You know I don’t want to go to hell, so I’ll do what God wants me to do. What’s ultimately a selfish act? That somewhere things got to be transformed. That everything we do, we do because we love the father. And why do we love the father? Because we love the soul. And we come to know how much we’re loved by the Father, then we want to be people that want to do his will. So, that’s what I love to focus on and this is what you need to come to first and then everything else will fall into place.

Chris Cash: You know it’s interesting, you mentioned Gaudete is Sunday, because my priest this past week spent about five minutes trying to explain that he wasn’t wearing pink.

Father Larry Richards: Yes so…

Chris Cash: Just so that we would know that he was man.

Father Larry Richards: Yes, real man don’t wear pink you know.

Chris Cash: It is rose color dressing…

Father Larry Richards: Its rose. We don’t even have it here at my place, ‘cause for once year you can’t get it you know. No, pink in this church, anyway go ahead.

Chris Cash: All right, now, I know you are probably getting the argument from some people you know well, Father Larry you make a great case when you are up speaking, but you are not married, you are just a priest. You don’t have to live this stuff. How do you respond to that?

Father Larry Richards: I always say I have more relationships than most people for goodness sakes. I don’t have to please one women, I have to please like 300 or 400 women in my parish. I work with all women here I the place, trust me on this. But the reality is I always say relationship is relationship. And to be a good husband, wife, father as me as a spiritual Father, you’re a man in relationship. And why that’s again, I have lot of people coming me for marriage counseling and you’re thinking we’re *** [16:41] well, how can a priest do marriage counseling? Because what it is, is relationship counseling. And that’s the same thing when it comes to our God. It isn’t just going to the emotions, its being in relationship with God. That’s why throughout the book I use many of my own examples, my own story for my own life. Paul did the same thing when he wrote his letter. They talked about the struggles and different things, so that men can do this, because though not all men of course are married. And so, it’s for people that aren’t married too. And lot of men are celebets like myself by God’s grace, and so, it’s a book written for all men. And when I sat there and the way I wrote the book is I wrote it when I was on a retreat, then I came back to the parish and then I preached it for 10 weeks. And so, each week I preached the chapter to about 200 men, and then I asked them who are married and young and old and different things to give me things that I will submit that I was missing or give me insight. They’re the ones that came up with the questions at the end of each chapter. So it all came from them and if I was missing something, they would sit there and say Father could you talk about this or something. So, it’s really a book that not only I wrote, but 200 men wrote with me.

Chris Cash: And what kind of response are you getting from the people who are reading the book now?

Father Larry Richards: Well, by God’s grace, we sold over 10,000 books last month. And so, the – and people are – really there is really lot of life changing things that are happening there and that’s what’s been – I’ve been unbelievably blessed. Because the guy will sit there and say Father I wasn’t given right, you know my wife got me this book and I didn’t want to read it. And so, I read it and wow it’s been unbelievable. I – and it gives away – thus gives you a new perspective on life. We can see things from God’s perspective instead of just your perspective and that can be life changing.

Chris Cash: Now, is this a book that women would get a lot out of reading as well?

Father Larry Richards: Well, yes, the first woman on Amazon.com, you know you can go to Amazon and have the – you know reviews of the book and like half the reviews are by women such and says, I love this book. You know you can just sit there when I say gentlemen and there you can replace it with your name. And so, ‘cause there is a challenge there and that makes them more feminine you know and what they’re called to be as women by God. Like I – someone says once you write a book called Be a Woman Father, and I says ‘cause I have no experience of that so I can’t do it. But it’s also a book that a – women could buy like for their husbands and for their sons and for their brothers. Especially, for Christmas, you go and say hey listen would you read this book for me? I got it for you. I love you please read this book because you love me. And once you decide – no matter how you do it. Give in someone’s hands, so that they can be transformed.

Chris Cash: And if you’re listening to this show after Christmas, then keep in mind it could also be a really great Ash Wednesday present.

Father Larry Richards: There you go, it’ll be a great way to start that exactly you know. Here you want a penance, read this book.

Chris Cash: That’s right, if you make it through you, you will be changed.

Father Larry Richards: That’s exactly. You will be changed; you will be a truly transforming then.

Chris Cash: Well, I know you’ve got to go in here very shortly. Was there anything else do you wanted to share with our listeners before you had to go?

Father Larry Richards: I just think that in this year priest, you know I deal a lot with John *** [19:51] in the book and he says, “This is the glorious duty of man that you pray and that you love.” And I think ultimately that’s where we’re all called whether a man, whether a women. That the core of life is we become men and women of great prayer and men and women of great love. If you and I do that, then we become great saints, and in the end that’s only going to be the only thing that matters.

Chris Cash: Amen, to that. Well, Father Larry, I really, really appreciate you coming on this show and taking time out of your busy schedule. What – you said this was number 18 interview this week, right?

Father Larry Richards: Yes, this week and so far. The last one for this week, more next week. So, it’s been a whole months of interviews and that’s okay.

Chris Cash: That’s right, but this will be one of the few that will actually stick around once the radio show is over. So…

Father Larry Richards: God willing.

Chris Cash: Thank you so much for taking the time out of schedule to talk with us. Have a great day and God bless so.

Father Larry Richards: Thank you. Thank you, you too.

———————————

Transcript of Interview with Fr. Larry Richards about Be a Man! This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Be a Man! at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1033415/Be-Man-Becoming-Man-God-Created-You-to-Be/

View the Transcript

Vote for us at Podcast Alley – Please vote for us every month to help us get our show in front of more people

Help promote Catholic Podcasts.

Items Discussed in this podcast:

Be a Man!

Follow us on Twitter @CatholicSplight

You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-426-1207. Be sure to join our Catholic Spotlight Facebook Group where we send out announcements about upcoming interviews. You will be able to call in your questions for our future guests. You might just be on our next show.

Subscribe to our feed | Subscribe with iTunes

Subscribing to our feed lets you know when new shows are available

so you will never miss any of our exciting guests.

A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

The Rite at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1003070/Rite-Making-Modern-Exorcist/

———————————

Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash, director of eCommerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs. Today, in the spotlight, we have Matt Baglio. He is a journalist and an author of a great new book, The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. This is available currently in hardcover as well as in audio book with Matt as the voice in the audio book and this is a completely true story from beginning to end so that’s what makes this such a fascinating subject, I believe. So Matt, glad to have you on the show!

Matt Baglio: It’s a pleasure to be here, Chris. Thank you for having me.

Chris: So can you tell me a little about just what your background was going into this and why you got involved in trying to journal this journey through exorcism training, right?

Matt Baglio: Right, I mean the book is essentially the story of Father Gary Thomas. He’s an American Catholic priest from California who came here to Rome. I live in Rome. He came here to Rome in 2005 to study to become an exorcist and I met him at a course being taught at the Regina Apostolorum here which is a Vatican-affiliated university. At the time, I was raised Catholic but wasn’t really a practicing Catholic and as a journalist, I was just very curious about the course, the idea that a university level course could be taught to priests and nuns about exorcism and did the tricks to believe in that. I didn’t know anything about exorcism and so I was very curious and I think I really came at this originally thinking this could possibly be an article. I didn’t know Father Gary, I didn’t know that he was at the course and once I had met him and asked him about his journey and his life that I began to see this as an idea for possibly becoming something bigger than an article.

Chris: Now when you started this, did you expect to see a very sensationalistic kind of course or what were your expectations going in?

Matt Baglio: You know, it’s funny but the course is pretty much everything I didn’t expect to see. You know, when you think of exorcism, you think of these Gothic towers or these monasteries, some very shadowy location and instead this was a very modern university and I think I had a lot of my misconceptions reversed on the first day. Most people associate Hollywood films and what they see in Hollywood films with exorcism and I wasn’t any different. I wasn’t discounting because I really wanted to have an objective mind when I went into this so I didn’t have a preconceived bias either way and I was really surprised by what I saw at the course. It was a very modern course, a very modern classroom and they video conferencing and the exorcists themselves who came in to speak, they weren’t anything close to this puritanical or bumbling sort of people that popular culture associates with exorcism. Some of these priests were very, very educated. They had doctorates in canon law, spoke many languages, very well spoken and so I was just very surprised by that and then of course, the teachings of the course themselves and the lectures were spaced out over a four-month period and the topics discussed were very interesting. There was the history, not just the history of the rite of exorcism and why the Church says the prayers of efficacy and bible verses, et cetera going into how Jesus used exorcism but also courses taught by psychologists and psychiatrists and criminologists and anthropologists, people who you wouldn’t normally associate with a Vatican-sponsored course on exorcism and their job was really to come in and help educate these exorcists in training about the differences as they saw them between a mental illness and what the Church says is demonic possession. So these were psychiatrists who themselves believed in the possibility of possession and I was able to talk to them and that was something that I found to be very fascinating, that scientists or psychologists, psychiatrists would believe in the spiritual world.

Chris: And I think it’s important to point out that the big reason that an exorcist would need this background is because the Church does not want to just walk in and exorcise anybody who comes up and says, “I feel like I’m possessed.” They want to point them in the proper direction of “You know what? Go talk to this counselor first and see if you can work through your problems before they necessarily jump to a judgment that this is caused by a demonic possession or maybe not just a possession but also different levels of influence.”

Matt Baglio: That’s right. The Church is very specific about when an exorcist is allowed to pray the ritual and I think one of the first things that Father Gary Thomas learned when he was at the course and certainly one of the courses that I attended, one of the things that was stressed was the idea that the exorcist should be the ultimate skeptic and the reason is because once the priests begins praying the ritual, because it’s sacramental, the ritual of exorcism is sacramental, what it means he’s really praying with the whole weight of the Church behind him and he’s standing in as an official representative of the Church and of course, of the bishop. So in order to get to that level, there needs to be a lot of caution and now that’s just on the side of the Church but also looking at the health of the individual, the ritual itself is very specific and in cautioning the priest that he is not to begin it before he exhausts all the other methods to understand what the cause of the condition is. So it isn’t, I think, what many people would think about exorcism, they think about how the Church, it isn’t that its priests are sitting there, they’re just waiting for people to knock on the door so that they can convince them that they’re being attacked by an evil spirit. It’s quite the opposite actually.

Usually what happens is a person will go to see many doctors. They will spend years trying to receive treatment for these problems that they don’t know where they came from, they don’t know how they got them, how they can get rid of them. No medicine is helping and they’re really feeling desperate and eventually, they go to see a priest and it’s then the priest begins the process of discernment which is how they uncover the presence of an evil spirit and we can go into that later. And it’s through this process then that the person will begin to be prayed over but of course, the priest himself requires further treatment in the sense that they need to rule out any psychiatrist illnesses or any other causes that an overactive imagination, what have you, that the person may be suffering from. In fact, I have one exorcist tell me, they can almost rule out all the cases where the person comes to them and says right off the bat, “I need you to pray over me. I’m possessed by a demon.” Usually, I had an Italian exorcist tell me that he usually knows right away that that’s not case.

Chris: Yeah, I have in the past known someone who had obsessive-compulsive disorder but for many years, they had thought that they were under a spiritual oppression because the spiritual nature of their personal compulsions. So it’s very easy to think that you are being oppressed for many different ailments.

Matt Baglio: Sure, that’s right and there’s other illnesses, schizophrenia and these kinds of things that could have a person hearing voices and as you mentioned so astutely, if they’re a very religious individual then they may characterize these voices as being demonic in nature. So I think that’s where the exorcist has to, among the other questions he asks the individual, he has to understand what’s their background? Are they very religious? Are they coming at this only looking at it through those terms? Another interesting aspect is this notion, sort of cultures of demonic possession as being a form of empowerment for women and many of the exorcists I talked to said that more women and men are coming to see them and there’s various reasons for why that may be but certainly if you look at anthropology, there’s no denying the fact that in certain cultures where women are oppressed and in some respects socially, they use spirit possession as a way of empowering them. And that all plays into the discernments. It’s not easy and that’s why the Catholic Church is careful about when it gives permission for a priest to perform the ritual and why the process of discernment takes time. It isn’t a snap of the fingers. It isn’t some sort of hidden light bulb that goes off of the priest who says, “I feel something and we’re going to go forward with it.” I think, to some extent, that goes on and that does happen but that’s certainly not the official approach that the Church would like to see.

Chris: Now, does an exorcist have to consult with a superior before beginning each individual exorcism?

Matt Baglio: I think according to canon law, they should. According to the Catholic Church, the official exorcist in every diocese is actually the bishop. So many bishops don’t perform exorcism so they relegate that authority to somebody else and that’s usually an exorcist. And the reason this is, is because again, the exorcism is a sacramental and so…but it’s also a part of accountability. You know when you’re going to a Catholic priest and you’re seeking help in this respect that the bishop is the person who’s going to be able to say yes or no. And this sort of goes all the way back to the 4th century when in early Christianity, anybody could perform an exorcism. This was said to be a power that Jesus gave to anybody who believed in him as a savior and what sort of happened with exorcism in the history of exorcism is in the 4th century, the Church started to set canons and really organize itself with a hierarchy that exorcism was really kind of brought under the control of the bishops because at the time, there were lots of people who were abusing exorcism. There were people who were mixing in their own different incantations and what not that the Church didn’t want to see happening and at the same time, if you look at the history of baptism, baptism is a form of exorcism. It still is today. It’s a minor exorcism but back in the history of the Church, it was much more important and candidates for baptism usually went through a series of exorcisms and because of this official exorcisms and official baptism, there were exorcists appointed. The Church wanted to maintain this sort of a law of standards, if you will. So really, it stands that way today. The priest needs to ask for permission from their bishop before they can proceed but that doesn’t always happen and certainly in the past, I think if you look at in the 1980s and early ‘90s when there weren’t that many exorcists out there, official exorcists, and people were seeking help, there’s been instances I’ve read about where other exorcists have gone forward without the permission because they’ve claimed that their bishop didn’t give them support in this way or they weren’t appointed or something like that. But typically, they need to be appointed officially by the bishop and they ask the bishop’s permission to proceed.

Chris: Now you mentioned there that in the ‘80s and ‘90s there weren’t a lot of exorcists out there. Now John Paul II and I can’t remember the exact timeframe but he made a call for new exorcists to be appointed in places where there weren’t exorcists. Do you what was the impetus of that call and of course, what was the result afterwards?

Matt Baglio: Well, I know that the whole idea, even the whole story of the book, Father Gary Thomas coming to Rome to study to become an exorcist really started because of Pope John Paul II was sending a letter out to all the dioceses in America asking that the bishops appoint an exorcist and that really got things started. He was and his priests’ support group, he didn’t really know anything about exorcism and the bishop was asking another priest in the diocese if he would be interested in being an exorcist but this other priest couldn’t do it and so Father Gary heard about this and said, “You know, I’d be interested in perhaps seeing what that’s all about.” And that came about because of this letter from Pope John Paul II and of course, that’s something that the current Pope Ratzinger is also interested in pursuing. I can’t speak necessarily to their motives but I think it’s just going back a little bit to the traditions of the Church and reminding people that these are beliefs that aren’t something that you can just throw by the wayside. It’s a part of the faith. Certainly, exorcists themselves, the ones that I’ve talked to here in Rome are very adamant about the fact that if you look at what’s going on in pop culture today, they see a shift towards a fascination with the occult and these kinds of things which they say are opening people up to the demonic and they would like to see more exorcists appointed and that’s been something that they’ve been saying for quite some time. So perhaps it’s the fact that they were finally able to get their message heard but either way, it’s definitely something that the hierarchy of the Church would like to see happen, more exorcists appointed.

Chris: All right, well we’re going to take a short break here to hear from our sponsor but we’ll be back in just a minute to hear more from Matt Baglio about The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

Chris: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight. We’re talking today with Matt Baglio, author of The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist as well as the voice behind the audio book on The Rite and so Matt, can you talk to us a little about the reality that you saw, demonic possession and oppression out there in the field as you were working with these exorcists.

Matt Baglio: Sure, again, when I first started this book, I didn’t know anything about exorcism and whether exorcists were still performing the ritual and how that would go and so I think being a very curious person by nature, one of the things that I really wanted to do was to find out the reality. What is it and how does that fit into our modern society, this idea of spirits and prayer and the power of prayer and these kinds of things? You know, it all started really with Father Gary and asking his impressions. In the beginning, he hadn’t seen any exorcisms but of course, he was looking for an exorcist to follow. Meanwhile, I was able to track down as many exorcists I could and just ask their impressions and get their stories and they had of course, amazing things to say about some of the things that they had seen, stories that perhaps some of your listeners may associate with the film The Exorcist. One exorcist told me of a person’s jaw dropping down and shifting over to their ear which made their mouth something like nine inches wide. But for the most part, it’s a very mundane experience and this is certainly what happened when Father Gary began apprenticing to a senior exorcist here which is documented in the book and he was able to participate in about 80 exorcisms here in Rome. The majority of them were quite mild. In some cases, the person didn’t even move. I mean just sat completely still in a chair. Other instances, they got violent. The person was speaking in a gruff guttural voice that didn’t sound human and of course, cursing the exorcist. There were other instances where the person was flopping around on the floor, just odd things happening, speaking in different languages, all these kinds of things. So those were from his recollections and then I was able to myself see about 20 exorcisms and confirm those kinds of experiences as well. I mean I was able to see a woman who, her voice changed and she became a completely different personality and it was a very gruff and guttural voice and it just didn’t sound to me like something that a person would be able to mimic. On top of all of this, you just have this profound sense of suffering. Of course, many people would think, “Gosh, I wouldn’t want to go near that or I wouldn’t want to even hear a person screaming because it creeps me out.” But you really lose that fear pretty quickly when you see that there are people here that are really suffering and the priests are very much just trying to help these people. They usually come in to see the exorcist. They have a story to tell. Their week has been terrible. They’ve got problems going on in their life. They often come to tears. The exorcist is almost in a pastoral way, they’re asking about their weekly prayer life, how their children are doing in school and then they begin the ritual and that’s when things start to happen. I think many people assume that the idea of a person being possessed means that there is this evil spirit living inside the person and that’s not really how it works according to the exorcists I talked to.

And of course, if you look at the theology of the Church, a demon is an incorporeal spirit. It’s a fallen angel so they don’t have physical bodies. That means they don’t exist in a physical sense like we do. So it isn’t that there are these ghostly forms inside a room, they’re really not physically in any place but they’re sort of spiritually everywhere. So when they are possessing somebody, one exorcist described it, they’re connected like a pipe and they sort of send these inputs into these people in these subtle attacks, if you will. They can be voices or thoughts or these kinds of things. But once the ritual begins, that changes and the demon is sort of pulled through the pipe and into the person and that’s where you get these violent reactions where the person’s eyes will roll up or down inside their head and their voice will change and these kinds of things but that doesn’t happen all the time and it doesn’t happen in the beginning. So the person will be sitting in the waiting room, where it’ll be outside and you can have a conversation with them and it happened to me on several occasions. I was out waiting for the exorcism to begin. I was having a conversation with the person; we went inside the room and five minutes later, they were screaming and howling and rolling around on the floor. So I think that’s one of the real misconceptions that I had and the same with Father Gary. Why are these people not manifesting signs that are more obvious on the exterior? Of course on the interior, they’re dealing with these issues but on the exterior, they look fine and then once the ritual begins, they have this transformation that comes over them and then what happens is the demon becomes exhausted by the prayers which are said to be very…to hurt the demon and the demon suffers. The demon becomes exhausted and then he detaches and goes back to the pipe and so he leaves the person and then the person will come back, look around, sort of you know…in some cases, they’ll know what has happened. In other cases, they will have complete amnesia.

Chris: Now one thing that I have heard talking to other exorcists myself is that often the devil or the demon will try to attack the exorcist in a very personal way, not necessarily through violence but by bringing up old sins or unforgiven, unconfessed sins or things like that no one would else would know but they are trying to distract the exorcist with their own impurity and that’s one of the reasons why an exorcist has to maintain a very high level of purity, receiving confession and so forth right before an exorcism. Did you have any experience with that in particular?

Matt Baglio: Sure. I mean as myself being personally attacked, I would say no but I think the idea that an exorcist needs to be specifically qualified, a priest who is going to perform an exorcism needs to be specifically qualified is definitely something’s that set down in the ritual and the guidelines of the ritual. And it’s true, they should be very spiritually…they should be a wholesome, very moral and spiritually strong priest. Usually of a mature age and somebody with experience, life experience that would allow them to stand up to these kinds of things and if you’re going to think about a demon as being…as an incorporeal spiritual being that is vastly superior to us in many ways, just as angels are, then you would have to think that okay, well if something like that was going to attack me, how was it going to do it? Was it going to do it in a silly way or is it going to do it in a much more personal way and I think there’s something very interesting in that respect about exorcism because it is very personal.

No exorcism is the same and even if an individual is being prayed over, let’s say by two different exorcists, each exorcist will experience something different and it’s true that an exorcist will be attacked. Father Gary in the book mentions this on several occasions, being himself attacked and there’s various ways that I go in the book that exorcists are attacked. I think the physical ways perhaps overhyped in the media, you know, people being picked up and thrown across a room by some sort of unseen force and this kind of thing. I think it has happened but only once perhaps that I have…all the exorcists I’ve talked to. Usually, they will be more subtle and cunning in the way that they attack people and basically, it’s the demon trying to get the exorcist to stop praying the ritual. I mean, the prayers are hurting the demon. They’re bringing it out into the open. Really what’s going on is that the prayers are weakening the influence that the demon has over the person. So the demon wants to stop that and he does it first by attacking the individual, by trying to get them to stop going to see the exorcist. Usually, that’s done through simple way by convincing the person that their problems are a mental illness or that they’re making up everything just to get attention. Many of the people I talked to who were victims, I was able to interview about seven of them…some of them were still according to the exorcist possessed. They were able to tell that they had often had these doubts during the exorcism, because it’s a process, of going to see the exorcist, of having doubts about the fact that I’m not possessed, I’m making this up, my problems are natural, I’m just trying to get attention. That’s usually the first way, and other ways that the person’s really suffering from mental illness. Another way then could be that the demon will try to stop the person directly and people always have these strange stories, their car mysteriously brand-new car mysteriously breaking down on the day that they have to go to see the exorcist.

I had another woman tell me that she received a mysterious phone call and a voice on the other end of the phone said that the priest that she was going to see is out of town, we’re going to reschedule the exorcism, you don’t need to come in, and she didn’t recognize this voice. She didn’t know who it was and she sort of was suspicious. She ended up calling the priest and he said, “No, I haven’t gone anywhere. I’m still here and I don’t know who that was that would have called you.” So these kind of things happen and of course, once the ritual begins, then the demon will try to do everything it can to throw the exorcist off his game so it will cause threats at the exorcist and if you think about this being as being an incorporeal spirit then it should know things about us that a normal person wouldn’t and that sometimes happens. The individual would be able to say things about the exorcist, about his life, about things that nobody would know because it’s giving you details about like you say, past transgressions or events that have happened even the night before in their house. I mean things that are very hard to explain. In fact, I had one psychiatrist that I had talked to from New York tell me that he had seen a woman who she knew what was going on in his house the night before, like and she was able to describe everything he was doing as she had been watching him through the window. And so these things are all those to sort of scare the exorcist and try to get him to stop praying which is the real goal of the demon. It isn’t just sort of to show how they have some sort of superior power or something like that which they don’t. It’s just to sort of throw the exorcist off his game.

