I will be speaking at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Charlotte on Wednesday night, November 12, at 6:30 p.m. The church is at 3016 Providence Road. Details are here. My topic? My cousin the saint, and how he came to be canonized.

Update:My sincere thanks to Susan Krasniewski and Father Frank at St. Gabriel for hosting me tonight. They both did a sensational job of organizing and promoting my talk and we certainly had a wonderful turnout. It was great to meet so many people afterwards. A special thanks to the Italian-American woman who traveled to Charlotte from Shelby who bought eight books and gave me to two delicious homemade meatball sandwiches!

The Anniston Star in Alabama reviews My Cousin the Saint. The review is here.

Before the Tampa Bay area went nuts last night reveling in the success of the once-lowly Rays and their improbable journey to the World Series, Tampa Tribune religion writer Michelle Bearden offered a story in the Sunday paper about the power of saints in modern society. The story is here. Me and my cousin enter the story near the end.

For the record, I’m a Phillies fan, and have been since I was a Little Leaguer in Wildwood, NJ, going to the Vet with my pre-teen pals to see Steve Carlton pitch for a team that lost 100 games. If the Phillies win this series - their first since 1980 and second in franchise history — it won’t be a miracle. This team is really good!

Julie Davis, who skillfully and lovingly manages the blog Happy Catholic, reviews My Cousin the Saint today. The review is here. It’s also here at Catholic Media Review and here at Catholic Online. Julie has generously invited me to contribute a guest post to her blog next week. Here’s an excerpt from her online review:

“In some ways, Catanoso’s story is the dream of every American whose family lost their roots when they came to this country. He receives an email one day from a woman who wonders if they might be related. It turns out that the American branch of the family has long been missing a deep heritage rooted in the Italian countryside. As well, Catanoso discovers that his grandfather’s cousin, Padre Gaetano Catanoso, is being considered for canonization. This unbelievable news, prompts a family visit to Italy where they are lovingly embraced by their newly found relatives and where they begin hearing stories about ‘the saint.’ “

The process of making this video came in two parts. First, Micheael Frierson, a film maker at UNC-Greensboro, filmed me doing a stand up in front of the cathedral in Reggio. I had to just about shout over the noise of the traffic rushing by on the street. There’s a short transition related to the canonization and then, presto, there I am in Rome! This segment was shot on the last night of our stay in Italy last March. It was filmed around midnight and St. Peter’s Square was all but deserted. Laurelyn and Martha, Michael’s wife, were holding a light reflector and boom mic. We were all gibby from a late, wine-soaked dinner and tired from a long train ride that day from Reggio to Rome. We must’ve done 50 takes, laughing through most of them. Somehow, Michael found a take that worked well enough to use.

Adam Sobsey, a talented book reviewer for The Independent, an alternative weekly in Raleigh, N.C., reviews My Cousin the Saint in this week’s paper. The review is here. An excerpt:

“Although Catanoso often shows us his skeptical-journalist card (he’s a Pulitzer nominee and the executive editor of the Triad’s Business Journal), the combination of his ardent earnestness and his felicitous discoveries mark him as a man who wants very much to believe—partially for the very reason that he seems to keep finding only good news everywhere he looks. Even when people close to him die, there’s uplift at the end.”

This new video was shot in Chorio, Italy, the little Calabrian village where my grandfather and his cousin the saint were born. It starts with a presentation I made in March in the church in Chorio, with Germaine translating, and it ends with me interviewing my cousin, Enzo Catanoso, in the piazza outside the church.

My new friends in Calabria who hosted me this week on their blogs bleeding espresso and My Bella Vita have been fielding some great questions for me about My Cousin the Saint. I’m going to provide some answers in the coming week starting now:

Q: How did your research change or confirm your belief and thoughts of miracles? Andrea

A: My research changed my notion of miracles dramatically – not only my reading, but the interviews I conducted with priests at the Vatican in the pope’s office of saint making. These days, I no longer use the phrase “it’s a miracle” lightly or randomly. The Catholic Church’s definition of a miracle is precise and exacting. A miracle is never luck, never a coincidence. It is, as a great saint once said, “beyond the order commonly observed.” Sticking with the definition, miracles are divine and supernatural, gilded by grace and understood only through faith – like Lazerus rising from the dead. The church tells us that only God performs miracles, often through the intercession (call it lobbying if you like) of those close to Him – the saints.

