Another nice surprise. I accepted an invitation to speak at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., on Nov. 3, at the campus library. Topic will be some variation on the theme of my previous 85 book talks — my cousin the saint, as well as issues of faith, family and miracles. A local bookstore will handle book sales. HarperCollins Speakers Bureau — ideal for all your public speaking needs — is expertly handling the details.

Now that My Cousin the Saint has been out a couple of years, calls for media interviews stopped about a year ago. But I had a delightful one this morning on Sirius XM Satellite Radio with Gus Lloyd, who hosts the drive-time program Seize the Day on the Catholic Radio Network.

Gus was prepared with excellent questions and lots of enthusiasm. It was a pleasure to talk with him and whomever was listening earlier today. Thanks Gus, and thanks to Emily, your producer, too.

So many things about this time of year that remind me of the amazing and memorable month I spent in Italy exactly four years ago in doing research for my book. This day particular day, June 25, was both joyful and tragic. My day started with my cousin Giovanna, who drove me the 25 miles from Reggio Calabria to the hillside village of Pentidattilo, where Padre Gaetano had his first church and parish. We spent a few hours that morning wandering through the abandoned village. It was spectacular. On the drive home, however, I learned that Piero Catanso, the family patriarch and  legend of the legal community in Reggio, had died suddenly that morning of a heart attach at age 65. Late that afternoon, my interpreter, Germaine, took to me Piero’s niece’s apartment, where the viewing took place just a few hours after Piero had died at the hospital.

My emotions that day were so conflicted and confused. I wondered if in doing the research for my book if I had actually encountered more than I was prepared to handle, whether I really was a part of this Italian family, whether it was necessary for me to return home to America a week early and put this entire book project on hold. But while my spiritual faith was always up for grabs, my faith in my Italian relatives held strong. The week I spent in Reggio after Piero’s death gave me incomparable insight into what it means to be a Catanoso in Italy, what it means to be part of such a large and loving family, and not incidentally, what it means to be related to a saint. A real saint, as in St. Gaetano Catanoso. I will always be profoundly grateful for that.

I know Piero’s wonderful wife Adriana and his grown children, Claudia, Allesandra and Natale, miss him as much today as they did the day he died four years ago today. The fact is, I miss him, too. And all of them as well.

Today’s New York Times:

Brooklyn, the borough of churches and trees, Walt Whitman and Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand and Mike Tyson, has never lacked for people of distinction — except perhaps in one category.

Nobody from Brooklyn has ever been made a saint.

But at a special church service on Thursday night, Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn opened what is known as a “canonical inquiry” into the cause of sainthood for a Brooklyn priest, Msgr. Bernard J. Quinn.

Last week, Sarah Silverman, the comedian-turned-author, posted a message on Twitter that went something like this: “I’m going to kill my dog if people don’t start buying my book right now.”

Must’ve worked. Her Amazon rank was 263. Which is really high.

Sadly, my dog died on her own accord a few years ago.

My Cousin the Saint received about 15 reviews in print and online, including a so-so Publishers Weekly review pre-publication. My biggest review (aside from a nice mention in The Washington Post) was The Philadelphia Inquirer on a Sunday in August 2008. That never would’ve happened if not for the graciousness of Inquirer Editor Bill Marimow, who met with me one morning in his office and introduced me to the paper’s book editor. I was able to make my case in person; he went for it. I remain grateful.

That said, the Times Book Review remains the Holy Grail for writers, and it’s absolutely unattainable for 99 percent of us. That’s because of both the avalanche of books published annually and the Times’ peculiar methods for selecting books to review (many of which simply cannot have potential sales of more than 200). Making the Times Best Seller list is easier than getting reviewed — and that’s really hard!

In any event, this blog post is worth reading, if you care about such things. An excerpt:

“When I worked as an editor at Doubleday and later as an agent doing business with most major publishers, there was a constant lament about the Times’s cultural blindspots.  This lament was rarely given voice beyond whispered conversations because hope sprung eternal that the newspaper would come around in time to review an author’s next work, rather than consign it, too, to oblivion. Well, good luck with that.  Many authors have waited their whole lives for a nod from the gray lady.”

Today is Easter, of course. It is also the anniversary of the death of Padre Gaetano Catanoso. He was 84 on this day in 1963, when he died in his own bed in Santo Spirito in Reggio Calabria. Some hours before his death, Monsignor Sorrentino of Reggio visited his mentor and spoke with him about Saint Francis of Paola, the last saint named from Calabria (in the early 1500s). The mother general of Padre Gaetano’s order of nuns mentioned to the monsignor that Calabria was in needs of new saints. Thus, the idea was lodged. Sorrentino launched the cause for canonization in 1980 under Pope John Paul II. The canonization, led by Pope Benedict XVI, took place Oct. 23, 2005.

A year ago, a reader wrote to congratulate me on being, as I accuse myself late in my book, “a mediocre Catholic.” I thought it a strange thing until he explained: if there were more people of mediocre faith, the world would be a much less violent place….Another example:

WASHINGTON, March 29 — Nine members of a Michigan-based Christian militia group have been indicted on sedition and weapons charges in connection with an alleged plot to murder law enforcement officers in hopes of setting off an anti-government uprising.

As a Catholic, a relative of a saint, a citizen of the world, I want to state loudly and clearly that I am appalled at the actions of the Vatican regarding the priest sex abuse scandals, then and now. Specifically, I am outraged and offended by the pope’s restrained response.  Apologies are not enough. Taking responsibility, meting out long-overdue punishment and changing the culture of this church are boldly in order. If Benedict cannot lead on this issue, he must consider stepping down so that someone else will.

As much as the Vatican would want the world to believe otherwise, The New York Times is not out to get him. It’s only out to get the truth. And it is. For balance, today’s Times offers this story, too.