Chris: Now what is it that people do to become possessed? Is that something that was covered in this?

Matt Baglio: Sure, I mean one of the ways of course a person probably the question that everybody has is “Okay, well how can I become possessed and what can I do to protect myself?”

Chris: Because you know, I want to allay people’s fears out there that if somebody’s like oh wait, maybe I’m possessed. What are the conditions under which demon possessions occur usually?

Matt Baglio: Well, I think the best way to say is that there’s nothing really usual about it and that’s really where the experience comes into it and the amount that the exorcist needs to have and the training. Every exorcism is different and of course, if we are as humans are trying to speak about things that are above us, angels and the will of God and these kinds of things, it’s very hard to get concrete answers. The best way to look at this whole subject is that nothing happens, no matter what it is unless God allows it to happen. That’s what the Church teaches. That’s what the exorcists say. So really, this all is up to the will of God. God allows this to happen and that there’s a big mystery. Why would God allow something like this to happen and there’s, if you go through the history of the Church, there’s all sorts of great minds, much better than me of course who try to explain this. If you look at St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, most of it comes down to this idea that we have free will, that the decision is ours and God leaves it up to us to make that choice. This is probably a subject that many of the listeners are very familiar with but for those that aren’t, essentially you have to open the doorway up to these individuals, evil spirits. It isn’t that you’re just going to be walking down the street and something’s going to jump inside you and attack you. So you have to open a doorway up and there are various ways that the Church you can do this. One is through the occult, practicing or using an Ouija board or magic or any of these kinds of things. Another one is through a life of hardened sin.

Another one is dedication is to a demon. These are like satanic rituals or those kinds of things and another one is through a curse. Now, really though, even though it gives these guidelines and I go into what each of those are in the book, it’s really about going back to the earlier idea of an individual choice and the idea that we are responsible for our decisions. So it isn’t that you’re going to play with an Ouija board and become instantly possessed. It’s much more of a process of you through your actions in life turning away from God. That’s really what it’s all about, being close to God and through practicing the sacraments, going to Mass, especially the sacrament of reconciliation which exorcists tell me is stronger than any exorcism, you’re going to have a strong relation with God. You’re going to close with God and so you’re going to have that strong bond. It’s those people who start to stray away from God and they lose that connection, that’s when they begin to open themselves up. So it could be…they begin by playing with the Ouija board once and then slowly over time they become playing with it more and more, they become addicted to it which opens themselves up to other sins which moves them further away from God which could then allow them to do something that opens up the doorway. So those are…it’s something that needs to kept in mind within the context of what the Church teaches, the will of God and free will.

Chris: And early on in the conversation, you mentioned something about when you started this process, you were nominally Catholic but not really practicing. Has this experience changed the status of your faith?

Matt Baglio: Very much so. I think it really helped me to reconnect with the Catholic Church in a lot of ways. I mean, I don’t think it was because all of a sudden I had this in mind, okay there’s demons watching us and angels and all these kinds of things. I think it was just more through the reading and studying I had to do. I mean, I really immersed myself in the subject. I wanted to really come at this with an open mind and for that reason, follow the research wherever it lead me and being very curious, I just kept digging and digging and digging and trying to read as much as I can and somebody…I was reading books about…written by St. Augustine and Sir Thomas Aquinas, all these great minds in the Church and then of course, you’re talking to some amazing priests that I met and individuals who are suffering and looking for help and it was just a very spiritual process and in a lot of ways, it helped me reconnect to the Church and understand the value of faith. This isn’t something that is silly and prayer, it’s very important.

Chris: And one final thing, I see here in the notes that New Line Cinema has acquired the film rights to your book. Do you think that they’re actually going to turn this into some kind of a movie and if so, do you think that they’ll be faithful to it?

Matt Baglio: I hope that they will be faithful to it. I can’t say whether or not there is actually going to be a movie that’s going to come out. I mean, they’re interested in making one, whether or not that happens, remains to be seen. But I think the individuals that they’ve put in charge of making the movie are very competent. I’ve got a lot of faith in them, they’re all very professional and I’m hoping that they’ll be able to do a good job. I’ve sort of kept myself away from the process a little bit but I’m very optimistic that it’s going to be, if it comes out, it’s going to be a good film. One that hopefully shows exorcism in a new light and reminds people that this isn’t something that is so easily pushed aside.

Chris: Well, Matt, we’re out of time here. Was there anything else that you wanted to share with our listeners, a website or any final thoughts?

Matt Baglio: Well, I’d just like to say that even though this is sort of a dark subject for a lot of people, exorcism, demons, these kinds of things, the story itself is really a very uplifting one. It’s mostly about this American priest and about his journey and about him discovering the power of prayer and helping people. And that’s really what his mission in life has been all about. I do have a website, if your listeners would like to go there. It’s www.mattbaglio.com. One other point I’d like to add is that I do have extensive interviews in the book with skeptics and scientists and psychiatrists and anthropologists even, you know really trying to cover all the bases and I think some of your listeners will be surprised by what they have to say, not in the sense of debunking everything but in the notion that there are certain things that even they admit, that just can’t be explained through science.

Chris: And if you want to know more, you’re going to have to check out that book or the audio book version; either one and I hope that you will be as impressed as I have been with the book and with Matt himself. Matt, thank you so much for coming on the show. It has been a real pleasure.

Matt Baglio: Thank you for having me.

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Transcript of Interview with Matt Baglio about The Rite. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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The Rite at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1003070/Rite-Making-Modern-Exorcist/

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Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash, director of eCommerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs. Today, in the spotlight, we have Ken Ogorek. He has a great new book out, The Gospel Truth: A Lectionary-Based Catechism for Adults. Ken, welcome to the show!

Ken: It’s good to be here, Chris. God bless you and all your listeners.

Chris: Well, thank you very much. We all certainly appreciate having that little blessing out on us. Now, you work with the Diocese of Indianapolis, correct?

Ken: That’s correct. They call me the director of catechesis, Chris.

Chris: They call you that but what do you really do?

Ken: Yeah, well it’s funny, I say that because oftentimes, job titles don’t always give folks a complete picture of what folks do. Knowing that I don’t make a significant move without running it past Archbishop Daniel, I am a person who he has asked to think about evangelization and catechesis from cradle to grave in almost every formal setting and to try to bring some orchestration to all that activity. We have 151 parishes and missions, each of which ought to have a comprehensive cradle to grave evangelization and catechetical effort going on. We have 60 elementary schools, 11 high schools, 3 Catholic colleges and universities, also all the public college and university campuses that need to have some sort of Catholic presence there so sometimes my involvement is a little less direct. For example, in youth ministry, we certainly have a director of youth ministry but because evangelization and catechesis are two of the eight components of comprehensive ministry with the youth, I work real closely with our director of youth ministry. Other times my involvement is more direct mostly with the parish programs. I help hire the folks who run parish catechetical programs and really work with them real closely, Chris.

Chris: Oh, anything that has to do with hiring, that always sounds like just a fun job, right?

Ken: Well, you know there’s an old saying that personnel is policy. In other words, it’s fine to have guidelines and binders and things but at the end of the day, the people who we put in these very important positions, that makes a lot of the difference.

Chris: That’s a really good thought but we don’t want to talk about the Diocese in Indianapolis too much because we have a book that we want to talk about and I’m sure that’s what our listeners have tuned in to hear about.

Ken: Sure.

Chris: So The Gospel Truth, this isn’t your first book but it is your latest. Did you want to mention the other books?

Ken: Well actually, the only other book, full book I have out right now is called The Great Life. It’s actually, I co-edited it. It’s a collection of essays I co-edited with my friend, Mike Aquilina whom many of your listeners would be familiar with and I do have another resource coming out here soon, God willing. That’s a catechetical resource for parish youth ministry but really a lot of my attention lately has been focused on helping folks be aware of this book, The Gospel Truth.

Chris: And amazingly enough for a director of catechists, it’s catechetical.

Ken: Yeah, yeah. It’s funny. Some people do woodworking. Some people have other sorts of hobbies. I’m the sort of person who is so immersed and interested in evangelization and catechesis that when I’m not doing the work I’m blessed with doing and then that is my work for Archbishop Daniel, a lot of my down time, if you want to call it that is really uptime. I’m usually writing about evangelization catechesis or speaking about evangelization catechesis and this book is a good example of that.

Chris: Well very good. Now, what got you involved in catechesis in the first place and led you to the point of saying that we really need this kind of a book, that there is this hole in the literature that needs to be filled here?

Ken: Well, as far as my own involvement in catechesis, I think my experience has been like a lot of folks listening, the more we learn and grow in our Catholic faith, in our relationship with God and in our love of the church, we just have a desire to share that with other folks and a few years back, I decided that teaching high school religion at a Catholic high school, of course would be a good outlet for me to do that so I prepared myself academically to do that. The little bit I know that I was also preparing myself to do the work that I do now, at least academically and so as long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for sharing our Catholic faith. I do have a soft spot in my heart for youth and young adults which you know, again I mentioned one of the writing projects I have going on right now is targeted towards the youth but eventually after teaching for a few years and that was in the great diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the time where my wife hails from. He was Bishop Wuerl back then. He’s now Archbishop Wuerl but Bishop Wuerl in Pittsburgh through his vicar for education invited me into administration and as they say, the rest is history. Now what’s interesting, Chris, is that as I became more and more familiar with all of the catechetical resources that are available out there, I did see a bit of a void. On the one hand, I saw a lot of resources that are tied to the Lectionary. That would be the cycle of readings that Catholics all over the world hear at Mass week in and week out. So I saw Lectionary-related materials. I also saw materials that claim to be comprehensive and systematic in their overview of the faith, in other words, appropriately complete but I really didn’t see anything out there that really blended those two that used the Lectionary as a basis but really was objectively comprehensive. I mean, it’s easy to use a word like comprehensive but I took some steps in writing this book to make sure that it really is a complete overview of the faith, at least in an introductory level.

Chris: So creating an overview of the faith, what’s the general audience that you’re looking to write this book for?

Ken: Well it’s interesting Chris, I wrote this book for adults in general, okay? I really had parents especially in mind. In fact, the original subtitle of the book was A Lectionary-based Catechism for Parents and Other Adults but my editor and I really realized that this book has a very broad appeal and we didn’t want people to think that it was just for parents and to give you a good example, I did not write this for priests, for homily preparation. I mean, far be it for me to suggest to any homilist what he should read to make his homilies better but Archbishop Wuerl, that’s one of the first things he picked up on when he read my manuscript and by the way, he was kind enough to offer a foreword for the book so he recommended this book which is really for adults in general and a lot of parents are using the book. He recommended it for clergy to help them in the preparation of their homilies and even though I would never do that, I’m not going to argue with Archbishop Wuerl if he recommends it. So it’s interesting, a lot of different categories of adults are really using this book which is gratifying for me because that’s why you write things.

Chris: Now a lot of people think of these kind of catechetical books as being rather dry. How do you approach this in a way to keep people from glazing over and saying, “Just another catechetical book”?

Ken: Oh yeah, well I tend to think that some of the best writing and speaking is really pretty simple and that’s the approach I took with this book. First of all, your listeners should know that that the book contains the entire three-year cycle of Sunday Gospel readings so they don’t have to be flipping through their bible or a Lectionary which most people don’t have any way. So the Gospels themselves certainly are not dry and each week’s installment in this book, it starts with the Sunday Gospel reading. And then what I did was I really…to keep it simple, I only covered two points of doctrine each week and the writing is really pretty conversational. This is not a highfalutin academic book. It’s pretty simple but it really provides people with raw material for reflection and really application to their everyday life so I haven’t had any complaints about the book being dry, let’s put it that way. It seems to be engaging people which again is what I was hoping for.

Chris: Now what did you find the most challenging part of putting together this book?

Ken: Well you know, it’s interesting Chris, in some ways, this book was like putting a puzzle together because what I did is, I took the three-year cycle of Sunday Gospel readings which is around 150 readings give or take and then I took, a lot of your listeners may not be aware of this, but our American bishops to their great credit, they have a process set up that helps determine what’s called doctrinal conformity with the catechism of the Catholic Church and this is for books and series of books that are used in catechesis, you know, the textbooks for example that a kid might use in a Catholic elementary school and they have this checklist of over 300 items that are directly out of the catechism of the Catholic Church. They’re handpicked in-brief items that are at the end of each section of the catechism of the Catholic Church. So what I did is I sat down and I started to correlate that three-year cycle of Sunday Gospel readings with this 300 or so items on this checklist and I wouldn’t say it was difficult necessarily but it certainly wasn’t unpleasant but it was, in many ways, like putting a puzzle together. I would take a Gospel reading and I would look at all of those items and say, “Okay, which two items really seem to connect in a nice way with this Gospel reading?” And that’s why I can honestly say that this is an objectively comprehensive overview of the faith because each and every one of those items on that checklist is included in the book. They’re actually quoted verbatim because they are very brief excerpts so you’ve got the Gospel readings, you’ve got very brief quotes from the catechism of the Catholic Church itself, and then you’ve got a very conversational way of setting all that up and helping people see those connections.

Chris: Well, we’re going to take a short break here to hear from our sponsor but we’ll be right back to hear more from Ken Ogorek. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

Chris: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight with Ken Ogorek, author of The Gospel Truth: A Lectionary-Based Catechism for Adults. So when you started putting this project together, what part of the book did you find to be the most exciting and energizing for you?

Ken: Well, you know, I started…I wrote the book more or less in order starting with the season of Advent in year A. There are three years to our cycle of Sunday readings, A, B, and C so I guess, oftentimes first impressions are lasting so I do…when I think back on writing the book, I think about those Advent readings and really, it’s interesting oftentimes ordinary time…no one aspect of ordinary time tends to stand out in my mind at least. It’s a great time because it helps us acquaint ourselves with Jesus and the teaching of the church but I guess maybe the things that stand out in my mind about writing the book are more of those seasons, those special times of the year, Advent, Easter, Lent, and so forth.

Chris: And what’s your favorite season?

Ken: Oh gosh, you know, my own kids and by the way, my bride of 17 years and I have three kids under the age of 13 and you know kids are oftentimes they’re interested in what’s your favorite this or what’s your favorite that so I oftentimes joke around with my own kids that dad, remember I have a hard time picking favorite things. I don’t really have a lot of favorites. I just appreciate everything I have so I’m going to take the easy way out on that one, Chris and just say that I just…just as I love all four seasons of the calendar year, I really do think each of the seasons and solemnities and feasts of the liturgical year are beautiful in their own way because they kind of…it’s like a diamond that has many facets. Really I think the way the church lays the year out for us, and the readings, it just helps us appreciate the beauty of God and truth from just several different angles and it’s beautiful from every angle.

Chris: Now, do you do much speaking?

Ken: As a matter of fact, I do. Really, over the past few years especially, that’s really kind of cranked up several notches so I do enjoy speaking and many folks have been kind enough to invite me to speak. I’ve spoken at the Indiana Catholic Men’s Conference and actually a few other smaller men’s conferences and days of reflections and so forth. I’ve given talks for several dioceses actually throughout the country whether it would be for groups of their teachers or catechists or just a general audience on one topic or another so yeah, and actually, anyone who would be interested in learning a little bit more about that in terms of contacting me and setting up a talk, I do have a…I have a very simple website set up because I do have a fulltime job and then so forth but my website, it’s real simple. It’s just my name which Ken Ogorek. It’s kenogorek.com so Ken is simply K-E-N and my last name isn’t as hard as it might sound at first, Ogorek is simply O-G-O-R-E-K. So if folks want a little contact info for me in terms of speaking, they can simply go to my website kenogorek.com.

Chris: Now do you have any other writing projects on the table right now?

Ken: Well really the main one I mentioned earlier is this…it’s a catechetical resource specifically designed for parish youth ministry although I think it would be useful in other settings like Catholic high schools and that one should be coming out…actually the ball’s in my court. I’m doing some final referencing on it. That one should be coming out hopefully early in 2010 and really, I have a variety of other projects at various stages but it’s funny, when you’re first starting out as a writer, you propose a lot of ideas to a lot of different people and you never know which one is going to catch fire and when? So I probably have a half-a-dozen or so writing projects that when I’m ready, when I cross one off my list, I can kind of dive in to the next one. Actually, yeah, it’s funny. I have some things for adults that are in the works, some things for young adults and really an old friend of mine, a guy who I went to Catholic elementary school with, who’s a very good artist, he and I are actually talking about collaborating on a children’s book together. So I kind of run the gamut of cradle to grave, both in my job and in my writing and speaking.

Chris: And it certainly helps to keep things interesting and varied in your job.

Ken: Sure.

Chris: Kind of like my job and I do this little interview show thing on the side in the midst of all my programming and projects for the Catholic Company.

Ken: Yeah, absolutely. Hey, hey, God has blessed you with many gifts and yeah, it is nice to be able to put those to use in a variety of ways all for His Glory, huh?

Chris: Absolutely. Well, we’re running short on time. Were there any final things you wanted to share with our listeners to finish up?

Ken: Yeah, I would just say three quick things. We all want to see good catechecists so I would just encourage your listeners to pray for catechists and those in catechetical leadership. I would say that when you see good catechesis occurring in your parish or diocese, please affirm it. Take the time to maybe drop an email to your parish DRE or whoever is responsible for what you observed, just affirm good catechesis when you see it. And if you see something that seems a little odd to you or a little off base, don’t be afraid to follow up and just have a conversation with whoever is responsible for it. Oftentimes, that’s all it takes to get the catechetical effort on a better track in your parish or diocese so yeah, I think we’re all in this together and we need to support and affirm good evangelization and catechesis.

Chris: And of course, the best tool for helping to correct errors both in others and yourself, I think, is the catechism because when people are sitting there saying, “Well, you know, I think the church teaches this. You got this nice little book. You can just pull out and say well the official teachings of the church are right here and what it’s say?”

Ken: Yeah, imagine that. Imagine that. Absolutely and hopefully this book as it’s related to the catechism of the Catholic Church will really be useful for folks in hearing and appreciating the true teaching of our Catholic Church, absolutely.

Chris: Well Ken, it has been a great pleasure having you on the show and I hope that we can have you back on again sometime before too long.

Ken: I look forward to it again. God bless you, your family, and all your listeners, Chris.

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Transcript of Interview with Ken Ogorek about The Gospel Truth. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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The Gospel Truth at The Catholic Company.

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A Postcard from the Volcano at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1006119/Postcard-from-Volcano-Novel-Pre-War-Germany

———————————

Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash, director of eCommerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs. Today, in the spotlight, we have Lucy Beckett, author of A Postcard from the Volcano. Lucy, glad to have you on the show!

Lucy: I’m delighted to be on your show.

Chris: Now I think you’re our first or you’re our second British author that we’ve had on this show. So you know, I always love having a little different sound coming back to me from the other side of the microphone. Now, you are on this side of the pond though, right now, correct?

Lucy: I’m on this side of the pond. I’ve been to a big conference at Notre Dame which was about virtue, sacrifice, and the common good. And I read a paper there about tragedy.

Chris: I understand. So can you tell us a little bit about a post part…I’m having trouble saying the name of your book. It’s terrible. Can you tell us a little bit about A Postcard from the Volcano?

Lucy: I will happily do that. The novel is set in *** [00:01:40] in Vellmar, Germany, not a happy place to be growing up in and it looks at the lives of a bunch of people who meet as students in the University of Breslau which is a great German city. At the time, the university was second to the University of Berlin in prestige and in Nobel prizes and all that kind of thing and the City of Breslau was completely smashed to pieces in the war. The Germans treated it as their last stronghold in the east before the Russians arrived and they, between them the Russians and the Germans smashed the city to smithereens and after the war, it was placed in the peace settlement in Poland and a part of Germany where my hero, my central character grows up is Silicia which is now also a part of Poland. So it’s a part of Germany that has in one sense, it lost to Germany, all the Germans were moved out of it at the end of war by *** [00:02:46] which now that the Germans know the Poles have quite forgotten but when my story is set, it was a great German city with a long tradition and a venerable university and my bunch of kids meet as students in the 1920’s and my central character who was born in 1905; they were all born between 1900 and 1910 and it was a very difficult generation to grow up in. And my central character was born on an estate, a *** [00:03:23] estate in the countryside in Silicia, a very beautiful place in a beautiful house and his father is a Prussian, a military Prussian king of his sons going into the army and upholding the Prussian tradition but his mother is a musician, a pianist, a beautiful lady who turns out after a while, the boy grows up not knowing this, to come from an assimilated Jewish family so my central character is half-Prussian and half-Jewish and this becomes the very complicated issue as the 20’s go on. And his friends who we learn all about through the string quartet which they play together in Breslau are a mixture of people, one is Polish, one is rural Prussian from East Prussia far to the east, and a brother and sister much closer to rural Jewish life and comes from *** [00:04:27] then in Poland now the capital of Lithuania. And they’d all over had been scarred, one way or another by the First World War which happened when they were children and they have to deal with growing up in a Germany which is turning further and further towards extremism, anti-Semitism, hysterical attitudes as in through Hitler. So it comes to all of that.

Chris: Well that is just a mouthful of a wide range of topics and many of them are kind of uncomfortable for a lot of us especially when you’re talking about the rise of Hitler going on there.

Lucy: It’s not a comfortable book to read but I hope that the good idealism and the courage and the different approaches to all the ideas knocking about at the time of these young people has an inspiring kind of sign. The central character in the course of the story becomes a Catholic partly because his best friend is a Polish Catholic count who starts the book at school as a rather self-conscious nihilist with a lot of Nietzsche ideas floating around in his head and one way or another, he comes back to *** [00:03:52] and eventually becomes a priest. Influenced by his friend and also by a wiser Catholic schoolmaster, very German from Rhineland, very Catholic, my hero decides to become a Catholic which goes against both the traditions in which his parents grew up and that makes difficulties and also makes very good things happen in his life.

Chris: Now, what was it that really drew you to write about this particular time period?

Lucy: Well I hope two things, I think. When I was growing up in England in the 1950’s, I was taught at school by a German refugee who had left Germany not because he was Jewish but because he hated what was happening and found it impossible to stay in Germany and be the *** [00:06:55] of his training that had prepared him to be and he kept doing it and was in turn then was in pioneer corps in the war doing horrible chores for the British Army which was happened to some of the immigrants from Germany and ended up as a schoolteacher teaching music and lessons and I was taught by him and I was fascinated by him. I knew very little about his early life and he died when I was 18 so I have always, all my life, I’m old now; I’m nearly 70, wanted to understand where this man came from and what his early life was like. And when he did *** [00:07:36] on an estate, which I knew had been beautiful things and pictures and things which you don’t spare in the war. And the second thing is that my own mother’s family was a German-Jewish American family and some of the members of the family who were still in Germany disappeared in the Holocaust and I was interested in all of that as well. They were completely assimilated Jews but that, of course, didn’t protect them.

Chris: Now, who is going to be the most interested in this book? Is it going to be something that a historical scholar type of person is going to be most interested in or are there other people that are likely to enjoy reading this?