Now – do I believe this stuff? I can’t say that I always do. I’m still skeptical and doubtful. But I’ve studied the miracles attributed to Saint Gaetano, I’ve met an Calabrian woman who the Vatican said was the recipient of a miracle, I’ve heard moving miracle stories from my Italian relatives. My research and my experiences have challenged my skepticism. Today, I am far more open to the idea of miracles than I was before this saint wandered into my life a few years ago.

Q: My question is…are you a victim of Stendhal’s Syndrome, or do you feel that you are able to take an objective look at Italy, Catholicism and saints in general? (Maybe I have to read your book myself to find the answer to my question!) saretta

A: Once I looked up the meaning of the syndrome, I must confess, I suffer from it on every trip to Italy – in the best way! I’m dizzy and delirious and eager to absorb far more than I can take in at once. I get over it before too long, and when I do, I can see the country more objectively – like it’s myriad aggravations and faults, especially in the south.

Q: My question is this: What has this whole experience done to and for your children and has it changed them at all? Susan

A: More than anything, my daughters are enormously proud and knowledgeable about their Italian heritage. I was far older than them before it came to me.

Q: Of all the stories you heard as you did your research, which one affected you the most, and why? Jen

A: Learning about my immigrant grandfather, Carmelo Catanoso of Chorio, who died long before I was born was extraordinary. But hearing a miracle story from a favorite cousin in Calabria, Patrizia Catanoso, gave me chills. Her moving story starts the book.

Q: Had you prayed to saints before you found this out about your family? Suebob

A: Never. But now I do regularly, at least to the one I know best.

(more Q&A to come)

:

For newcomers to this site, especially faithful readers of Bleeding Espresso and My Bella Vita, welcome! This video, shot and produced in Calabria last March, captures a bit of the spirit of My Cousin the Saint. Please be sure to see the other videos at the Multimedia link. My pal and filmmaker Michael Frierson is completing a few more video shorts, which I will post soon.

As I receive reader feedback, I am hearing that book clubs are reading My Cousin the Saint. That’s wonderful! To help with the discussion that is the heart and soul of every book club (until it veers off into good friends catching up with each other’s lives!), here is a set of questions to consider:

1.      How would you describe southern Italy at the turn of the 20^th century? How did Catanoso’s description of the land, the long history and the people surprise you? What role did those conditions play in the “great wave” of Italian immigration to America between 1880 and 1920?

2.      The central characters in Part I are cousins Gaetano Catanoso, the eventual saint, and Carmelo Catanoso, the author’s grandfather. How does the tenor of the times influence both men as they pursue their own profound, interior callings?

3.      My Cousin the Saint is divided into three parts – Faith, Family and Miracles. Each part begins with a short miracle story. How do those miracle stories set the tone for the chapters to follow in each part?

4.      Why does the Catholic Church, which has been doing so for 2,000 years, name saints? What is your reaction to the intricate, complex nature of this process?

5.      Pope John Paul II is still criticized by some for naming so many saints. This point is addressed in the book. Do you believe the criticism is fair?

6.      If you learned you had a saint in the family, someone whom the Vatican declares has actual miraculous powers, what would you pray for?

7.      Did reading this book temper your views on the Catholic Church or Catholicism?

8.      A central theme of Part I is America as a land of opportunity, and of biases and prejudices against recent immigrants. How does this story illuminate the current controversy over legal and illegal immigration?

9.      Catanoso, a lapsed Catholic, returns to church following the canonization of his relative and eventually comes to see that being lapsed, skeptical and doubtful is far more common in the church than he imagined. How does this story prompt you to reflect on your own faith or lack thereof?

10.  Catanoso goes off in search and faith and finds his family – scores of them in another country, most of whom don’t even speak English. It was almost as if they had been expecting him for 100 years. How much do you know about your own family history? If you connected with long-lost relatives in another place or country, what would expectations be? Is this something you would like to do?

Enjoy the discussion!