Until this afternoon. I am talking to a couple of classes at Katie’s school – on how to use the Catechism and the Compendium and then about certain other topics, like a movie that came out this past weekend. Sigh.

So until then, a brief, late report of various recent talks.

Last Tuesday, I headed to Cleveland, for three talks. Michael had offered to come along, but it was good he didn’t since I ended up not driving back into the driveway until 1:30 AM. That would have been misery all ’round, especially since he was heading to Indianopolis that Wednesday night in order to catch an early flight the next day to D.C. for Book Expo America (He is slowly posting photos of the Literary Lights he encountered there)

First stop was Padua Franciscan High where I gave two talks to probably a total 500 students. The place made an excellent first impression – Steve Eyerman, theology department chair, was quite sharp, and unintentionally tempted me to go back to teaching, at least at a Franciscan school, as he told me about the school sending him to spend 2 weeks in Assisi…

Then, to find a studio in south Cleveland where I’d be doing that blasted John Gibson FoxNews show. and, as I quickly arranged as I was driving around, a segment for Wolf Blitzer’s show on CNN. (Old readers will remember that Fort Wayne does not have facilities to do satellite uplinks. It was fortuitous that I happened to be in Cleveland where they have advanced technology, apparently.)

Just a bit on the Gibson show – I was told before I went on air that they would be concentrating on the "five biggest mistakes in DVC" that I had in the USA Today piece. Okay. So, we start, and Gibson goes through the first two, and then says something like, "Now, take us through the last three."

Uh….I had no clue what they were. Well, I had a clue.  I knew two for sure, but could not think of the fifth. I had actually written two versions of that sidebar – one with ten mistakes, the other with five, and really had no recollection of what that last point I made was. I made something up. (And, just another note – That USA Today piece, which appeared last Monday, was actually written a month or so before publication. That’s how these things work…in case you’re interested.) I’m sure I looked flustered. I felt it. But in the end…I really didn’t care. ‘Cause it was off to the next thing –

The Cleveland Catholic Forum sponsored my talk that night, at St. Leo the Great parish. Nice crowd, great folks who helped me sell books, etc. I met a blog reader or two. The Cleveland Catholic Forum is a group of young-ish Catholics who are enthusiastic evangelizers, doing what they can to spread the Faith. An interesting group, doing what seems to be great work.

Hop in the car and drive, drive, drive. That was a long drive, I’m telling you. But ‘sokay. Better than staying in a hotel and wasting the morning in the car.

Now, for the radio. As I was driving into Cleveland, I happened upon a Christian radio program and was, unusual for me, instantly hooked. The fellow’s casual, yet firm and grounded voice, his common sense approach – he was an evangelical, but his musings that day were all about Church – he related how a listener complained that he could agree with almost everything he said, except his stance on Church – which is, essentially, that it’s necessary. That Jesus didn’t call Joe and JoeBeth as individuals, he called them as part of the Church. Oh, yes, he knows the problems with the Church. When he teaches in seminary, he designates a student in the front row to be the one who’ll raise his hand as a warning when he gets too negative about Church. But…well, you get the drift.

Well, the guy’s name is Steve Brown, and his ministry is called "Key Life." I have no idea if anti-Catholic musings lurk in his archive, but all I’m saying is that his style was quite striking, and one well worth erstwhile Catholic radio folk to study. It was confident, yet casual, cozy but firm, a good dose of friendly authority, born, not of just education but experience, in that gravely voice.  Good stuff.

The second radio daze experience occurred as I was searching for something to eat (finally settled on Mr. Hero – it was close, okay? ) It was some Christian radio station in which a group of three people were fundraising. Went on and on and on about sacrifice and giving, and the great blessings that come from giving ("Don’t get me started about the truck that came to me!") ..and $38.00 was the blest number. I caught the tail end of the explanation for the amount, and it all came down to "God told us to have you give that much."  Minutes and minutes of not asking, not requesting, but in a backhanded way, demanding money.

Not much good on the radio on the way back – made me appreciate that satellite.

Last night, I spoke to a nice crowd close to home, for which I am very, very grateful: at St. Paul of the Cross in Columbia City. The staff member who coordinated my talk is a marvel – when her baby is born in October, she will, I think, have 6 children age 5 and under. How to accomplish that? When three of them are triplets. They were darling – God bless them all! Small children bring such a different energy to a place – an energy that speaks "life" – and what else is, well…"life" about?