Lucy: Well judging from some of the reactions I’ve had in England and also here because I found that at Notre Dame, several people had already read the novel, I would say quite a wide range of people. It would interest Catholics because of the very difficult situation in which Catholics found themselves in Germany when Hitler was coming to power. I think it would interest anyone with an interest in the 20th century history of Europe which is such a terrible story and affects so many things that *** [00:08:57] around in the globe today and I think people who just like a good story, I hope it freshens so that it’s say, approachable and readable and you get very involved in the life of this young man and his friends and you mind very much what happens to them so that by the end of the book, what is going to be wasted cruelly now shows you a generation has engaged in a lot of the *** [00:09:25]. I think that people have enjoyed the book because they get involved in it and the *** [00:09:30] is quite firm. There’s nothing wrong with their history. I did a great deal of work. So I know that it could have happened, all of this.

Chris: Now why is the book set so far to the east?

Lucy: Ah, well the book is set so far in the east because at least in England and I suspect in the US as well, we all think of Germany in terms of the western front in the First World War, the trenches and then we might think of the Rhine and the great cities of the Rhine that were bombed in the Second World War and we know what happened to West Germany after the war. People have very much left the *** [00:10:10] with the history of the east. For example, we all know that Germany lost the First World War but the Germans of the east did not lose the First World War, they thoroughly defeated the Russians and regarded themselves as victors in the First World War so the sense of injustice about the Treaty of Versailles and what happened after the war was much keener in the east and there was a great deal of support for Hitler in the east for that reason and we’re just not familiar with the story of *** [00:10:46] for example, which is in central, central Europe. It’s not an eastern European city; it’s a central European city. It’s not very far from Prague; it’s not very far from Vienna. A thoroughly German city which has now disappeared into Poland and is now a great Polish city. There’s been a splendid revival there. It was a wonderful city of Pope John Paul to the city of *** [00:11:13] which is now called and there’s been a great deal of reconciliation between Poles and Germans actually in the city. There’s a wonderful, venerable old professor at Columbia here in New York called Fritz Stern who was born and educated in Breslau just the same time as my book is set and I’ve corresponded with him and he and his parent’s graduation, they left Germany just in time in 1937 or ’38 and they headed to America and he has been a professor at Columbia for 30 to 40 years and his life is the kind of life still much affected by all these events. He went back to the University of

Breslau in Poland and was given an honorary degree by the university where his parents as Germans had got their degrees long years ago, at the beginning of the 20th century. That kind of story, as in actually resonates with a lot of Americans. People have such mixed backgrounds and such mixed pasts and I think it would interest a lot of people in that kind of way.

Chris: Well, was there anything else you wanted to share with our listeners about the book in particular?

Lucy: Well, I think the whole question of being a Catholic convert is a question that still interests quite a lot of people. It’s a great religion now almost anywhere in the west to become a Catholic than it was then in Germany when it was quite difficult for various reasons. I think the Catholic aspect of the book, there are a lot of ideas discussed in the book, I hope not in a *** [00:13:01] way. I hope it’s all quite reasonable and understandable but this was the period immediately after the Russian Revolution and idealistic young people with some of them swept away by what they thought to be the great new future of socialism and other people were deciding that all religion was part of the past and something to do with the childhood of the human race that we do outgrow but as other people so that Christianity was the only hope for the future which wasn’t going to be entirely barbarous in Europe. So I think there are plenty of things to interest contradictory types of people in this book and I’m a Catholic writer. I’ve written…I wrote three or four years ago a *** [00:13:49] book which was also published by the Ignatius Press called In the Light of Christ, Writings in the Western Tradition which is a great big survey of texts from Plato to Czelslaw Milosz who is a Polish poet who died a couple of years ago and that has encompassed why it’s establishing, there are so many things we can’t understand and we can’t read properly unless we have a Christian context for what we’re doing. So I’m that kind of writer anyway. But this is a story. This is not a heady academic book; it’s a story.

Chris: And what did you find to be the most difficult part of writing the book?

Lucy: I suppose I find the most difficult part of writing the book to be just the work I have to do to find out as much about the period and this part of the world which has not been written about nearly as much as western Germany. There are scholarly books, I wrote a great many books. I really enjoyed doing the research for the book. Once I’ve done it all, I actually found writing the book not all that difficult. The characters just seemed to appear and demand to be written about. I think a lot of novelists find this. They set off on a story and they find the characters decide what’s going to happen next. And I very much enjoy writing the book. In my second novel, I wrote another historical novel quite different about a *resonation* in England and that was a lot of research as well but I also very much enjoyed writing that. But what you have to do is concentrate all the time. You have to imagine what it was like to be a bunch of bright interesting 20-year-olds and then older, swept along in the tide of what was a particularly difficult and tormented period of history. That was what I was trying to do, imagining what it was like.

Chris: Well thank you, Lucy. It has been a pleasure to have you on the show and I hope that everyone will find a time to check out A Postcard from the Volcano.

Lucy: Thank you very much for having me.

Chris: You’re very welcome. You already have a great day and God bless.

Lucy: Thank you. I’m most grateful. Good bye.

———————————

Transcript of Interview with Lucy Becket about A Postcard from the Volcano. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

A Postcard from the Volcano at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1006119/Postcard-from-Volcano-Novel-Pre-War-Germany

View the Transcript

Vote for us at Podcast Alley – Please vote for us every month to help us get our show in front of more people

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Items Discussed in this podcast:

A Postcard from the Volcano

Follow us on Twitter @CatholicSplight

You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-426-1207. Be sure to join our Catholic Spotlight Facebook Group where we send out announcements about upcoming interviews. You will be able to call in your questions for our future guests. You might just be on our next show.

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A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

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The 13th Day at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-gifts/4003930/13th-Day/

———————————

Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash, director of E-Commerce from catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Today in the Spotlight, we have Anthony Ryan; he is Director of Media Relations for Ignatius Press. And we’re going to be talking a little about The 13th Day today. Tony, glad to have you on the program.

Anthony Ryan: Chris, nice to be here, thank you.

Chris Cash: So, now this is a DVD and it’s a movie called The 13th Day. Can you tell us a little about what The 13th Day is?

Anthony Ryan: Sure. The 13th Day is a brand new feature film about the story of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917. And this film was made in Europe. It’s really the first full length feature film about the dramatic story of Our Lady of Fatima in over 50 years. So, you know it’s something that’s pretty unique and we think it’s very well done, it tells a story really well.

Chris Cash: What made you decide to do this production after 50 years since the last when one I assume?

Anthony Ryan: Well, you know Ignatius Press actually is not the producer of this movie; we licensed the film for DVD distribution. So, the producers, you know we licensed it from the production company. The reason that they made this film is because they believe in the importance of the message of Our Lady of Fatima and there’s a very important message for our times. And so, they were driven by that faith that belief in you know the message that she came to give, so that’s really the reason they decided to make this film, to use the movie as a vehicle to you know to promote the message of Our Lady of Fatima.

Chris Cash: And is this movie, you said was made in Europe, is it done in English or is it subtitled or how is that done?

Anthony Ryan: Well, and the movie is made in English, so it was shot on location in both in Portugal. You know Fatima’s from the country of Portugal and also in England. The company that made it is a film company from England. So, shot on location in both countries, but they did film it in English. It does come with Spanish subtitles that are optional on the DVD, if anyone wants to you know use the Spanish subtitles, those on our DVD are available as well. But they did film it in English. And even though there are many Portuguese actors in this film including the three children are actually Portuguese. So, it does give a – you know real authenticity to the movie, they do speak English.

Chris Cash: And what is it about the message of Fatima that is so important to the church today?

Anthony Ryan: Well, you know the message of Our Lady of Fatima is it’s really the message of gospel, so whenever our lady has appeared to give a message and she usually she repeats what our Lord told us you know when he was on Earth. And basically, it’s a message of – its timeless, it’s a message of conversion, it’s a message of repentance, it’s a message of prayer, it’s a message of turning back to God. And she is our mother, she wants us to you know to live a life that’s closer to God, she wants us to get to heaven. And so, she comes to remind us of that. And this message had a certain sense of urgency too it. She said to the children you know that unless this message is her to responded to you know she gives prophecy and things that were bad things that would happen. And so, you know she came to give us a warning as well. So, not only is her message about you know our – you know getting to heaven and how to get the eternal life, but also about this life you know that if we would respond to her message of prayer, of conversion, of obeying the ten commandments of loving our neighbor, then you know things to better in this life. If we didn’t respond, you know the bad things would happen and you know among those things she predicted was World War II and the persecution of communism and the church would be persecuted. And those things came to pass as we know.

Chris Cash: And of course, a corner stone of prophecy is seeing something that actually does come true. So, it is very significant to be able to point to the fruit of the prophecy that to see that it actually did occur. Now, there were some also some miracles associated with Fatima, you want to talk a little about the miracles that occurred?

Anthony Ryan: Well, sure, I mean the main miracle – when you hear about the miracle of Our Lady of Fatima, you know the main miracle is that she told the children on the last apparition when she came the last time, which is October 13th, she would have a – a miracle would be performed that all would see who were there to convince them that the children were telling the truth. And the miracle was – is called the miracle of the Sun. And there were over 70,000 people there that day and you know Our Lady did – well God did perform the miracle of the sun. What happened was the Sun is an incredible miracle and it’s really dramatized well in this movie.

The Sun started to spin in the sky you know dance really in the sky, start moving all around in the sky, shooting of different kinds of colors. And then, after that performance it started to hurl itself towards the Earth. And of course, the people screamed in terror thinking you know it was the end of the world, and falling on their knees and you know begging for God’s mercy and anything you could think people would do if you know Sun was falling on the earth. And then, the Sun stopped and then went back to its place in the sky, so you know its incredible event. And there were you know newspapers there, now they too wrote about it and had pictures. And so, this miracle is documented, well documented not just by church authorities but by secular authorities. And so, that is you know the miracle that happened and that day it was raining as well, it was raining very hard. And you know so even with those rains the Sun came out and did this incredible series of movements and of course everything dried up pretty quickly.

Chris Cash: Now, is there anything specific about the movie that we should know about this particular filming?

Anthony Ryan: Well, yes, you know we think that it’s beautifully produced, it’s kind of a – it has an artistic approach to it. The two men who directed it who wrote the – who wrote and directed are both artist by training, painters. And so – and graphic artist, painters, graphic artist that these guys are named as Ian and Dominic Higgins, they are from England. And so, it’s kind of getting stylistic, artistic look to it, which is really kind of beautiful. You know and one reviewer said every image of the film is kind of like a little painting. And so, they approached it with that kind of look to really appeal to modern audiences who are you know pre-sophisticated, can be sophisticated when it comes to film, especially young people. And so, they had that in mind when they made it. So, it has a beautiful, you know artistic look to it and man it’s authentic in terms of the – being true to the story. In other words, its not you know sometimes a Hollywood film can use a lot of artistic license, poetic license and lot of what’s supposed to be a true story in a Hollywood film is actually not true. They make it up. This movie is based on the memoirs of Sister Lucia, and so we see the movie through the memoirs. And so, it’s authentic and really focuses on the actual events that happen through the eyes of Sister Lucia and the children. And so, its – you know has that authenticity about it as well. So, it’s beautifully, really beautifully produced and it’s authentic. And I think you know those are two things that really make a movie like this something it’s outstanding.

Chris Cash: Now, Ignatius is sponsoring a screening program that’s going around the country. Can you tell us a little about what is involved with this screening program and where people can go to find out more about it?

Anthony Ryan: Sure. Yes, we decided to – you know we have a lot of films that we license for distribution and they are great films, and you know we’re honored to be a part of any of these great films that come our way, that we help produce. But with this film, we decided to do something extra, because we are so strong in our believes and the importance of the message of this film, the message of Our Lady of Fatima for our times. So, we decided to use the film as a vehicle to really spread that message, so we came up with this screening program where groups, catholic organizations, parishes, schools, whoever anyone can buy a screening license and we have different packages they can buy to show the film, to have a film event. You know all we need is a DVD projector and you know a screen. I mean, you know some people have much more sophisticated equipment in a Parish or whatever setting, but anyone can do this.

And with the different packages that you can get through Ignatius Press, come number of DVD’s to sell. So you buy those at a discount with the package and you know it could be a fundraiser. So, you sell ‘em at the regular price and you know you make – you can make a real profit. We also send promotional materials, posters, flyers, other things that you can use to help promote your film event. We have tee-shirts, so you we designed a tee-shirt to go with the movie. You can buy tee-shirts to see, tee-shirt has been very popular. We have prayer cards et cetera. And it’s a – there are really nice packages and so, anyone can do that. And to find out more about it, you can go to our Website, Ignatius.com and there’s a information there. You could call there is a woman who is coordinating this and give you that number if that’s okay? It’s a toll free number 877-263-1263 and that is one of the numbers you can call to get more information about the screening. Or you can just go to Ignatius.com and there is a information on that Website about just getting packages to have your own screening of the film, 13th Day.

Chris Cash: Now, how far into the future do you anticipate doing these screenings? Right now, we’re recording this in October of 2009, but for those of you listeners out there in 2010 and beyond, you know what is the kind of the timeframe that this screenings will be available?

Anthony Ryan: Sure, yes, we’re going to have these ongoing you know in the future, we don’t have any time to – that we’re planning to you know just stop them. So, as I say you know the purpose of all this really is to have the, use the screening program to get the message of the movie out there, to use it as a vehicle for a Evangelization. It’s also a way of having a – an event that’s inspiring an entertainment. So it’s kind of like we have a event thing called Ignatius Night at the Movies that we’ve been doing for few years with a lot of our films, which is ongoing as well. So, this is similar to that, but this is a little more you know organized, there’s more things going on with this than we normally do at Saint Ignatius Night at the Movies kind of event.

So, this will be ongoing, so yes no matter when this interview is heard its very likely that we will continue to be to have this screening program available and people can to – go ahead and get a licensed package, get DVD’s, promotion tools, have their own filming done.

Chris Cash: All right, was there anything else you wanted to share with our listeners before we finish up here?

Anthony Ryan: Well, the – I like to tell people that the DVD, which will be available in December, it’s not available to the public yet. When it’s available, we have some really fine bonus things that come with the DVD; I’d like to tell people about. Again, we’ve got some things extra with this DVD that we haven’t done with other movies. We’ve kind of gone the extra mile so to speak. So, with the DVD, they get a 24 page companion booklet that has a – some great information, great articles about Fatima, about the whole story of Fatima, why it’s important. It’s tied in with the movie that we have articles in thereby Fulton Sheen who wrote a great article about Our Lady and her – Mary – it’s called Marry and the Muslims who connects with Our Lady and how she can be the one to help reach Muslims with the message of Christ. We have an article there by Father Andrew Apostoli, a foremost expert on Fatima in our times. Article in there by a Father Robert Fox who’s been a great expert on Fatima for years, good interviews with the film directors, such as a lot of great stuff in the booklet. And then with that we also we’re giving a nice little beautiful Fatima prayer card that comes with the DVD.

And also, we decided to put a rosary in with each DVD, and a rosary leaflet with all the prayers of the rosary, the mysteries of the rosary. So, each DVD will have their actual rosary, as well as the rosary leaflet and how to pray the rosary and the companion booklet. And again, the purpose of all that is we are – you know we want people to not just watch the movie, but we’re hoping that they will come away and inspire to live the message of Our Lady of Fatima, which includes praying the rosary.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you Tony. It’s been great to have you on this show and I hope to have a chance to talk with you again sometime.

Anthony Ryan: My pleasure, Chris. Thanks for having me on.

Chris Cash: God bless.

Anthony Ryan: All right, same to you.

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Transcript of Interview with Anthony Ryan about The 13th Day Movie. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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The 13th Day at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-gifts/4003930/13th-Day/

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The Promise – God’s Purpose and Plan for When Life Hurts
The Rite – The Making of a Modern Exorcist
Treasure in Clay – The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen
All audio books

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Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash, Director of E-Commerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Today in the Spotlight, we have Matt Wielgos; he is director of media production for Saint Anthony Messenger Press. He’s the guy responsible for all the cool audiobooks as well as a lot of radio stuff that is done over there at Saint Anthony. Welcome, Matt to the show.

Matt Wielgos: Thanks Chris, I appreciate you having me on. And I want to say hello to all you listeners. I love this show and love the fact that your listeners tune into hear about the good things happening in the world of publishing, which includes audiobooks.

Chris Cash: Yes, I mean, audiobooks tend to be overlooked in our marketplace a little bit, just because I guess there aren’t that many of them made of catholic books.

Matt Wielgos: Well, that depends on your perspective Chris. The other day I was looking through, because we’re working on some arrangements with an online download service for some of our audiobooks. I was looking through we have over a 1000 titles in audio that are part of the Saint Anthony Messenger Press catalogue, if you can believe that.

Chris Cash: Wow, a 1000 books you know that is pretty impressive by any count I think. But you know especially when you just don’t see that much out and available in the catholic market, you know it’s kind of like one of those best kept secret things.

Matt Wielgos: It is and I think part of the history behind that is catholic bookstores, which traditionally were the way that people received catholic publications, whether print, audio or video, whatever it maybe, tended to shy away from those types of things because they were bookstores. But now we’re finding with online purchasing and so forth, picking up in pace by leaps and bounds with companies like their own with the catholic company. People are encountering catholic audio, video, media in new ways and there are new audiences out there developing everyday.

Chris Cash: You know I’m an avid consumer of any of the audiobooks I can find out there you know. I don’t have time to sit down and read usually, but I love to throw something into my iPod and listen to it while I’m driving kids around town or doing the dishes or all sorts of things. So, I think there is a huge audience out there for this kind of material.

Matt Wielgos: Yes, in fact, the audiobook industry is tracking sales with a major publishers of audiobooks, including Saint Anthony Messenger Press. And the increased in percentage is the people listening to audiobooks has been rising by leaps and bounds over the past few years, in contrast to the decrease in people purchasing print books. So, it is a rising star in the world of communications media, taking what has been a standby for so many thousands of years since the invention of the printing press, and putting it into a new form into an audio form to communicate the same message. So, we can do things like, do an audiobook, the autobiography of Saint Theresa of Lisieux: The Story of Soul and capture that same spirit with which that was written by Saint Theresa herself, however many 100’s of years ago. But do it in such a way that is not only authentic to the original intent, but also engages today’s modern listener. So, we had shared Kennedy Brownrigg voiced that audiobook, the autobiography of Saint Theresa of Lisieux. And when she voiced it, not only did she read the words but she entered into the spirit of Saint Therese. She *** [04:26] with Saint Therese possibly was experiencing as she wrote those words. And it comes through in the audiobook in a beautiful way, it just – it captures another sense of Saint Therese, her life and her experiences and then helps us to maybe take that into ourselves and integrate it into our lives into our spirituality. That’s the beauty I think of audiobooks. So they bring a new dimension into the experience of that communication, whether it came from a saint or from author today who just wrote the work.

Chris Cash: And you know another thing that has been a little bit prohibitive in the past about audiobooks is that they’re usually much, much more expensive than the book itself. But the internet is helping to make that cost issue go away since we – you no longer have to have 15 or 20 CD’s to get through a decent size book.

Matt Wielgos: Right. And now about Saint Anthony Messenger hasn’t been doing digital download of audiobooks to this point. We’re actually, as we speak Chris and by the time most of your listeners are hearing this, probably we’ll have in to deal with a – I won’t name them at this point, but a online distributor of digital audio files, so that people can download the audiobooks. And that does because it reduces our overhead in terms of physical having to create the physical discs that covers the cases that they go on and so forth. They can be sold at a lower price and still satisfy the same need for listeners. So, digital is a good option, we’re not going to abandon CD releases by any sense of the mean, because that is a way that people are still listening. It’s also a way to archive the work even for generations to come. An iPod can you know fail and go away and you can loose digital files, but a CD as long as you keep it in good shape and don’t scratch it up, will be there if that fails.

Chris Cash: Absolutely. Now, I wanted to touch right before we start talking about the other books, I wanted to touch just a little bit on your background and what got you into being a director of media production? Just because, I think some of our listeners out there are probably budding audio producers themselves and would like to have a sense of what goes into becoming an audio producer on a more professional level. And you know I think you’ve got that background to share, you know obviously I have a show here but my show is way below the level of what you guys do. I’ve just got a microphone on a computer and running through Skype you know about as simple as you can get, next to having a tape recorder sitting on a phone-line, but it works.

Matt Wielgos: Skype is a wonderful thing. I love Skype, so don’t diss Skype on me Chris, I love Skype.

Chris Cash: Oh, I’m not dissing Skype at all. It is made my life tremendously easier from the way I was originally trying to record these shows. If you go back to the early episodes and hear all the terrible static, I won’t even go into the hoops I was trying to jump through to do it for on the cheap basically.

Matt Wielgos: Sure.

Chris Cash: But you know we’re running this show on shoestring budget. And it is good content most of the time and people listen to it, but you know Matt has had the experience of being director of communications for churches, doing recording masses and other programs for churches as well as being a producer for Drew Mariani Show for several years on relevant radio. So, you want to share just a little about your background and how you got involved and what kind of training it took to take it to that level above the level that I’ve got?

Matt Wielgos: How far back do you want me to go Chris? You want me to go all the way?

Chris Cash: Sure, briefly.

Matt Wielgos: Well, I was born back in 1965. How – you want to go back that far?

Chris Cash: No.

Matt Wielgos: No, I think for those people who are interested in becoming communicators, I think the first and foremost thing that you have to keep in mind if you want to be a communicator that shares a gospel through the modern media is your own faith formation. You want to follow the call of Jesus Christ in your own life. So you want to get yourself established in your church with your community, in your spiritual life and get a grounding on what God is calling you to do, because that is prime and most important. In terms of getting into the field, once you sense that you have that call – I’ll share with you my story. I went to college and the Franciscan University out in Steubenville, Ohio. And took a double major out there, theology and mass communications. The theology was for myself. The mass communications was because I was looking at my life at that point as a young man and seeing that I really felt that God wanted me to do with my life, the task of sharing the gospel message in the most effective and powerful way possible with the largest reach. And for me, that was the mass media. It had to be, and I think that is still true to this day.

So, went Franciscan, got a good foundation there and coming out of Franciscan actually got into ministry for a time. And had some experience working with people, sharing the gospel on a personal one-to-one basis with large groups of youth and so forth. And that gave me the perspective of perhaps understanding the varied ways that people experience life, the vary ways that people experience god. And how somebody who is an advocate on their behalf, somebody who is a minister or somebody communicating the gospel can best approach that task and share it in a way that people can be open to the gospel message and then, receive it in a profound way. So, that experience was very good for me, then I had a opportunity at that point to really to do a combination of both the ministry and the mass communications. I was involved with a ministry called Holy Apostles communication that was supported by a community out in Northern Chicago. And there we built essentially, from the ground up, a audio and video production Apostle it really if you want to call it. That served the needs of the local community there and the wider community of the northern Chicago area. We had a great opportunity through an arrangement with Comcast up in that area to do programming for the local community. We at our peak were doing three weekly programs that communicated the message of the gospel in different ways. One was a weekly mass that we did that went on every week and it was the same day mass. So, we would record a mass essentially live with the three camera shoot doing a live switch and then, somebody would take the three quarter inch broadcast tape at that time and run it down to where they essentially fed all the Comcast cable outfits. So, the mass would air that day.

Then we did a music program based upon something that was happening there in our local community, the festival of prayers, which essentially was a live catholic Christian music concert that happened there at the local community. So reaching out through the arts and through what was at that time considered the new movement of worship music in the community. Then we would do specific teachings not just from within that community. We would go out and find speakers big and small name speakers who were communicating something unique and effective in terms of the churches teaching or how people can grow in their life spiritually or what have you, and we would put that to video and air that as one of those Comcast programs. So, it’s a great opportunity.

