I'm happy if my book makes you want to kiss your family... if we can reconcile with each other no matter where we are on the globe.

Maybe if we can find time to hug and cherish our families and the people around us, child suicide or college suicide wouldn't be rampant.

I always felt my writing could benefit from the attention of established writers. I knew my work could grow and be better.

I believe that Jesus was both priest and poet. Imagine those powerful parables! My experience as a priest tells me it's not possible to reach the hearts of the congregants without a bit of poetry and storytelling.

I'd say my religious life has shaped my worldview; my writing, I'd say too, is an extension of the pulpit...it reaches folks who don't care for organized religion in a different way.

I'm happy if my book makes you want to kiss your family... if we can reconcile with each other no matter where we are on the globe.

After the phone call from The New Yorker, I walked more than a mile to church to thank God. But then I told God I would talk to Him another time and darted home.