In the midst of all that though, knowing that there were many things we were dealing with in terms of financing that operation. Was given an opportunity to move into radio, which at first I bogged at, because radio essentially I did not have the – what I would call the *possess* [13:50] of video production. Video production just seems so much more exciting. But as I investigated it and talked to the people at the relevant radio network, which was headquartered up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I realized that this was opportunity to reach an even larger audience and engage them not only on a weekly basis, if they happen to be flipping through the channels and trying to program but on a daily basis and then, do it in an effective way.

I met Drew Mariani who is the – still to this day the afternoon drive time host there on Relevant Radio. And he and I struck up a great relationship and we produced that show, I did that show for a number of years for them. That was a great experience, and also got me back into some of the things I had been trained and back in student though in terms of audio production. And all the nuances that are unique to audio production alone. You know the guys in the video well don’t know is pay close attention or as close attention or as close attention as they should to the audio pieces of their work. So, I had kind of neglected that area. So, Relevant was really a good premiere to get back into the audio. And then, *** [15:13] behold this opportunity at Saint Anthony Messenger Press to come and they hired me initially to produce their weekly audio program, our weekly audio program that we produce for the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, American Catholic Radio. Which if your listeners are online; they can go to www.franciscanradio.org and listen to each one of those programs. I encourage you to subscribe to the show by iTunes, and we have a Facebook fan page that you can fan as well.

It’s a magazine style show, a half hour show that we do each week. It’s hosted by Father Greg Friedman who is a Franciscan here with the province of Saint John the Baptist. They are affiliated with Saint Anthony Messenger Press and my engineer, Ron Riegler, Judy Zarick, Sharon Cross, John Feister are all contributors to the show. And we put together, I think one of the finest Catholic radio programs in the country for that type of format. And it’s just been a great experience to do that, because I’ve taken the skills, both that I learned in ministry early in my career, the skills that I learned in terms of production and putting shows together that was learned in the television production at Holy Apostles, and then the skills learned in radio production with Relevant Radio. And it’s really combined for me personally into this opportunity at Saint Anthony Messenger Press. And it’s just been a road that I walked. People have asked well, how can I do that, how can I get into it. I think its going to be a little bit different for everybody, but I think again going back to what I said at first. If you are grounding yourself in your relationship with God and entering into the community of the church and listening for God’s calling and relying on providence, but also a little bit of to borrow a term from our Jewish Brothers and Sisters, a little bit of chutzpah to make things happen, God is going to lead you to that point that is right for you. What I do is may not be right for everyone and what everyone else does may not be right for me.

Chris Cash: And with that, we’re going to take a short break to hear from our sponsor. We’ll be right back with Matt Wielgos from Saint Anthony Messenger Press. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

[BREAK]

Chris Cash: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight with Matt Wielgos, director of media production from Saint Anthony Messenger Press. You know we kind of talked about the background of getting into audio media, so let’s talk a little about the – some of the exciting books and products that you have out there. I think one of your biggest sellers right now is The Promise with Father Jonathan of Fox News fame?

Matt Wielgos: Yes, Father Jonathan Morris recorded The Promise, he actually voiced his own book. It also exists in print form published by Doubleday, but I encourage you to go out and checkout the audiobook. Because again Father Jonathan brings to this audio book, a unique expression of what the book is all about. Most people don’t realize this, they see Father Jonathan they think news. You know this must be about political issues or what have you, but now this book is really about dealing with the problem, which has been a plenty of problem in the question of – in the minds of theologians and philosophers for ages. The problem of suffering, how do you deal with life when it hurts? And is exploration into this is a really a practical look at how to step-by-step first of all, encounter suffering and then how to work it through, so that you can use suffering as an opportunity to encounter God and encounter others in your life. And even in the midst of suffering be incredibly blessed, because of that suffering. So, it’s really its taking the same principle of the cross, you know when Jesus was crucified it was meant to be something that was his destruction, they were killing Jesus. They wanted to basically do away with this Jesus and then, Jesus drew the power of the Father was resurrected, and what was meant for his destruction actually became the life of the whole world. In the same way, Father Jonathan talks about in his audiobook The Promise. How are suffering, as we work it through, as we begin to work through our suffering in our lives with God, it becomes an incredible blessing that can bless not only ourselves, but all of our loved ones and even people who are not very connected to us perhaps but who are watching how we deal with the suffering, so.

Great audiobook, I would very much recommend it to anybody who is dealing with suffering and knows somebody who is dealing with suffering. And is looking for a way in a practical way to begin to get a hold of it and use it for an opportunity for growth in their lives.

Chris Cash: Well, you know that’s really everybody, because everybody at some point in their lives is going to have to deal with sufferings in someway or another. It’s just pretty much a given.

Matt Wielgos: Yes, I think so and you know its part of the human condition, it’s a – if you will, it’s an effect of original sin that’s why we suffer, a question of why – you know why do we suffer? You know we can point back to in a theological way, well its sin. But then when it hits us personally, when it hits us individually that question of why and then to point back to say well its original sin, just doesn’t seem to satisfy. So, there’s a deeper encounter with God that can be had through your personal sufferings as we work that through. And it’s a – its really a mystery if you will to use a term that is often used in theological circles as to how God can take that suffering and turn it around and use it for our good.

Chris Cash: And hopefully, I’m going to have an interview with Father Jonathan sometime in the next few weeks. Matt is assisting us in reaching out to Father Jonathan; try to get him on the show to talk about the book in much more depth. So, those of you fans out there who’d like to hear that, keep that in your prayers that we can work that out.

Matt Wielgos: Yes, he’s a busy guy. He goes back and forth from New York to Rome on a regular basis, so if you can catch him between flights you’re in good shape.

Chris Cash: Now, another popular book you got out right now is the Rite?

Matt Wielgos: Yes, The Making of a Modern Exorcist. It’s a subtitle on that that’s by author, Matt Baglio, a young journalist actually from California who lives in Rome. And essentially wrote this book as he was performing his journalistic functions in Rome there, and came upon the story of the Vatican having one of our religious orders establish at school for the training of exorcism. And John Paul II, just I think a short time before he passed away actually through the congregation for the doctrine of the faith asked that each diocese have an official exorcist installed in their diocese. And that’s something that preceded this book, which is really the story of Father Gary Thomas, as he was asked by his bishop to consider becoming their diocese and exorcist, and actually he volunteered for it. Went through the training and encountered a new world that he did not know necessarily to what extent had existed before. And a new way for him to minister and help alleviate people’s suffering, because of the spiritual work really.

Chris Cash: And that is such a very deep topic that a lot of people just don’t even realize the depth that there is in that you know. You see exorcism’s performed in movies and such and its just like, throw somebody on the floor and say be healed and sprinkle some holy water. And it’s really very little of that and much more deep, deep prayer and spiritual life, especially among the – for the exorcist himself.

Matt Wielgos: Yes, I think one of the things that the author Matt Baglio would say and I think Father Gary as well is that they wanted to avoid with this book getting into what they would consider some sensationalism. That’s maybe some other movies or books or what have you, have gotten into, because they feel it distracts from the true ministry that is exorcism. Which is essentially it is helping to deliver people from evil and alleviate suffering and pain from their lives. It’s really a healing ministry more than anything else. Now, you read the book or you listen to the book, you listen to the Rite, you hear ‘em author Matt Baglio and they talk about the training that Father Thomas had gone through, they talk about how he apprentice with an exorcist in Rome, and there are those situations that are what I would call magnified situations of spiritual work there if you will. But they are all done in the context of the Rite of exorcism and the prayers that are part of that Rite.

And it’s really interesting to see how almost in a – I think very much so in a sacramental way, in a ordered way, in a way that benefits from the prayer of the churches as a whole, the church first of all ministers to the individual, but then opens up for them the kingdom of God. And how when the kingdom of god is opened up in the life of an individual, the darkness that maybe there perhaps through no fault of their own, perhaps that because of choices that they’ve made in the past, whatever it maybe that darkness’ is dispersed. And people are free and they are made new for the first time. When you listen to the audio book and you hear the stories of some of the people, some who are religious, some who are just average everyday people you would see on the street and how their lives are transformed through the love of God that comes through the ministry of the church that is the minister of the church through exorcism. This is an awesome picture, something I had never realized, because I had you know pretty much been exposed to things like The Exorcist movie and so forth. And you know that is what I would consider the ministry of exorcism taken out of its context. You know they took the fantastic and then they magnified it, where the reality is the real power is in the prayer of the church and in the ministry of the church to the people, to the faithful and even those who are not faithful to call them into a relationship with God that frees them in their lives to live as fully human persons.

Chris Cash: All right, and you know I wish we could talk more about these – about all of these books, but you know we’re starting to run a little short on time. So, let’s kind of go a little quickly through some of the other more popular things you got. I know another…

Matt Wielgos: Well, you can tell Chris, I love my work and I love these audiobooks, so if you need to stop me, stop me.

Chris Cash: Absolutely. Let’s talk briefly, A Call To Love, you did that one recently. That ones being fairly well, correct?

Matt Wielgos: Yes, Carl Anderson and Father Jose Granados wrote Call To Love. And we had Paul Smith who is a great voice talent, many of your listeners may know him from the – his pseudo name that he goes by on the radio, Brian Patrick on EWTN’s Son Rise Morning Show. Did a great job reading this book for us, it is essentially a review or a practical application of John Paul II, Theology of the Body. And is a great, I would say practical expression of that Theology of the Body for the everyday person. When I spoke to the folks at The Knights of Columbus, Carl Anderson is the grand knight there; I think it’s what they call him. They…

Chris Cash: Supreme knight. He’s the supreme knight.

Matt Wielgos: Supreme knight, yes. They expressed to me their desire to see many of their own members of the Knight to Columbus exposed to this work, and they felt for some reason I don’t know why that many of the members may not read it, but they may listen to it. So, that’s one of the reasons why we did this audiobook to get this message out to people in a different way, in a way that maybe was easier for them to encounter the message, and then incorporate it into their lives.

Chris Cash: And just to list of some of the other more popular things you have out right now, Jesus is my all and all, that’s Mother Theresa reflections, correct?

Matt Wielgos: Yes, it’s actually a audio version of the novena to Blessed Mother Theresa. That’s been promulgated by Mother Theresa’s order Father Brian Kolodiejchuk who is the postulator for her cause for canonization, put together her own words into this novena. And it’s been encouraged by the missionaries of Charity and others who love Mother Theresa to pray this novena for essentially the needs of your life. And what we’ve done with this is, it’s a shorter, it’s only a one CD audiobook we call it. But really it’s a prayer experience. We put it to music; we treated the words on the page as a prayer. It’s perfect for somebody to pick up a copy of this and on your drive to work throw out in your CD player, put it on your iPod and pray along on a daily basis through the nine day novena, multiple times during the course of your month or year or whatever it maybe. It’s a beautiful prayer and it is invoking the power of Mother Theresa’s prayer and intercession for our life.

Chris Cash: And then, you’ve also got Treasures in Clay, which is – now is that an autobiography of Fulton Sheen or is it just the biography?

Matt Wielgos: Yes, Fulton Sheen wrote his own autobiography. Many people may not have been exposed to this, especially people who are from my generation or beyond. Fulton Sheen wrote Treasure in Clay, actually just before he passed away. And it is a – just a chalk full of anecdote and spiritual wisdom and stories that will engage any listener from I would say from about 7 years on up. Father Greg Friedman whose a – the host of our American Catholic Radio program at Fransicscanradio.org. He voiced this audiobook and he entered into the spirit of Fulton Sheen in a unique way. When he was a young man as a child actually watching Fulton Sheen on the TV screen, he would actually put on a bishops, I guess they call it a cope or a cape, and he would maybe have a little *** [33:12], he pretended to be Fulton Sheen. As he – his parents who watched Fulton Sheen, his parents who watched Fulton Sheen on the TV screen, so it was a light for him and a real treasure for him to reproduce Fulton Sheen’s words. And I think he really captures some of the sense of Fulton Sheen and his delivery and how he – what he brought to his audience that he was so popular with back in the 50s and 60’s and even before that. And shares parts of his life that most people don’t know about it, his work with the missions overseas and his work as a bishop in his own diocese of *** [33:51] was something that most people have not heard about, because it happened beyond his television career.

Chris Cash: All right, well, Matt, we are out of time so we’re going to have to wrap this up, but you know you have a lot of new stuff that was coming out. You said it was coming out around June of next year?

Matt Wielgos: Yes, June of 2010, we have actually right now slated five audiobooks or maybe more than that. First one is My Life with the Saints Brothers changed my…

Chris Cash: You know what we’re – we will try to have you back on sometime around June when those books come out, so we can talk about them a little more in-depth and maybe even get some of those authors on to talk about ‘em as well.

Matt Wielgos: Oh, that’ll be great. Yes, and if I may share a Website where people can go look at our new releases that we update on a regular basis, as we put new things out, messengeraudio.com. If you go there, you’ll see all the new releases. You’ll also be able to link to our entire catalogue so people can take a look there.

Chris Cash: All right, well thank you much Matt for coming on this show and we will talk to you again soon. God bless.

Matt Wielgos: Hey, Chris, it’s been a pleasure. God bless you and your family and God bless you listeners as well. I’ve enjoyed talking to you all.

Chris Cash: All right, thank you.

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Transcript of Interview with Matt Wielgos about St. Anthony Audiobooks. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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The Promise – God’s Purpose and Plan for When Life Hurts
The Rite – The Making of a Modern Exorcist
Treasure in Clay – The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen
All audio books

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Items Discussed in this podcast:

The Promise – God’s Purpose and Plan for When Life Hurts
The Rite – The Making of a Modern Exorcist
Treasure in Clay – The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen
All audio books

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St. Damien of Molokai – Apostle of the Exiled
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Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash, director of E-Commerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

And today, we are talking with Matthew Bunson. He is the author of a book on Saint Damien of Molokai, the Apostle of the Exiled. This is and its especially relevant topic, because this weekend is the canonization of Saint Damien. So, welcome Matthew.

Matthew Bunson: Hello, it’s great to be with you again.

Chris Cash: We are actually very lucky to be catching Matthew, because he is heading out to Rome tomorrow to attend the canonization.

Matthew Bunson: Yes, I am. It’s quite an honor for me to be able to go. It’s been a while since I’ve been in Rome. But also, having grown up in Hawaii and having studied Damien and followed his life very closely, it’s a lot like going to the graduation of a very old friend of mine.

Chris Cash: A much, much older brother I’d say.

Matthew Bunson: And a much better person than I am.

Chris Cash: Now, how did you end up being invited to go the canonization or is it just something that you decided to do on your own?

Matthew Bunson: Well, the – that’s one of the reasons we are talking of course is that the – I have a new book out on Father Damien. My mother and I put this book together. It’s sort of the final edition of biography that she first did many years ago on Father Damien. And because of my friendship with a lot of the Sacred Heart Fathers who have of course followed the canonization very closely, they asked if I’d like to go. So, I was honored to be able to go to the canonization with them. And there’s going to be a very large contingent of people from Hawaii who are also invited to go and I looking forward to seeing them also.

Chris Cash: Now, have you ever actually been to the leper Colony on Molokai?

Matthew Bunson: Unfortunately, no and this is one of those horribly embarrassing things, in a way I lived in Hawaii for 17 years but never quite made it to Molokai. And it’s granted there are lot of different islands, so…

Chris Cash: Yes, it’s not like you can just hop on the bus and get over there.

Matthew Bunson: Right. However, I spent a very long amount of time in the Cathedral, of course in Honolulu, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace where Damien was actually ordained in 1864. And my mother and by benefit I also, helped to organize the Damien museum, which houses the vast repository of the effects and that relics of Father Damien and parts of the life and lot of his books, and his predo, his *** [03:01]. A lot of things that people find fascinating and enlightening and very moving about his life.

Chris Cash: Well, start of by talking about who Father Damien was and why his life was such – was a life of such horrid virtue? And then, maybe we can talk in a few minutes about the cause for his canonization and what was involved in bringing us to the point where he’s going to be canonized this weekend.

Matthew Bunson: Yes, well, simply put Father Damien de Veuster was a priest. He was a member of the Sacred Hearts Fathers, who wanted to become a missionary, was something that he wanted to do from his earliest time as a child. He knew that he was called to the priesthood. Now, he seemed really a fairly unlikely candidate, both to be a missionary and say to be a priest. He was a very peasant stock, he seemed very uneducated, he seemed – he was very rustic, by which I mean some people considered him to be a highly ill suited to be a pastor, a priest. He had first seemed to demonstrate little capacity for learning, he struggled with Latin and it’s amazing to me how many of the great Saints all struggled with Latin. And only by a great determination was he able to master enough Latin to be not just accepted in Sacred Hearts Fathers, but even to be ordained a priest, to be permitted to precede the Holy orders. So, as history often shows us, he was a most unlikely person to become an international hero, which is what he became before he died.

Chris Cash: So, what was it that happened? What forces created this leper colony? And what brought Father Damien to be the pastor there?

Matthew Bunson: Yes, this is one of those marvelous bits of providence. You had in Belgium this young peasant man, a peasant guy who wanted to become a priest. He was allowed to enter the Sacred Hearts Fathers and as I said he went through hard work was accepted. And his brother Pamphile was already a member of the Sacred Hearts and he was scheduled to go to serve in the missions. And Pamphile unfortunately became ill and had to drop out, Damien with what – this is something we can talk a little bit more about, with the sort of imminent practicality that he always displayed suggested to ahead of the – his potential and the head of Sacred Hearts Fathers that since there was already a birth open for his brother, he would go in his place. And this has of course far reaching consequences for everyone. And to everyone’s surprise, the head of the Sacred Hearts Fathers gave his permission.

Now, across the world in Hawaii in the early 1860’s, the Hawaiian Islands it’s like *** [05:53] place to live this paradise was stricken with the emergence of leprosy. And most people think of this as a disease of the ancient world as Old Testament in the *** [06:05]. And they’ve been brought into the islands, apposed from a couple of different directs. But they main one I they think was unfortunately among workers from China and Asia and its spread fairly quickly in parts of the Hawaiian population there. And the foreign population, by which I mean the Europeans and the Americans especially who had already established themselves in Hawaii went into full-fledged panic over the disease. And through their pressure, the monarch of Hawaii, that the King of Hawaii declared that Hawaii lepers that the people who are inflicted with the disease and indeed anyone who came down with the disease was to be removed from society for the good and safety of the rest of the kingdom. And they tried to find an ideal place to house them, and it turned out that the place they choose was on the island of Molokai. At the base of sheer rocky cliff, there’s a place called Kalaupapa and that is where a leper colony, a leprosarium was established. All with the best of intentions, and they hoped to have a lot of resources for them and medical care, and they established a superintendent. But as of ten happens, the best of intentions went horribly awry. And by the time, that Damien arrived conditions were deteriorating very rapidly.

So, you have these two interesting events, completely unrelated, you have the emergency – the emergence of leprosy in Hawaii. And then, Damien, this young man being sent all the way across the world to Hawaii where he was ordained a priest. He sort of finished the last bits of his formation in Honolulu and was ordained a priest and then sent of to the big Island, where he for the first time encountered leprosy and for the first time began working as a real missionary in the field.

Chris Cash: Now, there are still some places in the world, where leprosy continues to exist. You’re going to very briefly describe why people are so horrified by this specific disease?

Matthew Bunson: Yes, I – well, I think there are two reasons. One, it is possible to contract leprosy through contact with people with the disease. Now, there is as well as this very ancient stigma. I mean, when you think of lepers today, you think immediately of course of the Old Testament, you think of our lord healing the lepers. So, there was this horrendous stigma attached to the disease. And its associated also I think with the idea of separation, its – there is – there was even in Damien’s time this idea that those who are inflicted with leprosy were subject to some sort of a divine punishment. This was gods raft against them for an impure life or something like that.

Damien saw victims, he saw those who had contracted a horrible disease and wanted to give himself to care for them. But leprosy today, I’m happy to say thanks to a real concentrated effort by the world health organization, a lot of the countries of the first world is diminishing in its seriousness. And the number of victims largely through what’s called a multi-drug therapy. It’s much the same way that we have reduced the severity of the aids crises, HIV crises globally through a kind of cocktail which we use. And those who contract a disease can have it stopped in its tracks by this multi-drug therapy. That fortunately also really hasn’t cost that much, so thanks to the work of various leprosarium’s and scientist around the world. All of them like openly say that they were inspired in their work by Damien de Veuster. Leprosy I think is slowly on the road to extinction, but there are still pockets in Asia, South America and parts of Africa, where leprosy is still found and where people unfortunately every year still contract a disease.

Chris Cash: And I think one thing that I wanted to make sure we got to cross is just the horror of this disease is that your body goes numb. And then, through injuries to – since you can’t feel the injuries on your body like you would normally if you were in pain, you continue to injure yourself to the point where your body starts to deteriorate and rot and you eventually die from the complications.

Matthew Bunson: Right. And infections and everything else, yes. The pictures of lepers are some of the most horrifying to see of any disease. There are certain forms of leprosy including one called the leonine syndrome, which is what Damien actually contracted. That transform your skin completely so that you literally become unrecognizable even to your relatives from the swelling and other problems. And you are absolutely right that the disease itself destroys the nerves in the – your appendages. So that Damien in fact discovered that he first had the disease by accidentally pouring boiling water on his feet. And was stunned to realize that he had just done something that should be causing him to leap around the room, but he felt nothing. And that was this moment when he knew that something was seriously wrong and that he you know certainly has the disease. So, your legs and arms often have to be amputated in order to prevent ganglion, serious infections develop, you can develop severe respiratory problem and that the – the disease in some cases can bring on dementia and blindness. So, this is as terrible a disease as I think you could imagine.

Chris Cash: Yes, I mean, we think about the diseases we deal with this country and even AIDS tends to be the most feared disease in this country, and yet when you compare it to the horror of living with leprosy, its not even a good – not even a comparison.

Matthew Bunson: Right. But the comparison in a way is an apt one, because we can talk a little bit about that. Thanks to Damien, there are different HIV and AID centers in the United States and around the world that are named after him, the Damien Centers. Because Damien was willing to go where a lot of people aren’t and that is to care for those who are forgotten, those who are exiled, those who are ignored by society. And certainly in the early days of the AIDS, HIV AIDS crises and even today in parts of the world, those who are afflicted with the HIV virus and when full blown AIDS develop, you have people who die alone. And Damien was committed to the fact that no one should have to die alone, forgotten. And in that sense, then I think Damien’s work is a true inspiration for those who are engaged in AIDS ministry.

Chris Cash: And besides that, you know a big difference with AIDS is that the caretakers of someone, especially in that day and time, someone who is a caretaker to someone with leprosy had a good chance of contracting the disease as apposed to modern day AIDS caretakers and so you know…

Matthew Bunson: Yes, absolutely. Yes, yes that’s exactly true. And one of the things that Damien discovered when he first arrived on Molokai was that you have these poor victims who no one was really taking care of and the medical conditions there were absolutely just *** [03:35] terrible. They were dying alone and no one was there really to provide them the kind of medical care, they didn’t have proper shelter, they didn’t have words for them to die, medicines and you then you name it. It was pretty much missing from the leper colony. So, he put himself immediately at the very great risk when he first took up the position there.

Chris Cash: So, what was it that Damien did other than the things you kind of already touched upon that really made his name for being a person of heroic virtue in the colony?

Matthew Bunson: Yes, well, Damien had arrived in Hawaii, he was ordained a priest and he was sent to the Big Island. Immediately, he became aware of course of this crises of leprosy in the islands. And the colony itself, everyone was aware that there was something – things were pretty bad on Molokai. And one of the things that the – his Bishop Luis-Desire-Maigret who is one of those forgotten heroes in the missionary of the world asked to his priest of Sacred Hearts Fathers, he asked if several of them would be willing to volunteer to serve as temporary Chaplin on Molokai to these lepers. So, they had some sort of spiritual care, some sort of Pastoral Ministry. And his idea was that they’ll be there for a couple of months and then he would rotate them out, because you can imagine that the conditions being what they were, there were this medical risk and just the sheer grind and that the toll that that kind of ministry would take on someone.

Damien, when he heard about this immediately volunteered not just to go to the Islands, but to be their permanent Chaplin. And what’s remarkable about that is that he had it seems, since long before he volunteered for this that he was going to be caring for the lepers. He says this much in his letters back home to his brother and also to the one of the heads of the Sacred Hearts Fathers that he knew innately through his prayer that god was pointing him in the direction that he was supposed to go. So, Maigret his Bishop says to the Lepers when he bring the Damien into their midst. And this is in 1873 that I bring a Father to you, and he said he loves you so much that he does not hesitate to become one of you. So that were prophetic words to live and die with you. And from that point on, nothing was ever the same in this leper colony. People used to phrase Damien with selfless, well that’s absolutely true, but in a way it’s a understatement. Damien wasn’t selfless. In fact, he gave of himself, but he gave of himself because as a priest he saw himself as a Christ in the midst of these lepers, in the midst of their suffering. And he wrote to his brother Pamphile that I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all the Jesus Christ.

So, right from the start, he elevated what he was doing to the level of heroic virtue by the degree of his charity. And then, over the next 15 years as he continued to work with them and eventually died among them, he practiced the virtues in a truly heroic way. In particular, the virtue I think afforded to. Because consider when he first arrived there, he had to bury at least 600 people with his own hands. He made the coffins, he dug the graves, he wrapped the clothes and put them into the ground. He built their shelters; he made a clinic for them. He did all of this essentially on his own, but he had to go to sleep every night and wake up everyday knowing that he was going to have to face lepers in the last stage of the disease, he had to amputate arms and legs. He had to deal with this unbelievable things, things that are literally unimaginable to the average person. And he did this every day for 15 years.

Chris Cash: And all the while having full knowledge that he was eventually going to end up like this, even though he had the choice to leave.

Matthew Bunson: Yes, exactly, he volunteered to stay there. And he could have left it anytime you see, no one would have thought maybe anything less of him had he written at some point to his superiors that I really can’t do this anymore. But he stayed because he knew that this is where Christ wanted him, Christ had asked him to be here. So, it was impossible for him to say no. Some of us might be able to, but he couldn’t.

Chris Cash: Now, let’s move on just a little bit to the cause for his canonization and the significance of this for America, because you know we don’t have a whole lot of Americans saints yet. You’re Mr. Statistics I know. Do you have any statistics on how many American saints there are?

Matthew Bunson: Not that many actually. We have – if we think of, we have Elizabeth Ann Seton, we have Mother Cabrini, we have Katherine Drexel. There are few others who are blessed; we have Kateri Tekakwitha for example. But then, we also have a number of causes that are currently open. We have…

Chris Cash: Mother Theodore Guerin here in Indiana I know.

Matthew Bunson: Yes, exactly she was – who was just canonized last year I think. We also have that the causes of for Fulton Sheen, we have Patrick Peyton. We have also Cardinal Cooke for example. I mean there are lot of causes that are open, but Damien is sort of a new addition for Saints.

Now, some quibble because Hawaii was still technically a kingdom when he was serving there that we shouldn’t necessarily consider him a Saint for United States. But I think that’s a bit of technicality that really doesn’t need to apply here. Plus I should also add that one of his greatest allies, Mother Marianne Cope who helped to run the leper colony on Molokai after Damien’s death. She’s now blessed in her own cause for canonization is preceding very swiftly.

Chris Cash: So, how did the cause for his canonization become opened? And I mean, obviously, he is well respected even far beyond within the church for his efforts there on Molokai. But you know you want to outline very briefly his cause and I assume that there were some miracles associated with it?

Matthew Bunson: Yes. Yes, absolutely, yes. Well, it’s commonly thought, it’s sort of in the popular imagination that James – that the Damien was forgotten by the world. That he sort of died on Molokai and the world, then suddenly realized what was in their midst. Actually, Damien was an internationally renowned figure who was beloved all over the world. There were Anglican divines for example who’s constantly sent him money, because they admired the work he was doing. When he was diagnosed with Leprosy, a lot of newspapers around the world carried with banner headlines that the Damien of Molokai had diagnosed with leprosy himself. And at the time of his deaths, it was again banner headlines and there was mourning all over the world about his passing. So…

Chris Cash: So, very similar to the fame that mother Theresa had working in India?

Matthew Bunson: Yes, exactly. And in a way that some people think that if you are famous in your lifetime that somehow that takes away from you possibly being a Saint. I mean, it’s for the way the modern world way thinks, quite the opposite. You had then the attestation, the testimony of so many people who knew in his life that it really was considered a matter of time before his cause was open. And his cause really opened in a fairly shorter order at – after his death, it’s just like a lot of causes. It takes a while. One of the reasons why his remains were requested to be brought back to Belgium by the Kingdom of Belgium in 1936 with the full support of the Sacred Hearts Fathers, because they knew of course what they had, that they knew that this was a truly precious human being.

The causes as often as the case took a long time. You know unfortunately that’s the way and it should be. I think any cause for canonization has to follow a very careful norms so that we are not rushing into things. In 1977, Pope Paul the 6th declared Father Damien to be venerable and that was then followed in June of 1995, when Pope John Paul the second beatified him. Of course, he gave him that the full title of blessed and that was on the basis of the first miracle. And subsequently, a second miracle was proved by the congregation of the causes of saints. And that cleared the way for his canonization that just took – that this is going be taking place this weakened. So, again, if we think we go back all the way to the 1930’s till today, that is a very long time and that despite the efforts of a lot of people both in Hawaii and around the world.

Chris Cash: Do you have any information on the miracles that occurred?

Matthew Bunson: Yes, the – that the second – the first one I believe was part of a cure of a nun in France that actually took place in 1895. She prayed for Damien’s intercession and she was apparently going to be dying fairly soon of an intestinal disease. And that immediately after requesting Damien’s intercession, she was cured of her ailment. The second miracle was attributed to the intercession of Damien by a woman by the name of Audrey Toguchi. Now, its interesting about that is that she is a woman from Hawaii was diagnosed with terminal cancer and went to the grave of Father Damien on Molokai and was subsequently healed of all of her cancer. And the – so there you have it. A very careful analysis of the medical records was undertaken as is always required, a committee of scientists and medical people who examined everything. And the miracle itself was given approval proved by the congregation of the causes of saints clearing the way for the canonization.

Chris Cash: And how many years ago was the second miracle?

Matthew Bunson: I believe it was in ’97.

Chris Cash: Okay, so it’s still even after the second miracle took another 12 years to make all of the arrangements to finalize things and…

Matthew Bunson: Yes, that’s exactly. And that’s one of the reason why when we talk about the causes for saints, we always have to stress; we have to be very patient with these things, because they precede at their own pace. And there are a lot of causes that will never get past certain points, because for whatever reason a miracle isn’t proven or a miracle isn’t proven to the satisfaction of the congregation of the causes of saints, because they have very stringent rules set in canon law and of the church law to make sure that the – what’s happening is verifiable. At least, as best we can from a medical standpoint and that takes a while.

Chris Cash: Now, I also want to talk briefly here about the applications of the message of Father Damien and what he has done to the average individual out there, as well as to priest here in the – here the priest you know. One of the things that comes to mind to me when I think of Father Damien is it reminds of the priests on D-Day who insisted that they wanted to go out with the troupes onto the beaches in Normandy despite the fact that they knew they were going to get mowed down, but they felt it was their responsibility to be there, to deliver last rites to the men and to give last chances for confessions on the boats going over and so forth. Whereas other clergy, I mean priests were pretty much the only clergy that landed on D-Day.

Matthew Bunson: Right. That’s a – it’s a great point and what’s stopping I think *** [26:11] I think we lost – give or take about 5,000 men that day, the Normandy beaches. And that the priest were willing to go out to land on those beaches, because they believed in something. The believed that when you die, you should not die alone, you should have the opportunity to die with Christ, you should have the opportunity to die with the sacraments. And that is the level of remarkable commitment that is heroic. And I think your analogy is exactly right that, that Damien knew that Christ was asking him to go and take care of these lepers under what were pretty difficult circumstances, I think we’ve been talking about. Why because, we believe in the deeper reality of things, we believe that the sacraments should be there for you at the end that the Vatican that you should travel to Christ with the sacraments, and that’s what Damien believed. And that the – what’s interesting about that is that there is that lesson that you just hit on for the average person that – and that goes back to the idea of charity that we really can’t give of ourselves to our family, to our friends, we can do it selflessly, but we can do it because we have these models. But the other is that the virtue that I was talking about earlier fortitude. We all have problems and those problems are unique to us and some problems seem worse to us than other people’s, but they are still problems that we have to deal with in daily life. Damien is a great model for us, you can’t get up everyday and deal with the problems and challenges that life brings, and you can do it in pretty heroic fashion. Again by staying centered on what Christ is asking you to do with that particular moment.

And then, there is that issue of the priesthood. I think Damien from the moment he arrived on Kalaupapa, wanted to be that alter Christus, to use the traditional phrase, he wanted to be Christ in their midst to be another Christ for them, which is what a priest is called to do, to act in persona Christi. And he had this marvelous pastoral practicality about him. He did the job that was in front of him like so many pastors we know, he barely had time to worry about a lot of the deeper issues of life and everything else, he did it because he knew that that’s what Christ wanted him to do and he found practical solutions to real world problems like priest do. So, I think he’s a great role model for priest everywhere.

Chris Cash: Well, I know you have another interview you got to get of to as well as you need to finish packing up for your trip tomorrow. Was there anything else you wanted to share real quickly before we hit of?

Matthew Bunson: Just that lets also remember that there are few other saints who are going to be canonized this Sunday, including one who has American connections and that’s Blessed Jeanne Jugan who was a French nun, who did some great work in Canada. So, let’s celebrate that as well, as well as the other saints who are going to be canonized. And let’s take a little bit of time this weekend if we can to give some thought to the canonization, and go to the Vatican Website. It should be available on Monday and read the holy Fathers homily, because that’s always worth reading and his reflections on the Saints that he is going to be proclaiming on Sunday.

Chris Cash: And of course we have a wide variety of Father Damien books, medals, icons, photographs and so forth now available over CatholicCompany.com for you to peruse through. I will have links of those over in the show notes or of course you can always go to CatholicCompany.com and search for Saint Damien, they will show up. It’s a D-A-M-I-E-N, Saint Damien of Molokai. And of course, within that group you will also find Matthew and Margaret’s book. Saint Damien of Molokai, Apostle of the Exiled. It’s a great read and I’m sure you will all enjoy it very much.

Matthew, I very much appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule here to come and talk to us. And I…

Matthew Bunson: Oh, my pleasure, anytime, anytime.

Chris Cash: Absolutely and I hope that you have a lot of fun over in Rome this weekend.

Matthew Bunson: I think that’s a safe bet, its Rome.

Chris Cash: I’ve never been so I don’t know.

Matthew Bunson: Well, thank you and God bless.

Chris Cash: God bless you too.

———————————

Transcript of Interview with Matthew Bunson about St. Damien of Molokai. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

St. Damien of Molokai – Apostle of the Exiled
All St. Damien de Veuster items
at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-catalog/715/St-Damien-the-leper-de-Veuster-of-Molokai

Matthew is lucky enough to be attending the canonization of Blessed Damien the Leper this weekend in Rome. He shares with us about the life of St. Damien as well as the miracles that led to his canonization.

View the Transcript

Vote for us at Podcast Alley – Please vote for us every month to help us get our show in front of more people

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Items Discussed in this podcast:

St. Damien of Molokai – Apostle of the Exiled
All St. Damien de Veuster items

Follow us on Twitter @CatholicSplight

You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-426-1207. Be sure to join our Catholic Spotlight Facebook Group where we send out announcements about upcoming interviews. You will be able to call in your questions for our future guests. You might just be on our next show.

Subscribe to our feed | Subscribe with iTunes
Subscribing to our feed lets you know when new shows are available
so you will never miss any of our exciting guests.

A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

———————–

Chris Cash: Welcome to Catholic Spotlight. This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash, director of E-Commerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

And today in the Spotlight we have Jerry Usher. We’re not really talking about any products today; we’re talking about vocations and Jerry’s new project VocationBoom.com. This is an incredible new resource to help reach out to those who are being called by god to enter the priesthood. Jerry, welcome to the show.

Jerry Usher: Thank you, Chris. Great to be with you again.

Chris Cash: And I apologize for the sound quality for those of you on the show listening. Jerry is having an incredibly busy day, but he has found a little bit of time to squeeze us in and he’s on a cell phone. But you know I’m sure that we’re going to listen in and really hear some great stuff regardless of how the sound quality is. So, Jerry, can you tell us about what was the impetus for starting up this Vocation Boom?

Jerry Usher: Well, Chris, this goes back really about 20 years to when I was in the seminary myself as many of your listeners may know, I spent a few years in formation for the priesthood in the late ‘80’s early ‘90’s. And well, I just stood at a real sense from my heart at that time that I wanted to everything I could to promote vocations for priesthood. And a good friend mine, we both went to Franciscan University, and he is now our native priest, Father Darrin Merlino. We had started a newsletter called In Persona Christi and we are sending that up to seminaries around the country, really around the world. And we did that for a few years and then, just due to a lot of circumstances, time, constraints and everything and budget and all that, its just kind of – it was just something we weren’t able to continue for the time being, but you know we’d hoped all this kind of bring it back. But my vision included not only that newsletter but using media, multi-media and maybe even doing conferences or retreats around the country on the priesthood and so. That desire that vision on my heart just kind of remained there and kept growing and growing, and growing for about the last two years I’ve been trying to move this vocation boom vision forward. And then when Pope Benedict proclaimed the year for priest, I thought wow you know this is just a confirmation of everything that’s been on my heart to do in this regard.

Chris Cash: Now, every diocese has a vocation director, somebody who is in charge of encouraging vocation within that dioceses, every order has a vocation director in a vocation department. Where did you see that they were falling short that you needed to help assist in this way?

Jerry Usher: It wasn’t a matter of, thinking they were falling short at all. I just think that you know there is really what we wanted to do is we want to try and reach some of these young men before they would even have any contact with a vocation director. In other words, as you so well know because you may use of all the new media, we’ve got you know Facebook, Twitter, podcasting, YouTube, you name it. This is where young guys today are hanging out and they may not ever come in contact with the vocation director, unless where they see something like our Website, you know a lot of diocese stop in our Website. So, this is in no way a commentary on the job that’s been being done by vocation directors. They got their hands full, most of ‘em are usually full time and *** [03:56] and everything, and they are doing a great job. We just want to help out and really try and cast that net as widely as we can and then, hopefully when these guys had a say the priest that really might be something that I could in my life, then they would approach a vocation director. So, this isn’t saying at all you know that they have been doing a good job, this is in competing with them. Hopefully, this is just complementing their work and even you know – maybe even you know doing a little bit of work, ground work before these guys would ever have any contact with vocation directors.

Chris Cash: You know and there is no shortage of places where we need to get the word out. I can remember back when I used to be a youth minister, our diocese was running ads on MTV to encourage people to consider vocations. They were very nicely done ads; it just said have you ever thought about being a priest. And they were getting calls from non-Catholics, saying I’m interested in being a priest. So, you know even if it doesn’t necessarily lead to a vocation, it certainly does lead to opportunities to open up conversations about our faith.

Jerry Usher: Absolutely. You know we got to be using all the various forms of media. You know the other side, you know *staying* [05:14] in the dark side, they certainly make use of the media tremendously. And you know of course there are the councils and the Popes and everybody have been calling on Lay – especially, Lay Catholics to do their – not just for years but from decades. And you know we’re starting to do that and hopefully, vocation boom is all our contribution to making use of – you know fully use of the media to help Church in someway and what other way than with regard to vocation. Because you know without the priesthood, you know we would never sacrament the Eucharist and fashion and all that. So, I used to feel like, we got to be making use of all the media like this.

Chris Cash: You know and the other thing that I personally see as needing additional help in resources is just parents coming to an understanding that they should at least present vocations as an option to their children, because I feel like there are so many parents who if they hear their son or daughter is considering a vocation, just shut that down right now and say I, wont grant children.

Jerry Usher: Yes, yes that’s you know – I mean there used to be of course six, eight, ten kids in a Catholic family. And you know it was a great joy when you know two, three or four among the last priest, a religious life. Yes, its unfortunate when you see that attitude in parents, it’s certainly not across the board. But yes, I think we really need to be encouraging our young people today. We don’t have – we don’t necessarily have the same influences that there were a couple of generations ago, you know when Catholic schools were – they were all taught by priests and nuns, you know 20, 30,. 40 years ago. We don’t have that, so that the priest does not *infer* [06:57] our young people nowadays, and that’s just a lot of other things. But yes, I think parents – and what they want to do – we’re going to have a section on Vocation Boom dedicated to helping parents and families and friends know what to do when one of their family members starts exhibiting signs of a vocation or even so that he thinks he might want to look into the priesthood. A lot of family and friends – friends by frankly don’t know what to do after that. They think for themselves what do I do to help this. We want to have a session on the site to give them a resource.

Chris Cash: Yes, you know it – its something that I’ve noticed even the army has been doing lately is running advertising to help parents process how to react when their child says I’m interested in joining the armed forces. So, it’s definitely something that will be useful. Now, one thing that I think is really awesome on your site is you have a great section of videos that are little snippets that are kind of small commercials that on in a YouTube kind of format. You want to talk a little bit about the development of those?

Jerry Usher: Well, I tell you what; we got a fantastic creative team that has done a great job. We – they put together a number of constant videos just for Vocation Boom, but what you see on the site, you know we also have kind of being looking around on YouTube for videos that we could link up to on our site. And I don’t know how much you’re on there right now, maybe a couple of dozen but you know overtime we hope that the site is going to house maybe you know perhaps hundred or even thousands of videos. We eventually want to make the site much more interactive, kind of like a Facebook type of site where users can have their own profile and put *** [08:46] personal information about themselves and you know have friends and connections, maybe e-mail addresses. And then, be able to upload photos and videos. We really wanted to be a global online meeting place for those men thinking about the priesthood in those dioceses and orders that are looking for good candidates. So, and obviously, we feel like you know videos are very important. Look at YouTube, how many young guys are in YouTube probably everyday. So, we wanted to come out with some pretty cool videos, and I think our creative team did a nice job.

Chris Cash: And I’ve also had a similar conversation with someone from the Daughters of Saint Paul’s about how the first place someone often goes nowadays when they think, you know I might have a vocation is they go out online and they start doing searches on YouTube and through the social media sites. Its kind of feel out, if that might be something that’s really on their heart, so having these kind of ads out there both in the social media space as well as on YouTube are very important.

Jerry Usher: Yes, without a doubt. Like you said you’re right on Chris. You know if a young guy, a family, you know with a son, they’re thinking you know they want to go to a priestly vocation here, they don’t often think, like you said well, let me call my pastor, let me call the dioceses, which are great ideas, but they may just Google. You know Google is our – Google well – Google, Google knows everything. You know I like…

Chris Cash: Google is safe; it doesn’t feel like you are signing your life away by telling your priest.

Jerry Usher: Yes, exactly. You know and there’s tons of information out there. As I like to say Google knows everything.

Chris Cash: At least, they’d like you to think that. That’s for sure.

Jerry Usher: Right, right.

Chris Cash: So, now – right now, this site is dedicated specifically to men and the vocation, the priesthood, there are other sites out there that are dedicated to vocations for women. Maybe we’re able to – if any of you women spiritual directors who are out there have a similar site, give us a – some feedback and we’ll see about featuring you on our show sometime as well, because we certainly want to encourage women’s vocations also. What other resources do you have available here on your site?

Jerry Usher: Well, right now there is several times that have just information. One kind of a general description of who and what a priest is. There is kind of steps to follow, and these are not – you know its not like we have all the answers, but we just – there’s several suggested steps that if you feel like you might have a vocation, some things you can do. And they are very simple, like pray, discern, talk to your family, find out a wise priest, the holy priest you could talk t, get involved in your parish, you know spend time in prayer. Things like this and then just a little bit about you know – well, once you move beyond that, you know the application process and then, god willing you get the seminary and get ordained. And we have a link – I mean a page with links to all the diocese and seminaries around the country. And we have a link now, but it doesn’t have the information on it yet, but we’re going to have a vocation directory – a vocation director directory, if you will where people will click on a link and find the vocation director in their area. You mentioned the gallery with the photos, you know its just a – I think there’s a lot of good stuff up there right now, but like I said earlier this is really hopefully just scratching the surface on what the side eventually will be.

Chris Cash: And of course, one thing you can always do to help out the ministry is or the apostle is to follow them on twitter. You can go to Vocation Boom, you can see where you can follow, on twitter, you can find their Facebook page and become a fan. You can follow them on YouTube, tell your friends about it, spread the word, especially those of you with young men friends who might be considering a vocation even if they haven’t said something about it yet. This is just a really good way to gently spread the word and let people know that hey, vocations can be cool.

Jerry Usher: Yes, you make a great point. You know with the Facebook and the twitter, and I have to admit, I still have a lot to learn about how to use all of those resources. But its just immediate communication and contact today, well, they will be wanting to get the word out quickly and really widely with those you know media sources is just tremendous. So, yes, we got some of our people to take advantage of that.

Chris Cash: So, is there anything else specific that someone listening to the show today might be able to do to help you out in encouraging vocations?

Jerry Usher: Well, certainly spread the word, that’s all we’re asking. You know this is a – it’s a nonprofit initiative. I don’t plan to ever take a dime from this. I do have some people that I have to pay, so you know we need to do some fund raising if anyone you know wants to help us out. That’s not the purpose of you know spreading the word today, but you know I just ask people to get the word out there, because we all know young man and maybe not so young man who we will get them at least say, I wonder if he has a – he might have a vocation, he’s the type of guy, he exhibits these signs that he may – you know I think he’ll make a good priest and maybe they’re even thinking about that, but they don’t really know where to turn. And again, we’re just one of the many resources out there. We’re not the only resource, we’re not the definitive resource, but we feel like overtime we’re going to have something pretty valuable to offer. And so, I would just ask people hey, VocationBoom.com get the word out, that’s the most important thing you can do.

Chris Cash: Well, and you know it also bears mentioning that this is not necessarily always just for young men, there are many older men out there who I have known several very excellent priests who did not realize their vocation until they were in their 40’s and 50’s. And sometimes even they raised their family, they’re widower and they decide in their 60’s or 70’s to – well, probably not in their 70’s, but and much later in life decide to start exploring the idea of a vocation, so.

Jerry Usher: Yes, I agree, I’ve known back that I was in this one – like I said I was in the seminary and there were plenty of guys in their ‘50’s and ‘60’s, so its not just for young men, but obviously we’re trying to design the site you know with a younger audience in mind, because then it gets easier for you know some of this little bit older maybe in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s whatever to relate to you know more of a younger style site and for some of this younger, if we were to design the site you know more for an older person, you know the younger people might have a tougher time identifying with that. So, you know our target audience certainly is maybe is you know 17 to 28 something like that, but you know there’s something on the site for everybody.

Chris Cash: Absolutely, especially once you start getting the sharing resources available and more information up there on how to contact and who to contact.

Jerry Usher: Yes.

Chris Cash: Well, is there anything else you wanted to share with us? I know your time is little tight today, so.

Jerry Usher: Well, I would just ask people to pray for this site. And then, the Website like I said there’s going to be a lot more done to the Website and then we hope to even roll out a radio show and a TV show. And do those conferences on the priesthood that I mentioned in the beginning. And so, it’s just a – it’s a big initiative; we’re thinking big, we’re dreaming big. If god you know wants to bless and he will if not He wont. I think it’s of god, so I would just ask everyone listening right now to please especially keep the initiative in your prayers.

Chris Cash: And definitely go, follow on Twitter, follow on Facebook, become a fan Facebook. The more people who do that, the – even if you’re not so interested in it in yourself, it helps to bring attention to the site. So, that other people who might benefit from it will see it.

Jerry Usher: Yes, absolutely.

Chris Cash: Well, thank you so much Jerry for all that you are doing to help encourage our young men and to bring about the more priests that our church desperately needs right now. We really, really appreciate that and you know that’s why I wanted to get you on this show. So, thank you so much.

Jerry Usher: You are very welcome Chris. Keep up the great work.

Chris Cash: All right, have a great day. God bless.

———————–

Transcript of Interview with Jerry Usher about VocationBoom.com. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

View the Transcript

Vote for us at Podcast Alley – Please vote for us every month to help us get our show in front of more people

Help promote Catholic Podcasts.

Items Discussed in this podcast:

VocationBoom.com

Follow us on Twitter @CatholicSplight

You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-426-1207. Be sure to join our Catholic Spotlight Facebook Group where we send out announcements about upcoming interviews. You will be able to call in your questions for our future guests. You might just be on our next show.

Subscribe to our feed | Subscribe with iTunes
Subscribing to our feed lets you know when new shows are available
so you will never miss any of our exciting guests.

A VERY special thanks to Dave Miller for providing the awesome music in this podcast.

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Regina Doman Books
John Paul II High books at The Catholic Company.

http://search.catholiccompany.com/search?w=regina+doman

http://search.catholiccompany.com/search?w=%22Christian+M.+Frank

———————–

Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what is new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I am your host Chris Cash, Director of ecommerce from catholiccompany.com your source for all your Catholic needs. And today, in the spotlight, we have Regina Doman, author of many, many different things. But today we are going to talk mainly about the teen novel series that she is both writing and as well as some of the stuff that she is acting as chief editor for Sophia Press. Welcome Regina.
Regina Doman: Hey, thank you.
Chris Cash: So, Regina, would you like to share anything about yourself before we start and talking about the books?
Regina Doman: Oh, well, gosh. Well, I don’t know … I was raised Catholic. I have been Catholic all my life. It’s been a wonderful way to be raised, I’ll say that. So basically my journey has kind of been just growing in my Catholic faith. I kind of always say I was- my life has sort of jumped from one Catholic fishbowl to another because I was raised in a different little Catholic communities and I went to Franciscan University of Steubenville for college and then I did an internship at- actually, my first job was at Catholic United for the Faith in New York City. Then now I actually am living just outside of Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. So, yeah, it has been great just to be living among the devout Catholics all my life long. That’s- I don’t know, it’s probably one of the reasons why I end up writing the sort of stories that I write.
Chris Cash: What is it that makes your stories Catholic, I guess?
Regina Doman: Yeah, it’s kind of a funny thing because originally like for these books, I had a hard time selling them, because … you know, the books that I write and the books that now I edit for Sophia Institute Press like they’re not like your typical secular novel, but at the other hand, they’re not like your typical Christian fiction novel ‘cause, I don’t know, some of the readers are probably familiar with Christian fiction published by Christians Booksellers Association, various press and publishers. My books, the books that I write and the books that I edit are different from that, because- basically, the way I always describe my books is I say, well, my books have Catholic characters and they have Catholic themes. But I don’t really write my books to evangelize people. I write books to tell a good story and I encourage my authors to do that as well. It is my belief that if you are a Catholic and you are writing a story, it’s going to end up being Catholic just from the fact of who you are, if you’re writing in a true way. So, yeah. I always say, with Protestants, I think when they write their fiction there is always- they’re kind of always put this burden on themselves to evangelize people and I say, you know as Catholics we really don’t have to do that. It’s enough for us to just tell a good story because that’d entice people’s imagination with power just as much.
Chris Cash: Yeah, they probably would consider it a Christian novel if it didn’t smack you over the head and say, convert, convert, join us.
Regina Doman: Yeah, exactly. I just kind of think, we really- I actually just gave a talk at the Catholic marketing network’s Catholic writers conference and I try to point out to people that if you are a Catholic novelist, I said, you were not to be a teacher. You’re not there, I said, you can’t be a teacher. There’s lots of people who need to be taught. If you’re a teacher, I say go out there and write books. Write non-fiction, you will probably make money. I said that if you’re a novelist you’re also not there to preach. I said, if you have a heart to preach, be a preacher. There’s a great need for preachers out there. If you write books about- if you preach and you write books, you will probably make money. I said, but if you are a novelist, a Catholic novelist, what you are is you’re an entertainer. You’re there to help people have a good time. It’s like, you’re like this guy with a guitar on the street corner kind of singing, hey I got a great song, come please, listen to me. It’s like you’re in a very humble position. You’re not trying to endow your audience with wisdom and knowledge. You’re trying to entertain them, trying to take them out of their busy frantic lives and give them a chance to relax. I said, it’s really a wonderful vocation. It’s a very humbling vocation. I said, ironically, in order to become great Catholic novelist, we have to take ourselves much less seriously and we have to take our art, our craft much, much more seriously, because in America there is an awful lot of good entertainment out there. I mean, America has produced some of the best movies and novels in the world right now. I mean, some of them are- junk off or junk we don’t want to expose our kids to. But the fact is in terms of storytelling, there is a very high degree of entertainment value out there. Basically, it’s like that’s we have to compete with. In order to do that, that just means we have to be as Catholics, we have to be very, very good. Yeah, that’s why I strive for myself and that’s what I strive for in the novelists that I work with, that I publish for Sophia Institute Press.
Chris Cash: You’re also- a theme that I heard you mentioned over and over in there was, and you might make some money doing this. My experience with Catholic authors is that very few of them ever make any significant money, if even any money at all.
Regina Doman: Oh yeah. No, no, no. I mean, I was just kind of- when I’m saying that I’m referencing the fact that most Catholic books are sold, like the top sellers are non-fiction. Primarily, the Catholic market that’s what we have. We have non-fiction books and some of the more successful authors, the ones who do make money, they’re writing non-fiction. But I don’t know of any Catholic novelist writing for the Catholic Press who is making anything near worth what they actually produce. Like I said, I say to people, look if you want to be a novelist, you have to do it for the love, not for the money. There’s not money in it, at least not right now.
Chris Cash: That personally, as a book lover and a book seller, I think it’s both a shame that we don’t see more opportunity to make a just living as a Catholic novelist ‘cause that just discourages people from even getting into that field.
Regina Doman: Well, it’s true, but you know what, I think the past is going to change. I think a lot of that has to do with the buying habits of Catholics. That’s really what it comes down to is that when Catholics go to entertainment, they go to blockbuster. They don’t go to their Catholic bookstore for entertainment. But, if Catholic publishers start producing good entertainment, I think Catholics are going to notice it. I think it’s going to take some effort and I think it’s going to take some time, but I think that there’s enough Catholics out there who are serious about their faith and who are serious enough about their entertainment. You’ve had the experience where you’re watching a TV show and it’s really great and then some joke about the Pope comes on, or then some totally sexualized scene that’s totally gratuitous come on and all of a sudden it’s not entertainment anymore. It’s a source of temptation. It’s a source of frustration. That’s not fun anymore. That’s one of the reasons why Catholics do partake of so much Christian entertainment simply because it is safe. It doesn’t contain that same type of cheese grating type of- blows to our Catholic faith that we don’t want to be experiencing while we’re trying to recreate. I think that there’s enough- the non-Catholics out there who are looking for that kind of entertainment are growing. I think that eventually if Catholic publishers publish it, I think Catholics are going to start buying it. It’s exciting moment to be in as a Catholic author. I always said, I don’t this stops us from selling to the secular world. I am in touch with a number of Catholic novelists who just write for the secular world, and I say, that’s great. That’s where we ought to be eventually, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong for writing for a specifically Catholic market which is what, at least right now, what I call if you’re called to do.
Chris Cash: The Death of the Pope by Piers Paul Reid did take some significant waves as a Catholic novel…
Regina Doman: Yeah, totally.
Chris Cash: As a Catholic suspense novel. If you want more information on that, look back in our show archives. I did an interview with him a few months ago.
Regina Doman: Yeah. I think they sold, I don’t know, like 17,000 right out the door. I mean, that’s remarkable.
Chris Cash: Huge numbers for a Catholic marketplace.
Regina Doman: Totally.
Chris Cash: It’s like a Scott Hahn book.
Regina Doman: Yeah, exactly, which is wonderful. I always say, as a Catholic, other Catholic novelists, I said, this is good news for me. Like, we have no competitors at this stage in the game. Everybody who is reading Catholic fiction, everybody who is writing it is doing us all a favor because we’re trying to change the buying habits of Catholics. God bless, what’s his name again? Piers? I can’t pronounce…
Chris Cash: Piers Paul Reid I believe is…
Regina Doman: That’s right. Piers Paul Reid – I want to say the other way around. Yeah, God bless and more power to him. I hope he writes more books.
Chris Cash: Well, he’s written several. This was his first foray into the Catholic specific book, but he’s quite an accomplished storyteller from many other books that he has written. It’s good crossing over.
Regina Doman: As a Catholic editor, I’m actually seeing that. In fact, when Sophia Press started their new fiction line, Chisel and Cross Books and the Imagio lines, we kind of put out the word that we’re going to do Catholic fiction. We expect that we are going to get amateurs. That was kind of what we are prepared to do, but instead we found that there are good Catholic, good novelists out there who have been published in the secular; who have published in the Christian fiction world; who have written Catholic books and they are looking to sell to a Catholic audience. Actually, the first two books I have done was Sophia Press one is by a former Christian author. I mean, of course he’s still Christian. He’s Catholic. John Des Jarlais—he had written some award-winning books in the Christian market. He became Catholic; wrote a Catholic novel and had nobody to sell it to. Fortunately, as God’s timing would have it. We were advertising for fiction at the same time. We just published his new novel called Bleeder, about the death of a Catholic stigmatic priest. That’s a fun mystery that he wrote and I’m hoping that you readers will pick that up and take a look at that one. The second novelist we found was Claudia Cangilla McAdam whose book is coming out hot off the press at Sophia Press, Awakening. She published- has over several novels in the secular steer and again wrote a Catholic novel about the time of Christ; could not find anyone to publish it and send it to us. I have been seeing this pattern happen again and again. It’s actually kind of exciting.
Chris Cash: Maybe, we’ll have a chance to have some of those on our show sometime soon here as well. That would be fun.
Regina Doman: Oh yeah. I would definitely encourage it. I think your readers would enjoy that.
Chris Cash: Let’s talk a little about your work right now. First off, why don’t we talk for a few minutes before the break here about the fairytale novel series.
Regina Doman: Gosh, yeah. This is how I first got started in the Catholic fiction world myself. Oh my gosh, it’s nearly 10 or 12 years ago. I published my first novel with Bethlehem Books, subsidiary of Ignatius Press, The Shadow of the Bear, and it was the twelfth book I have written. I took a fairytale, Snow White and Rose Red, which is a fairly obscure fairytale. Most people have never heard do it, I always say, ‘cause Disney has not made a movie of it, so no one has ever heard of it. But I took the fairytale and put it into a modern setting and I retold the story in New York City with Catholic characters and I centered it around the murder of a Catholic priest in this case. A young man who was trying to find out … basically he was trying to solve this unsolved murder, and so that now became The Shadow of the Bear. Bethlehem Books published it. I was so thrilled. It was such a break for me that they took it because once I wrote it, I was just like, you know what, no one is going to publish it. It’s too Catholic for the secular people and it’s also too Catholic for the Christian fiction industry. It’s funny ‘cause I’ve actually had secular agents look at my books and they were like, wow, they’re really great but we have no idea who would buy them. I’m like, you know, yeah, I mean my sales are going up. I have thousand of readers and they love my books but yet they’re not- right now they’re not large enough to constitute any establish marketing demographic. Yeah, the Shadow of the Bear, a wonderful Christmas present if you’re looking for a Christmas present for your teen or pre-teen. It’s teenage fiction. It’s got a little bit of the edginess in there, a little bit of the violence, a little bit of the dark issues but generally speaking that’s the one that would I say is outstandingly friendly. It was actually done at the audio drama on Catholic radio. It’s still playing as an audio drama. Actually, that just won an award, The Cashier, the Sonic Society, secular radio society. Sonic Society gave it the best audio drama of 2009 award which was quite a surprise for us. That was the first book.
Chris Cash: The audio drama is available on CD if you’re looking for it.
Regina Doman: Yeah. It sure is. Just go to fairytalenovels.com, follow the links and you can get yourself the audio drama on your iPod or iTunes.
Chris Cash: And then you’ve continued that- your other books, is that kind of a continuation of the same story?
Regina Doman: Yeah. It is. A couple of years after Shadow of the Bear, I did Black as Night which is based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. A much more familiar fairytale, so I have to come up with a very unusual way of telling the story. In that story, that seven friars who work with the homeless in New York City and one day they find this girl on their doorstep who has white skin and black hair and there’s this rich lady in Manhattan who is trying to kill her. It’s a suspense, romance, adventure. I have to say it’s a very good book. It’s one of those ones that we don’t, of the four fairytale novels, it is not the top seller but I have some people who just write to me and say that is their favorite one. They all deal with the same characters. Shadow of the Bear introduces these four Catholic characters—two brothers and two sisters. The first three novels are kind of a trilogy about their adventures. Basically, that trilogy ends with Waking Rose which is one of our top sellers and that’s based on Sleeping Beauty. It deals with good contemporary issues, like we touch on euthanasia, we touched on abortion, we touched on homosexuality, all these things. Whenever I do something like that, I’ll just say a word about how I handle touch teens. Whenever I handle touch teens such as date rape or homosexuality, I try to do so ambiguously. The reason I do that is so that younger readers who have not been exposed to those things will not necessarily know what I’m talking about, but older readers who do know what I’m talking about will get the message. I tested this very carefully. When I wrote a book I usually give to several parents and have them read it with their kids and figure out if I need to be more subtle, if I need to be more open. I just found, it was recommended to me a home school mom and an author who basically said, she said, that’s the way that the great novels of old dealt with these tough subjects, is they didn’t do it in your face so that you know it was being talked about. They did it subtly but it was still there. That’s kind of always the approach I’ve taken with my novels. Yeah, even though we touched on some tough stuff and I do recommend the older novels, Waking Rose and Midnight Dancers, I do recommend those for older teens, or I just say to parents, just read them with your kids and then you know what to explain what not to explain. You can even skip things if you want to. Generally speaking, I am trying to write a novel that will give kids the tools to deal with those difficult things that are out there without necessarily exposing them to things that they’re not ready to handle. I’m all about equipping kids to handle the difficult things that our world throws at them, not basically that’s why I do it. I don’t do it to be gratuitous. I don’t do it to be scary or edgy or any of those things. I’m all about giving kids hope.
Chris Cash: What would the youngest age you’d recommend be for these novels?
Regina Doman: With parental guidance, well, realistic to say, my husband has read Shadow of the Bear and Black as Night to our eight year olds. He has read them. We have allowed our kids to read them like maybe wonder about 12, but really they are teen novels. Basically I wrote them to teenagers. I mean, if you are absolutely desperate to find reading material for your 10 year old and you have kind of a mature 10 year old, I’d take a look at my novels but really they are for teenagers. That is the age what they were written for. I think that teens will benefit more from them. I always say, if you want to know the recommended age on the book, it says like 13. For Waking Rose and Midnight Dancers I will say 16. And there’s not much out there for those age groups. Unlike that I’m writing to an age group that isn’t very well served by the rest, especially the culture.
Chris Cash: If someone picks up one of these novels out of order, are they going to be confused or is it going to be alright to pick up one of the middle ones?
Regina Doman: It’ll be fine. When I go to conferences and sell them which I always want to get a chance to talk to the parents. By the way, I have to say a lot of parents read these books for themselves. Funny at the last conference, I had this huge man come over, you know this big dad. He was like seven foot-something tall and really broad shoulders and he was like, I love your books, I was up till three in the morning reading Black as Night, I couldn’t put it down, which was wonderful. So occasionally I hear from the dads who have read it too. Black as Night does seem to be a favorite with the dads, by the way. But yeah, you could do in order—Shadow of the Bear, Black as Night, Waking Rose and Midnight Dancers—or you could start with Midnight Dancers which is the start of a new series, or you could take them out of order. The only one I wouldn’t suggest reading first is Waking Rose simply because it is really the climax of a trilogy and I think you’d benefit more when you read them in order but Shadow of the Bear and Black as Night as almost a little interchangeable.
Chris Cash: Alright. We’re going to take a short break here to hear from our sponsor. We’ll be back in just a moment to hear more from Regina Doman about teen fiction. This is the Catholic Spotlight.
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Chris Cash: We’re back on the Catholic Spotlight with Regina Doman talking about her teen fiction books. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about with regard to the fairytale novels?
Regina Doman: Well, the one thing I have presented is I don’t like- well, I don’t necessarily like to do, like counter-marketing; marketing against anything. I did have a couple moms come up at the last conference this summer and tell me that the fairytale novels and my books *** [0:21:16] said they are- the phrase I kept on hearing was they are the antidote to Twilight. So I don’t know if I just want to be known as the antidote to Twilight, the vampire novels, but if you have a girl who has read the Twilight novels and want something else to read, you could consider and try my books. But basically yeah, that was what more than a couple of moms told me this summer.
Chris Cash: I’ve also heard some people say things about you being an alternative to Harry Potter. However, I know you’re also a fairly decent Harry Potter fan, correct?
Regina Doman: Oh yes. Basically with Harry Potter, I arranged my mind on that over a long period of time. It has to do with the fact that I am a young adult author and I’m constantly looking at the literature that’s available out there. I take these things much more seriously than other people. I’m actually kind of fairly anti-Twilight but after a long journey I’ve come around to be pro-Harry Potter. For anybody who is interested in that issue, I would suggest picking up one of the books of John Granger; home school dad, eastern orthodox Christian, wonderful man, has a great analysis of the Harry Potter novels from a Christian perspective; not just from a Christian perspective but he believes that there is a medieval allegory based on alchemy. I have to say, I think he’s pretty convincing. What convinced me was when he was predicting things that were going to happen in book six before book six was released.
Chris Cash: Also you can check out one of our old episodes on Spotlight where we interviewed Nancy Carpentier Brown and she goes into a lot of depth into why she sees Harry Potter is a Christian allegory as well. Moving on, we want to talk briefly about John Paul II High, the new book Trespass Against Us is just recently out. Can you tell us about this series and how it came about?
Regina Doman: Yeah. This is actually kind of a fun series that I started, basically we have for three or four years now with Sophia Institute Press. I had about four ago I was approached by a Catholic apostolate who knew that I did teen fiction and they said, ‘hey we want you to come up with a book of short stories that will reach young people with the Catholic truth. Do you think you can develop can project for us?’ By this time I had written quite a bit of teen fiction. I said, well, you know, you really can’t reach teens with short moralistic stories like [A Sap 0:23:52] Table. I said, that’s just not really where they’re at. I said, however, if you had a longer narrative, you could definitely do Catholic issues in a really powerful way. I said, so let me think about that, and then actually I had to hang up the phone because we had to go pray our family rosary. After we had prayed our daily family rosary, I finally got this idea and I called the apostolate back and put together a proposal, faxed it to them that night for what became the John Paul II High series. Amazingly, at that time I was in touch with a couple of young and quite talented authors from graduates of Christendom and graduates of Franciscan University and I had just said to my husband, you know one of these kids could write a novel if somebody gave them the chance. They are that talented. Basically, what I came up with in the proposal is I said, I will be like the head. I will put together a team of authors and we will come up with a plot and I will edit them. I said to the apostolate, and you could publish, and basically each book could deal with several different issues, hot moral issues from a Catholic perspective. It could be an awful lot of fun. I said it should be set in a small Catholic school with different problems besetting the school with different conflicts among the characters and stuff like that. I kind of had sketched out what the series was going to become. I gave it to the apostolate and they said, this is kind of a little bit more than we want to do. We just want to do one book. We don’t want to do a whole series. So they were like thanks but no thanks. I was like, okay. I happen to be talking to Sophia Press because they were publishing my book Angel in the Waters at the time. I mentioned it to John Barger and he said, oh can I see the proposal, and I said sure. So I faxed it to him and basically within 24 hours he called back and said we’ll do it. That was actually a very exciting weekend. I called all the authors that I knew. We came over in my living room. We started a meeting that began at nine in the morning and ended up like 7:00 at night. We created the plots right there. It has always been a joint effort right from the beginning. We do switch authors. We have roughly about 10 people on the team. Some have married, some have moved on, moved out of the area and stuff like that. I had about four writers who are working on writing the books for me and they all write under the name of Christian Frank which is an anagram of Christendom College and Franciscan University since they wanted to pay homage to their alma matters. Basically, the reason that we switched authors is in the grand tradition of young adult section like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, you basically switch authors so that you can write more books faster because it takes me- I mean, each of my fairytale novels took me about 5 to 10 years to write. I mean that’s a long time if you’re doing a series. That is why that a lot of the most popular series including The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, things like that, they do use multiple authors who all write under the same name simply so the publishers can get the books out faster. I think that anybody who is familiar with Nancy Drew should know that using multiple authors doesn’t mean a drop in quality. Multiple authors all writing together can produce really quality works. I mean, that’s how comic books are produced. They all have different writers creating the same characters. Yes, we have our school, little John Paul II High which is a- in our novel it’s a small startup school run by a bunch of Catholic parents. In the first couple books, there’s only seven kids in the entire school. Basically, it’s parked right near a large, massive public high school. At the beginning of the first book there is a shooting at the public high school. A set of parents from that school panicked. They pulled their daughter out of public school and they put her into tiny John Paul II High. They are like Christmas and Easter Catholics, totally un-churched. Their daughter knows nothing about the Catholic faith and all of a sudden she’s thrust into this super Catholic environment from her perspective, and the fun all starts there especially because the shooter from the public school is still on the loose, and as of book two, he is still on a loose.
Chris Cash: We are running short on time. So if you want to know more about John Paul II High, you’re going to have to pick those books up. They are high entertaining. They’ve been getting very good reviews in our reviewer program. They are very quick reads as well especially for adults. Anything else you want to share before we have to run?
Regina Doman: Sure. Well, there is more to come. Please pray for me, pray for John Paul II High and we’re working on book three and four right now. Actually this month, I have another young adult section coming up from Sophia Press—Awakening by Claudia Cangilla McAdam that I mentioned. It’s about a young girl named Ronny who wakes up suddenly at the time of Christ, in fact on the eve of Christ’s crucifixion and she realizes that she is the only who knows that Christ is about to be crucified and she has a chance to stop it and her big question is, but should she. So very entertaining read. You’ll learn a lot about the holy land. You’ll learn a lot about Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. You’ll learn a lot about Catholic theology and all the while having a lot of fun with an adventure packed book. I highly recommend Awakening by Claudia Cangilla McAdam and you can find that at Sophia Institute Press at sophiainstitute.com at there is more to come. As I was telling you Chris, last night I was up till four in the morning working on another book by a Christendom graduate about a Catholic girl who finds a ghost in her Catholic school auditorium and that book Auditorium I am hoping to get out in 2010. So there’s more to come.
Chris Cash: Well, that sounds like there’s lots of exciting things on the way. Hopefully, we’ll have a chance to talk to some of these other authors about some of these exciting things. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a good portion of your John Paul II team to come do one of our shows someday?
Regina Doman: Oh, they would love it. They would totally love it. If you can conference them in, they would probably have a blast.
Chris Cash: I can.
Regina Doman: That would be awesome.
Chris Cash: It has been great talking with you and we wish you all the best. Everybody out there, go pick up a copy of these stuffs. It’s really great and you certainly want to encourage this kind of Catholic fiction to continue to be produced because it is very important for these authors to be able to make at least a humble living to be able to continue their work. Thank you very much.
Regina Doman: You’re welcome. It’s very important for our Catholic youths to just grow in their Catholic identity. That’s what I do and it’s something I feel that- ironically, we all need a little entertainment and our entertainment is very important and recreating in recreating us.
Chris Cash: Absolutely. None of this stuff would be worth buying if it wasn’t worth buying. Check it out. God bless, have a great day guys.

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Transcript of Interview with Regina Doman about Catholic Teen Fiction. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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John Paul II High books at The Catholic Company.

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The Rosary – Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1033385/Rosary-Keeping-Company-Jesus-Mary

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Welcome to the Catholic Spotlight

Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host Chris Cash director of E-Commerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs as well as the brand new rosary.com where you can find all things related to the Rosary and that’s what we’re talking about today, the Rosary with author Karen Edmiston and she has a new book out from St. Anthony Messenger Press called The Rosary, Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary. Karen, welcome, it’s the first time you’ve been on the show, and you ever listen to our show before?

Karen Edmisten: Yes, yeah actually just last night I was listening to mark Shay talk about his new book about Mary, well his new trilogy about Mary actually.

Chris Cash: Absolutely, well you know we’ve kind of had a theme going for the last few weeks, I think it’s kind of gone hand in hand with the announcement of our new site rosary.com, we’ve been doing quite a few Rosary and Marion related shows. Honestly, it wasn’t really planned that way, it’s just there were so many Rosary and Marion books out this past few months that they were just kind of piling up on my desk, and I guess they caught my attention.

Karen Edmisten: Yeah, well maybe Mary planned it that way.

Chris Cash: Who knows, who knows, anyway, we’re real excited to have you on the show. Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself and kind of what your journey was to bring you, number 1 I know you were an Atheist not too terribly long ago. So what brought you to Christianity I guess?

Karen Edmisten: Okay alright, well currently I’ll just introduce myself a little bit first. Currently I’m a homeschooling mom of 3 girls, I’ve been married to Tom for 25 years and we have 3 daughters who are 15, 13, and 7 and so I stay home and home school them and the writing just kind of happens as I can make it happen around the rest of life.

Chris Cash: That’s kind of how my work goes too.

Karen Edmisten: Yeah, yeah, we just work around them, which are great, it’s a wonderful way to work though and try to make those 2 things work together. But yeah, I was not always a Catholic, I grew up basically in a family without, really without any kind of beliefs, good people, my parents are great people but they were not just church goers themselves and they hadn’t been brought up that way and it just wasn’t part of our life. So I grew up just oh you know, with the usual secular observances of Christmas and Easter and Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and all those sorts of things, but no real spiritual aspect to any of that. But of course I had friends who did go to church and I guess probably my first real direct encounter with Christianity would have been in about, I was in about the 7th or 8th grade and I had a friend who kept dropping notes in my locker telling me that Jesus loved me and I was really rather taken aback by it, was my main reaction. And then she invited me out to a pizza dinner with her family and I went and it turned out to be something at her church and some sort of an alter call and real intense sort of you know, trying to draw people in and I was actually very turned off by that and really kind of wanted to have nothing to do with her for awhile after that. So, and then I really didn’t have any friends kind of actively evangelizing like that for a long, long time. But I guess by the time I hit college I was really questioning a lot of things, as I think a lot of people do at that age, you’re looking for meaning in life and you know, looking for your own purpose in life and those sorts of things. So I really began to examine a lot of different belief systems and wanted to figure out what it was that I truly believed. And I looked into just a lot of different areas, a lot of different philosophies, a lot of different religions and I had a friend, a good friend, who actually had been raised Catholic and he himself had fallen away from it and gone in the direction of Zen Buddhism and all kinds of things, but then was really studying and praying his way back into the Catholic church. So he was several steps ahead of me if you will on the journey, and so he actually became a great source of information for me. So when I began to ask questions about Christianity and then more specifically later about Catholicism, he was an incredible help with resources and books and would just sit and talk with me for hours to answer my questions.

Chris Cash: You probably helped reinforce his own journey back.

Karen Edmisten: Right, exactly, he was learning these things and talking to me about them, so yeah, that’s actually an excellent point. Because when he first started talking to me about a lot of, especially the Catholicism, I was no where near becoming a Catholic at that time, but we just were such good friends we talked about all kinds of things. So yeah, he was bouncing a lot of that just kind of off of me and just kind of sharing with me what he was going through, so I think it probably was. And then later yeah, then he became sort of already having been through that himself, he could say well, yeah I question the stuff about Mary too, and I questioned, really, he had all the same kind of questions I did even though he’d grown up Catholic. He just went through that phase of really needing to examine it and claim it for him and so it took awhile, that whole phase of the journey took awhile but I ended up choosing to be baptized, I was almost 30 years old, it was just shy of my 30th birthday and I was baptized by an Episcopal priest, I had started going to an Episcopal church because I seem to be drawn to liturgy and to some of the ritual and the beauty that I saw in that, but I didn’t really want all that messiness of all those Catholic rules and things. So this was sort of what I saw as my sort of compromise, I thought I seem to be able to pick and choose a lot more with this version of Christianity. So I was baptized by an Episcopal priest, didn’t even formally join that Episcopal church for awhile, and then it was 5 years later, so it was another 5 years really of prayer and questions and study before I came into the Catholic church. And then that kind of takes us up to where my husband was, my poor husband had married a nice Atheist girl and now here he was with a Catholic, so you know, poor guy. He wasn’t getting what he bargained for in life either. So he was going through his own journey with all of this and it took him another 5 years beyond my conversion into Catholicism before he came into the Catholic church, but he did come into the church, that would have been let’s see, in the year 2000 for him, so it’s been 9 years now that we have both been Catholic and raising our family Catholic. So it’s been a very interesting journey and certainly, I would say the best decisions of our lives, to become Catholics, so that’s a little bit about how we ended up here.

Chris Cash: You know, that’s always interesting, you say he didn’t get what he bargained for but you know, in reality I think everyone in a marriage goes through changes, I mean everyone in or outside of a marriage, I mean I don’t think any of us are the same person we were 10 years ago or 20 years ago and it’s just a question of figuring out how to grow together.

Karen Edmisten: Right, exactly, yeah, yeah I agree completely and I just think that’s part of God’s work with us, is that most of us don’t get what we bargained for in many, many ways and in all kinds of ways. So I just think constantly learning that lesson that you know, we’re not the ones in control here, God is and learning to embrace that in all kinds of ways, I agree with you, marriage, work, you know, everything, most of us are probably not in places we thought we’d be and sometimes you look back and part of that might be disappointment, a lot of it’s, for me it’s definitely rejoicing, I would never have, when I was in college I pictured myself to be sort of the typical feminist, pictured myself as a career woman, just all kinds of things I would never, if you had told me I would end up with 3 children and being open to life and embracing every teaching of the Catholic church and homeschooling them at this age, I would have run the other way but you know, God just takes us and does his work and thank God I’m here instead of where I thought maybe at age 20 that I would be by this age.

Chris Cash: Well, let’s talk a little bit about your book, now you obviously having come from a background of Atheism, a lot of converts to the Catholic faith have some issues with Mary and the rosary coming in, were you, did you have issues with Mary and the rosary and how did you go along that journey into learning about devotion that way?

Karen Edmisten: Yeah, I did have the issues, probably you know, a lot of the typical ones, some of it really just stemming from ignorance, just not really understanding what the Catholic take on Mary was and wondering why Catholics seemed to make such a big deal of her and I mean, to me she was just, I mention in the book that you know, well if I thought of her at all she was just Mary, she was just you know, God needed somebody to be a mother and I just didn’t really ever give her much more thought beyond that, and even early in my Catholic journey, I remember the year I was in RCIA and when someone was talking to me about Mary and they referred to her as the blessed mother, even that phrase the blessed mother sounded so foreign to me. So there was a lot to get passed and a lot to learn about and try to understand. So the friend I mentioned earlier was a good source for that, I would sometimes just go to him with questions and say, okay so if your not praying to Mary then tell me why you say this prayer to Mary you know, and just step by step I was learning a lot of the things that I now try to explain to others in the book about how it isn’t really about praying to Mary but that she is such a supreme example of devotion to God and submission and surrender to God’s will, that she is somebody that we want to emulate and I don’t know about you but I like to ask people in my life that I admire and respect, to pray for me. I always, I value everybody’s prayers but a lot of us will turn to people that we feel are really close to God and we say you know, when we’re in need those are the people we say you know, please pray for me because I know you’ll really pray. And that was one of the things I learned, was that’s one of the reasons we turn to Mary, because she, in such a unique way, was and is so close to the Lord that of course she’s going to be a powerful intercessor for us. So to think of her as another person but above and beyond just the average person we ask for prayers became something that I learned to embrace, but it certainly took awhile. And then the whole idea of whether or not she’s actually worshipped, there’s so much when you, when your coming into it with absolutely no Catholic background, there’s just so much that doesn’t make sense and even seeing how many people have statues of Mary in their front yard or all these things that make it seem like there really holding her up as somebody they worship, I didn’t really get that either. So that was another one that I really needed to overcome.

Chris Cash: Now obviously you have overcome that and you’ve become a blogger and an author, so what made you decide that you needed to write this particular book, I mean, it’s a very nice book, it’s short, it’s not, it makes a lot of scriptural references in here, catechism references in here about the mysteries, about the rosary in general. What brought you to write this book and to make you feel like this was needed?

Karen Edmisten: That it was needed, you know it’s, I guess that was kind of unexpected in a way, certainly my own devotion to the rosary grew over the years. Once I got past all those initial things that I was just explaining, I came to, I not only got past them but I came to feel my own close connection to the blessed mother and to turn often to the rosary and I think the rosaries power sometimes can’t so much be explained as it simply has to be experienced. And that was the case for me, simply by starting to pray the rosary that was how I learned about its power. I would find myself feeling closer to the Lord through the rosary, mainly because of the meditation on the mysteries, by drawing in those mysteries and putting ourselves in those scenes or those episodes from the lives of Jesus and Mary. One can’t help but just be drawn closer in to everything that the Lord experiences in an earthly way, and everything that Mary experienced and when we experience that, that’s when our devotion grows, it doesn’t grow just through knowledge; it wasn’t just having those questions answered. Although for me I had to do that, I think some of us just, we go through that phase in our conversion where’s there’s that need for the intellectual conversion, you have to get those questions answered. But then that’s really never enough, I mean you have to take it beyond that too and really experience it. So that was where my own personal devotion grew, was just simply and praying the rosary and seeing it’s power in my own life, seeing it draw me closer to God, seeing things happen. You know I prayed so many rosaries for my husband’s conversion for example; he had people praying rosaries for him that he didn’t even know about.

Chris Cash: I think all husbands’ have people praying for them that they don’t know about.

Karen Edmisten: That’s true, that’s a good point. I remember one woman gave him when he came into the church, she gave him a rosary and said I’ve been praying on this rosary for you for months and months and months that this night would come and he was so touched by that, I was so touched by that and he actually came to the rosary very quickly and easily, I mean he was very comfortable with it and wanted to start praying the rosary right away. So certainly not everybody has even necessarily you know, those stumbling blocks but so I had the devotion to the blessed mother, I have the love for the prayer and as with a lot of things with my writing, the book came up somewhat unexpectedly actually. My writing has always just sort of, things just sort of pop up at unexpected times, I actually had sort of set writing aside as part of my life years ago, and then after I came into the church, a couple years later we had a priest here who after he heard my conversion story, he encouraged me to write about it and to send it off to New Covenant Magazine, which at the time, Mike Acalina was editing New Covenant, it was our Sunday visitor publication. And I thought, oh yeah, okay, I don’t know if I should do this but I did, I wrote it and sent it off and Mike bought it and that was actually the first thing I had published and he went on to buy several more things and so I just kind of fell into that freelance writing in that way, for some Catholic publications, and the connection with Mike Acalina was just kind of interesting that he actually was connected to this book, because what happened was I was, I had been writing enough that I decided to kind of draw all those writing links together and make, I started my blog and initially just saw it as kind of a place to draw all of those writing links together, just kind of have a presence on the web where I could bring it all into one place, easily direct an editor, show them this is what I do, this is I how I write. And I didn’t really plan to start blogging, but blogging is kind of addictive so actually the first month I think I had a couple of posts and next month I maybe had 5 or 10 and I think the next month I had 30 or 40 posts, I was just, I was hooked, so, and I started reviewing books on my blog and one of them I reviewed was Mike Acalina’s One of the Little Things, loved the book, just wrote a review expressing what I thought and felt about it and how I thought it was just a great little book about Catholic family life and Mike’s editor at Servant actually happened to read that review and we got in touch that way and we started talking about possibilities for books and this Rosary book was actually the result of that. So she said they were thinking about doing, wanting something that was a sort of a primer around the rosary and I just jumped at the chance because it gave me the opportunity to address it from that perspective of somebody who had all these questions that sometimes sound like silly questions. Like I open the book with talking about how I wanted to know what it meant to announce a mystery, instructions for the rosary I always say, you announce the mystery before you begin and silly me, you know, I thought what does that mean, do you have to say it out loud, do you only pray it in a group when you can announce something, just all these things that I now think are silly questions.

Chris Cash: Oh I don’t think they’re silly, they sound really important.

Karen Edmisten: Well yeah, exactly, they aren’t silly; there was a time when I thought they…

Chris Cash: What happens if I start praying the rosary and stop three decades in, am I in trouble?

Karen Edmisten: Right, exactly, does it count, does it, for awhile as a convert, these were the kinds of questions I kept to myself because I did, I feared they were silly, I shouldn’t say that I still think they’re silly, at the time I worried that they were silly and you know, what I have learned over the years is they’re not silly questions, these are questions that a lot of people have but that we don’t always end up talking about because we do kind of assume that everybody else is so much more advanced in prayer than I am, everybody else does such a better job, everybody else never gets distracted. And I just wanted to write something and share that you know, we all get distracted, we all worry about it, we all struggle with making our prayer life better, but the important thing is, it all counts and it’s all designed to bring us closer to God, so those are the things that I really tried to focus on with this particular book about the rosary.

Chris Cash: Alright, we’ll we’re going to take a short break and hear from our sponsor, when we come back we’ll be talking more with Karen Edmiston about The Rosary, Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary, this is the Catholic Spotlight.

[break]

Chris Cash: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight with Karen Edmiston talking about The Rosary, Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary. Tell me, where do you find people who are having the most difficulty with the rosary in your personal life?

Karen Edmisten: You know, I think all over, I think sometimes they are cradle Catholics who grew up with it and maybe got bored with it and so kind of drifted away from it and haven’t tried it in a long time.

Chris Cash: I think a lot of people sit here and think, that’s such a long prayer, and I really don’t want to start that that might actually take me like 10 or 15 minutes.

Karen Edmisten: Yeah.

Chris Cash: What if I don’t know all the prayers, you know there are some tricky ones in there at the beginning and the end.

Karen Edmisten: Exactly, exactly those are some of the worries and I find, I have found like in my case as a convert, those were some of my worries, but I do, I find definitely cradle Catholic friends of mine who have those same, those same kinds of things and as I was working on the book, I had friends say things to me like that, like you know, well will you talk about the distractions, I mean, how do I get past them and that particular friend was, that one was a convert but another one I know of whose cradle Catholic, said you know, well will you talk about praying it with kids because I really don’t know how to get my little girl to quit swinging a rosary around her head, or you know, something like that.

Chris Cash: Yeah, don’t you just love it when it’s like; ow he just hit me with his rosary.

Karen Edmisten: Yeah exactly, exactly and that’s part of what I encourage people in the book is to realize that our kids are kids but your not going to get a 2 year old to kneel perfectly and spend 20 minutes meditating on a rosary, don’t even try it.

Chris Cash: I can’t even get my 9 year old to do that.

Karen Edmisten: What?

Chris Cash: I can’t get my 9 year old to do that.

Karen Edmisten: Well exactly they’re still kids, you know we actually, we do family rosaries but we don’t always do a whole rosary. A lot of times what I might call the family rosary, starting when they’re little, it’s a decade at a time you know, just to get them used to it, just to get them, and to get them loving it, I want them to love that prayer time together and to not feel like they’re being beaten over the head you know, you will love God and enjoy it. So just drawing them into prayer, inviting them into it, I do find I’ll encourage you if yours are younger than mine, I think your oldest you said is nine, my older ones are teens and my oldest teen, my 15 year old, on her own she has told me that when she has trouble sleeping, she prays the rosary, she just finds that it’s calming and it soothes her and it just helps her mind kind of settle down and focus, so she’s in to do that.

Chris Cash: When I used to be, when I used to do youth retreats and we’d be in a room full of teenage boys who couldn’t settle down, settle themselves down for sleep, we’d pull the rosaries out and we’d start praying the rosary really loud, you know, you get everybody praying together and then at the end it’s like all the conversations leave.

Karen Edmisten: Leave yeah, yeah.

Chris Cash: All those, they forgot about what they were talking about before we started and they were like, oh okay I guess it’s bed time.

Karen Edmisten: Right, yeah it definitely has a calming effect, so and that’s, well and that actually goes back to some people’s worry is that, well wait, if I wait and pray it at the end of the day when I’m tired, I’m just going to fall asleep because it does have you know, this very calming effect and again you know, that’s okay, I mean, we can pray the rosary in a lot of different ways and praying it to help you fall asleep isn’t anything I don’t think to worry about or be ashamed of, it’s definitely. Because I heard somebody once turn that around and say, wait a minute, aren’t you saying it’s kind of boring if it puts you to sleep, and I said no that’s not really the point. But I would say more calming, but it’s also, the rosary is something that I think we have to kind of, we do have to kind of work to fit it in you know. Life is busy these days and trying to find time some places and ways to make it work, that’s a constant challenge and you know, if bedtime is really the only time that you have to pray it, then I would say go for it and you know, if you happen to fall asleep, that’s okay. And I think many of us have heard the old thing about your guardian angel will finish it for you and…..

Chris Cash: Absolutely.

Karen Edmisten: Yeah, yeah absolutely and the blessed mother understands you know, she’s going to understand a life that is so busy that that’s the only time you have.

Chris Cash: And you know, what a great way to wake up, with a set of rosary beads in your hand right?

Karen Edmisten: Yeah no kidding, no kidding, feel good and protected through the night. But it’s also worth trying to find other places during the day where you can fit it in, so if sometimes we, I know I mean I’ve been guilty of it myself, sometimes I say that oh, bedtimes the only time I have, I get to the end of my day and that’s the only time I have to pray, you know, I’ve been through phases like that in my prayer life too, I think we all have and sometimes when I’m honest with myself, I look at my day and go, you know, that’s maybe not the case right now at this phase in my life, I maybe, I could be doing it when I first get up in the morning or I could maybe be doing it when the kids are busy with something else or I could invite the kids with me, to do this with me and so looking at our days and being really brutally honest with ourselves is another thing that I hope maybe will be a blessing in this book, is that we all need to, we need to hold ourselves accountable and kind of help hold each other accountable for finding ways to fit the rosary and all prayer into our lives. So you know the catechism refers to, there’s a whole section about the battle for prayer and they call it a battle for a reason, because we really have to, we have to fight with ourselves and our fallen nature to have a good prayer life, but it’s a battle worth fighting, so we have to keep up that good fight I think, constantly.

Chris Cash: Well, we’re running low on time, was there anything else you wanted to share with our listeners before we have to go?

Karen Edmisten: Well, I guess I would just encourage people to pray the rosary, if you haven’t given it a try to as I said earlier, I think that the power of it comes in the actual praying of it, don’t maybe try to figure it all out before you start to pray it, but just start to pray it a little bit at a time and just see if God and his blessed mother don’t work some miracles in your life.

Chris Cash: Well thank you so much Karen for coming on the show, everyone be sure to check out Karen’s website over at karenedmiston.com, if you have trouble with the spelling you can find a link in our show notes I am sure. Do you do any speaking Karen?

Karen Edmisten: I have done some yes.

Chris Cash: Okay so there you go.

Karen Edmisten: They don’t have anything lined up right now but yes I have so, and thanks a lot for your interest in the book and for having me on today.

Chris Cash: That’s right, if you’ve got any freelance writing to do, Karen is an excellent writer and you’ll find that out very quickly once you’ve had a look at her blog. For all you fans at Spotlight, we can sure use some votes over at Podcast Alley, help to bring us up in the rankings and get the show out in front of more people. Help to evangelize some of those people who may not have ever thought of listening to a Catholic podcast or have never heard about these great Catholic products over at the Podcast Alley site as well as reviews on I-Tunes also will help us do the same thing. So it’s up to you guys, our fans to help spread the word, tell your friends, link us on your blog, share it, get the word out there. Also, please head on over to rosary.com, the rosary resource center is there, it’s up and running, at the moment that I am recording this, we’ve got probably about 35-40 articles up there, rosary humor, rosary conversion stories, how to pray the rosary, rosary history, various different things, but we are also always looking for additional content from you our listeners and our fans out there, we want to make rosary.com’s resource center the destination for rosary anything out there on the web so that with a name like rosary.com, we certainly think that it should be a destination site for people wanting information or wanting to share about the ways that the rosary has touched their lives. So if you have those stories please go on over there, you can send those stories to editor@rosary.com and we will probably post it very shortly afterwards. Hopefully Karen will have something over there soon.

Karen Edmisten: Yeah, yeah, yeah I have a piece I’m going to send over to you.

Chris Cash: Peer pressure, peer pressure. Alright, well everybody out there, have a great day and God bless.

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Transcript of Interview with Karen Edmisten about The Rosary – Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

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The Rosary – Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1033385/Rosary-Keeping-Company-Jesus-Mary

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Items Discussed in this podcast:

The Rosary – Keeping Company with Jesus and Mary
Karen Edmisten’s Blog

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Mary, Mother of the Son at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1111352/Mary-Mother-Son-3-Volume-Set/

———————————
Chris Cash: This is the Catholic Spotlight, the show where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace. I’m your host, Chris Cash, director of eCommerce for catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs. Today, in the spotlight, we have Mark Shea who has a wide variety of talents, both published and not, I’m certain. Welcome Mark!

Mark Shea: Hello there!

Chris Cash: Hello.

Mark Shea: How’s it going?

Chris Cash: It is going pretty darn good today. I have the place to myself.

Mark Shea: Cool.

Chris Cash: There’s no little helpers running around this morning.

Mark Shea: Oh yes, my little helpers have just gone off to the state fair up here in Washington and so yeah, I’m hanging around the house by my own self too.

Chris Cash: There we go so hopefully, there won’t be too many interruptions in the show today. Anyway, we’re going to talk primarily today about Mary Mother of the Son, the three-book set just out from Catholic Answers by Mark and you’re actually already in your second printing so I guess it’s not brand-spanking new, right?

Mark Shea: Yes, it’s not brand-spanking new. We released the book in May and it sold out really fast which is something that authors like.

Chris Cash: Not a real common occurrence in the Catholic market but it does happen.

Mark Shea: Well and it’s nice because it’s a trilogy and a trilogy selling out is even better so I’m very happy with the response of the book. It seems to be stretching where a lot of people are interested.

Chris Cash: And of course, one of the main things you’re working on with this second which hopefully will be out very soon is getting an imprimatur so…

Mark Shea: Yeah, we’re getting an imprimatur from the Diocese of San Diego. I made all the necessary changes and mostly petty small things and so I’m expecting an imprimatur. I don’t know that we’ve got one yet but I’m looking forward to having one.

Chris Cash: And hopefully by the time all of you hear this show, the imprimatur will have been granted but until then, we’ll just keep praying.

Mark Shea: All righty!

Chris Cash: Did you want to mention any of your blogs or other endeavors before we start talking about the book?

Mark Shea: Well sure, I’ve got lots of irons in the fire. I’m been busy. I write a blog called Catholic and Enjoying It which you can Google or just Google my name and you’ll find it. I’m busy, I write a regular column for both Inside Catholic which is a webzine which you can also Google and I also have a column with the National Catholic Register and also, most recent foray into Catholic culture and all sort of thing is I filmed a movie in March. It’s a feature length adaptation of GK Chesterton’s novella Manalife and I had the great honor and privilege of playing Innocent Smith, one of Chesterton’s greatest creation. That film is in postproduction right now and will hopefully be out and available either late this year or early next year.

Chris Cash: Now, is that a feature production for the theaters or…?

Mark Shea: Yes.

Chris Cash: Wow!

Mark Shea: Yup so we’ll see how that goes. It’s a small budget film, sort of like Bella so if it gets into theaters, it will probably be a limited run. We’re still bickering with distributors and the film will be in various film festivals and so forth but yeah, our hope is to get the movie into theaters and we’ll see how it does.

Chris Cash: Very excellent, you know? We have had some success in the past few years getting some interesting Catholic films into the theaters.

Mark Shea: Yup!

Chris Cash: So everybody out there, throw some prayers that way too and who knows what’ll happen?

Mark Shea: Yeah!

Chris Cash: Anyway, let’s talk a little about Mary, Mother of the Son. Now this is a three-volume set so you know, very substantial work you’ve got there. What made you decide to break it up into three different volumes?

Mark Shea: Well, the book as it was conceived very naturally broke into three sections. I had always conceived of the book in three major sections and so when we published it, we decided because the fact is, readers are intimidated by great big fat books that aren’t the Lord of the Ring and so we decided…

Chris Cash: Or Harry Potter.

Mark Shea: …or Harry Potter, yeah exactly. So we decided that it would be better to break it into three sort of more bite-sized, less intimidating and that seems to be making readers happy. The books are pretty much the same length. They’re close to the same length and basically, what Mary, Mother of the Son is trying to do is these are books that I wished someone had written about all things Marian when I was coming into the church. I waited around for 20 years. I entered the church in 1987 and waited around for 20 years for somebody else to write that book and finally the dawning of dreadful thought broke upon me that no one else was going to write the book so I would have to. So that was why I wrote it. It was basically because you can find lots and lots of stuff about it. Certainly, it’s not hard to find books about Mary out there but what tends to happen is if you find a book that talks about the four Marian dogmas, it won’t be talking much about things like apparition or maybe you’ll find a book about Our Lady of Fatima but it’s not going to talk about the Marian dogmas of the church and very often what the Marian books will not tend to do is give much of an explanation to the outsider as to where the church is getting all this stuff about Mary because for *** [00:07:39] of the principal experience that you have coming into the church is not of somebody sitting you down and saying, “Okay, let’s talk about Marian revelation and where it comes from.” You’re not going to…you’ll never walk into a church and the priest stands up there during the homily and says, “Okay, for the next four weeks, we’re going to take a detailed look at the dogma of Mary Theotocus, of her perpetual virginity, of the Immaculate Concepcion, of the Assumption. We’re going to trace this historical development of Marian doctrine and so on and so forth so that you can understand what’s going on.” Instead what happens is you walk into a church as an outsider and there’s somebody praying to a statue. And you know, it looks like they’re praying to a statue. What’s up with that? I mean, I thought you weren’t supposed to pray to statues. And then you turn your head and there’s the rosary squad because Mass just ended and so they’re all saying the rosary there and the score at the bottom of the first decade is Hail Mary ten, Our Father one so you can tell who’s more important to the Catholic. And on and on and on and on it goes so this sensory data flung at you, holy cards, rosaries, and statues, and pictures, and various devotions, and dah, dah, dah, dah…and nobody puts it together for you. You’re just kind of there floundering around trying to figure out what Catholics are doing with all this Mary stuff and where it all comes from. And so, what I decided to try to do in my book was explain. Where does this stuff all come from? How does the church arrive at this? Because the overwhelming assumption particularly among Protestants, I mean a lot of non-Catholics whether they’re Protestants or not is, “Well, okay fine. It’s not in the bible. The Church just grabbed this stuff from paganism somewhere in the early centuries and…”

Chris Cash: It’s really Isis reborn.

Mark Shea: Yeah, right. It’s just…”Well, you know, I’m a half converted Greco Roman Christian who used to go to the temple of Diana with his grandma and now we can’t do that anymore because we’re Christians so…well, I know, let’s worship Mary instead.” And that’s really a very, very broad misperception that is everywhere. And in fact, has crept into the Church itself. There are a lot of Catholics who sort of have this notion that the Mary devotion is kind of warmed over paganism because we’re open to that sort of thing and so the first book is to really clarify where Mary devotion comes from and what you discover is that in the early Church, there is virtually no interest in paganism other than sometimes Christians will acknowledge as Paul does in the Areopagus, that yeah, pagans can feel after God and sometimes they get a couple of things right. There’s also a very strong tendency in early Christianity to regard paganism as a counterfeit of true revelation and finally, there’s a tendency to see in paganism merely human wisdom which as long as it doesn’t contradict revelation, it’s okay. So wedding rings, for example, come from paganism and nobody makes a big deal about that because okay, fine. We can use rings as a symbol of eternal love but what you don’t find anywhere is anybody in the early Christian Church looking to paganism as a source of doctrine concerning Mary. It’s just not there. It’s completely absent and so the question then becomes where do they get it from? And the answer is they’re getting it from apostolic tradition both written and unwritten. And so, when the fathers of the Church looked at Mary, they see Her always in exactly the same way as they see Jesus, as the fulfillment of Old Testament foreshadows and so, they look at the Ark of the Covenant, they see this is an image of the Blessed Virgin. They look at Gideon’s fleece which remains dry when the ground all around it is wet as an image of Her virginity. And so on and so on and so forth. They’re always paying attention to Jewish and Christian scripture and tradition and they’re never paying attention to paganism until this whole notion that Marian devotion comes from paganism turns out to be what I call pseudo-knowledge. It’s one of those things that everybody knows but the only reason they know it is because somebody else told them who had no basis for the assumption at all and so what we discovered then is that in reality, the reasons that the early Church is interested in Mary is not because it’s interested in paganism but because our understanding of Mary is intimately linked to our understanding of what Jesus is. We are a faith that believes in the incarnation that God became flesh and the moment you accept that proposition, you have to accept the proposition that He got His flesh from His mother because that’s where we get our flesh from and so, who Mary is, is inevitably and inextricably bound up with who Jesus is. And what we discover then and this is the burden of the second book is that in fact, for Catholics, the point about Mary is that the point is never about Mary. Mary’s life is a completely referred life. It is always referred to Her Son Jesus. You would never have heard of Mary if it weren’t for Her Son. And so, in this way then, what the Church does is it understands Mary to be the first guardian of the faith and that’s the title of the second volume. And so, she’s literally physically the first guardian of the faith because she literally was the guardian of Jesus when He was growing. She’s the one that kept Him as an infant from wandering into a pack of wild dogs or whatever dangers a little kid would run into in first century Judaea. She did the job that all mothers do. She nursed Him and cared for Him and protected Him and in the same way, she acts as a guardian of certain crystal truths about who Jesus is and about who we are. And that’s what the Marian dogmas all serve as is they serve as commentaries on and hedges of protection around something crucial about who Jesus is or about who we are. And so that’s what the second book looks at and then the third book looks…if the second book is about the dogmas concerning Mary, what you must believe about Mary, the third book looks at what you may believe about Mary, so devotions for example. I focus on the Holy Rosary because that’s sort of the 800-pound gorilla of Marian devotion but there are lots of other forms of Marian devotion as well. In the east, for example, there’s the Akathist, a long hymn praising the Blessed Virgin. We look at things like then prayer to the saints, communion of saints, look at phenomena like prayer of revelation such as apparitions of Mary, for example. And then finally, look at what’s the wave forward from here because I think that there is a reevaluation of Mary taking place among evangelicals in the sense that we’ve been scared of her for far too long and we need to sort of re-appreciate who she is for us.

Chris Cash: So now, you just gave us a synopsis of what’s the content of each book is. Now a little more specifically, are we going to find the book is very heavily footnoted or how do you approach trying to get the information across? Is it more of a conversation?

Mark Shea: Yeah, the book is very well footnoted and documented. I wanted it to because so many critics of Marian devotion make their wild and wooly claims. It’s all Babylon mystery religion or whatever and so what I wanted to make clear was really let’s take a look at what early Christians are actually saying and thinking because they write it down for us and they tell us what they’re saying and thinking and when it comes to Mary, the notion that Marian devotion somehow is Babylonian in origin is quite simply rubbish. It’s nonsense. However, at the same time, we do need to engage the fact that the early Christian Church is born into a world of Greco-Roman paganism and that yes, there are places where the faith and Greco-Roman paganism overlap. What do we make of that? Well, the assumption that’s made by critics of Marian devotion or critics of the Catholic faith is that what’s taking place is a sort of unholy hybrid of pagan thoughts hence what used to be biblical Christianity but the Church ran off the rails the moment the last apostle died and there was this great apostacy and so on and so forth. Well, in fact, what you discover is that what the Church does consistently is exactly the same thing that it does during biblical times, during the lifetime of the apostles themselves. The apostles engaged with paganism. Paul engages paganism, for example, on Areopagus on Mars Hill and what he does is the same thing that the Church will go on doing. He says, “What you worship ignorantly, I now proclaim to you.” And so, the Church does the same thing so it will take pagan forms, Christmas trees, Easter eggs, for example and it will fill them with Christian content. What it never does is take Christian forms and fill them with pagan content and this is exactly the same thing that takes place with Marian devotion. You can find pagan imagery being used by Christians, yeah, that’s true. So for example, the sun is an image of spiritual illumination. This is the image that’s known to ancient Egyptians. Does it mean then that Christianity is warmed over Egyptian religion? Well obviously not. When we say that the word God is the sun and the shield as the ancient Jews did, or we called Jesus the sun of righteousness, that doesn’t mean that this is some form of Egyptian religion. It means that human beings are complete idiots and an image as blazingly obvious as the sun or sunlight can be taken by any number of religious traditions to be an image of spiritual illumination. You may as well say that the enlightenment which was atheistic was warmed over Egyptian religion, well no it wasn’t. It was yet another group of human beings who said, “Yeah, light. That could be a symbol of truth.” And so, in the same way, Christianity will borrow certain images from paganism like the Christmas tree and say, “The Christmas tree is a reminder of the tree of Jesse and Jesus is the shoot that sprouts from the stump of Jesse and so on and so forth.” And so the adornments on the Christmas tree which were originally fruit, real fruit that you hung on the tree, sort of evolved into glass bulbs over time. But the fruit on the trees becomes an image of spiritual fruit and so on and so forth. So yeah, Christianity could make use of pagan imagery but it never took the content of pagan belief and say, “Hey, let’s all worship Diana or some god other than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” And of course, one of the great mistakes that people still make today is the notion that in honoring Mary, Catholics are worshipping her as a kind of a goddess. This is simply not so. All that’s being done in the honor and veneration given to Mary is the carrying out of the commandment that God gives to Moses which is honor your father and mother. And in this case, your mother because she’s our mother and this is something that John is at great pains to point out to us. He records the story of Jesus on the cross, the moment when He tells John, “Behold your mother and sister Mary, behold your Son.” John’s not telling that story because he just kind of thought we’d be curious about what happened to Judean widows. He’s telling us that story for the same reason that he’s telling every story that he records in his gospel. The reason that he gives is so that you may know that Jesus is the Son of God and believing, you may life in His name. In other words, every incident that he records in his gospel is recorded for a spiritual and theological purpose. He wants us to learn something from the incidents that he records and the thing that he wants us to learn in the case of Jesus’ words on the cross here, is that Mary is our mother. We are the beloved disciple and so the Church has always regarded Mary as her mother and has always seen in Mary the image of the model disciple. St. Ambrose writes in the fourth century, he says that Mary is the type of the Church and this is not Ambrose’s brand new idea. He’s already reflecting something that is commonplace throughout the early Christian Church which is to see in Mary a sort of, if you will, a sort of miniature figurine of the Church. If you want to see what the Church looks like in miniature, look at Mary. Well, why should we look at Mary? Why shouldn’t we just keep our eyes on Jesus? Well, Paul tells us. He says to the disciples, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” There is one thing that Jesus, God though He is, cannot do for us. He cannot show us what a disciple of Jesus looks like. Only a disciple of Jesus can do that and so, we are referred to Mary so that we can see what it looks like to be a perfect disciple and therefore imitate her as she imitates Christ.

Chris Cash: Okay, well, we’re going to take a short break here to hear from our sponsor. We’ll be back in just a minute to talk more with Mark Shea about Mary, Mother of the Son. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

Chris Cash: And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight. We’re talking with Mark Shea about Mary, Mother of the Son, the awesome new three-volume set that covers all sorts of different facets of Mary and Marian doctrine. One thing that really fascinates me is kind of the content of book three especially with regard to the Marian apparitions and you know, I’m very fascinated with Marian apparitions but what I see, at least personally, is that some people discount them altogether and some people go way the other way and just put everything into what’s the Marian apparition saying.

Mark Shea: It’s true. It’s true. You know, it’s funny. One of the things that I discovered to my great surprise, when I became Catholic was because there really is a very common perception among many non-Catholic Christians that Catholics believe Mary to be goddess of some kind and then you come into the Church and somebody once remarked and I think it’s really true, that trying to see the Church from the outside, the stained glass windows look all dark and dingy and not terribly impressive. When you come inside the Church is when everything is illuminated and so all of a sudden, the stained glass windows are bright and beautiful and everything looks completely different and it’s much the same thing with Mary. When you come into the Catholic Church, what’s really striking is how smaller she is, that she’s not this gigantic figure that Catholics are just obsessed with worshipping her and all this kind of stuff. Mary assumes her rightful place and certainly is the most exalted of preachers but she is not…I’ve never met a Catholic who mistakes her for God. I mean, a Catholic would laugh if I…do you think Mary is a goddess? Of course not! But here’s the thing. Although I’ve never met a Catholic who thinks that Mary is another god, I have met and run into more than a few Catholics who seem that think that Mary is another pope and by that I mean, you do get sort of enthusiasts for apparition and these sort of things who have this notion that the Church is basically governed by Marian apparition, that someone, somewhere claims that Mary has told them to do X, Y, and Z and if the pope and the bishops don’t salute smartly and do whatever it is this Marian apparition somewhere that somebody is claiming…

Chris Cash: And there literally are hundreds, if not thousands, who claim the apparitions…

Mark Shea: Oh yeah, people are always claiming to see her…right and so this is…and of course, the pope is under no obligation at all to obey Marian apparition. It’s his job to discern them, the claims of Marian apparition. It’s the local ordinary’s job to discern claims of Marian apparition and the vast majority of Marian apparitions, of course are imaginary or they’re a mistake. This is the interesting thing about private revelation to me and that’s why I wrote a whole chapter simply not focusing so much on that particular species of private revelation called the Marian apparition but private revelation in general. What does the Church mean by private revelation and what does the Church do about it? There are two kinds of revelation that the Church is traditionally public revelation which is the revelation entrusted to the apostles and handed down to the Church in the deposit of faith but there is also a private revelation which is to say that God, there’s a law used in scientific circles called the Harvard law of animal behavior which states that animals under carefully controlled laboratory condition will do whatever they want and in the same way, there is what I call the divine law. There is the law of divine behavior which is exactly the same, God under carefully controlled laboratory condition will do what He wants and so if He feels like it, He can and has worked wonders from time to time, miraculous occurrences of all manners and He will do and can do this with anybody, anywhere, under any circumstances. You don’t have to be a Catholic for it to happen. You don’t even have to be a believer. You could be a witness to a miracle and be an atheist. How you will respond to it will determine a great deal about you but it’s not something that is only for the faithful and so there have been people who have witnessed miraculous healings and as a result have become believers. There have been people who have witnessed miraculous healings and have refused to believe anyway and there is also in addition to the fact that God does work real miracles and signs and this sort of thing is also the phenomenon of fake and false private revelation. Fake private revelation of course is a deliberate deception. It’s when someone deliberately sets out to deceive by claiming that Mary has appeared to them. It is also much more commonly the phenomenon of false private revelation where the person really believes that they have received a sign from heaven and this becomes freaky because the Church is responsible for the pastoral care of people who are deluded about things or who are mistaken about things so someone thinks that the Blessed Virgin has appeared to them on a place of grilled cheese sandwich, for example…

Chris Cash: Or Our Lady of the Underpass is…

Mark Shea: Right, the thing is that may constitute for that person the central religious experience of their entire life.

Chris Cash: Amen to that.

Mark Shea: Yeah and so the Church can’t just sort of barge in say, “Ah, you’re a moron.” It has to weigh this. It has to say, “No, we don’t think anything supernatural is taking place here.” But it also has to do so in such a way as to really be respectful of the person and also there is simply the problem of what do we mean by private revelation? I would argue that a private revelation is any time that God uses any means at all to jump the gap from the public revelation to a particular human heart and He doesn’t have to use obviously supernatural means to do that. He can use anything. So for example, one of the most significant conversions in western history, Augustine, takes place when he hears what he takes to be a child or somebody saying, “Take and read. Take and read.” He himself isn’t sure if maybe this was just a kid on the other side of the garden wall saying a rhyme or something but for him, this is the moment where God reveals Himself to Augustine. Another example, Pope John Paul when he was in seminary was hit by a car and survived the car accident. Well car accidents happen all the time. There’s nothing especially supernatural about a car accident for Karol Wojtyla, this was the thing that confirmed to him that God wanted him to be a priest and of course, that’s one of the most consequential conversions that takes place in the 20th century. And so God can use anything and those things, I think, can be properly understood as a private revelation which means that private revelation is enormously common. It’s happening all the time because anytime anyone anywhere has a moment where they recognize that God is speaking to them and respond in obedience, some kind of very small private revelation has taken place there. However, there are certain kinds of private revelation which are designed by God to be much broader in scope and impact so for example the apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes or Fatima and so the Church has a responsibility with these sort of larger scale claims of private revelation, claims which you don’t have to believe, you can go to your grave not believing that Our Lady appeared at Lourdes and that has no impact on whether or not you are faithful to the public revelation of the Church. Nobody is bound to believe a private revelation but at the same time, sometimes it looks like God sent Our Lady to appear at Lourdes. It looks like all the evidence points to the fact that this thing really happened, that God really did this and so the Church being open to reality says, “Well, why would God do this and what is He saying to us through this?” And so, the whole phenomenon of private revelation, I think is really, really interesting because of all those reasons. And so what my book does is it looks at how does the Church weigh private revelation, what are some of the criteria that we’re looking at to help determine whether private revelation is real or not and so on and so forth and then in the appendix what we look at is a number of specific, not every but a number of specific approved Marian apparitions so Lourdes and Fatima and Guadalupe and several others.

Chris Cash: And I mentioned Our Lady of the Underpass just because having come from Chicago, that one was familiar to me and while it’s not an approved apparition, there were certainly a number of conversions that took place because of that event.

Mark Shea: Right and that’s part of what makes it so fascinating is because you really do have to ask, “Okay, was it a private revelation or wasn’t it?” Judging by the fruits in the number of people’s lives, apparently for them it was, just as the car accident was for Wojtyla and so was Mary really appearing there? Well that’s a separate question. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t. I tend to think not but through that moment nonetheless, people are drawn to love, serve, and obey God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and when that happens, we have to assume that God is working that because no one and St. Paul tells us, no one calls upon Jesus as Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So that’s the interesting thing about it.

Chris Cash: I wish we could talk a little longer but we are already over time so we’re going to have call it quits there and say folks, if you want to learn more about Mary, Mother of the Son, please go on over Catholic Company, grab all three of those. It is a three-book package, very powerful stuff in there, highly footnoted; just chockfull of more information than you’ll ever realize you needed to know. And I know that Mark always writes in a very easy to access, down-to-earth style which is you’re not going to be picking these up and going holy goodness, we can’t make it through all the highfaluting theology. I assume that was part of your intention in putting this together as well, right?

Mark Shea: Yeah, I was very careful to write in accessible prose.

Chris Cash: So be sure to go on over to and check that out and before we leave, I want to ask one more burning question I’m sure everybody wants to know. How does it feel to be a first-time grandpa?

Mark Shea: Hey, it feels good. She is beautiful. Lucy Beatrice, my adorable granddaughter.

Chris Cash: And you will, I’m sure will have many, many chances to have a lot of fun with her over the next few years.

Mark Shea: Yup.

Chris Cash: And for those of you who haven’t checked it out yet, also be sure to go over and check out our new site, rosary.com if you’re into anything to do with Mary, you’re going to find anything to available to do with Mary over at rosary.com. Rosaries, of course but also all sorts of Marian devotional items as well as the rosary resource center where we have lots of information articles posted to help you learn more about the rosary and about Mary. Mark, it was a real pleasure getting to talk to you. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Mark Shea: Thanks, likewise.

Chris Cash: All right. God bless.

Mark Shea: You too!

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Transcript of Interview with Mark Shea about Mary, Mother of the Son. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Mary, Mother of the Son at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1111352/Mary-Mother-Son-3-Volume-Set/