CBB interview with Raymond Arroyo

Raymond Arroyo is an internationally known, award-winning journalist, producer, and New York Times Bestselling author. As news director and lead anchor for EWTN, he is seen in more than 200 million homes on six continents each week and heard on hundreds of AM/FM affiliates and on EWTN’s stand alone SiriusXM satellite channel. Mr. Arroyo created The World Over Live in 1996, which he hosts live each week from Washington DC.

Known for his penetrating interviews, Mr. Arroyo has interrogated the leading figures of the day. Highlights include: The first exclusive, sit down interview with Mel Gibson about his film, “The Passion of the Christ”; Mother Teresa of Calcutta; Placido Domingo; President Bush, and the first and only English interview with Pope Benedict XVI shortly before his election.

Before coming to EWTN, Mr. Arroyo worked for the Associated Press, The New York Observer, the political columnist team of Evans and Novak, and was a Capitol Hill correspondent.

In light of her recent passing, Raymond and I discussed his friendship with Mother Angelica.

PETE: Can you tell us a little about how you first met Mother Angelica and your friendship through the years?

RAYMOND ARROYO: Mother and I hit it off from the first moment we met. I attribute the extraordinary connection to our shared Italian heritage. We understood each other. But there is much more to our relationship–highs and lows, which I relate in the forthcoming Mother Angelica Her Grand Silence (Image)‎.

PETE: What is one of your favorite stories about Mother Angelica?

RAYMOND ARROYO: The remarkable story of how Mother secured the money to pay for her first satellite dish is one of my all-time favorites because it demonstrates her deep faith. The other story that always made me howl is when a Bishops Conference official tried to strong arm Mother into airing an interview with an individual she considered herderodox on her network.

“You won’t always be there,” he threatened.

“I’ll blow the damn thing up before you get your hands on it,” Mother responded.

From her current perch, she probably could!

PETE: Mother Angelica wrote a number of books and pamphlets through the years. Do you have any recommendations for readers?

RAYMOND ARROYO: Many of those “Mini-Books” she wrote in the 70’s were edited by Sr. Mary Raphael who adored Mother. And while some of them are exemplary–Ad Lib With the Lord and His Suffering and Mine come to mind– others were so heavily edited that it is hard for me to hear Mother’s voice when I read them. For that reason, I much prefer the private and TV lessons to some of the mini books.  When I edited some of Mother’s lessons for the monastery, I tried to restore some of those early pamphlets to their original form.

PETE: You have written a very comprehensive biography titled Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles. Can you tell us about that biography and the work that went into it?

RAYMOND ARROYO: Mother gave me three years worth of intense and extremely personal interviews from 1999 to 2001. Just weeks before the stroke that stole her speech I completed our last interview. Looking back on them all these years later I discovered keys that unlock the meaning of Mother’s last 15 years of silence. Some of what she told me was incredibly powerful. I will include that material in the sequel to the biography. The original took me 5 years to shape and write. It was worth every moment. Hers is a moving and life altering story.

(Note: Since Raymond and I had this interview the book he mentions has now gone on pre-order. Mother Angelica: Her Grand Silence: The Last Years and Living Legacy)

PETE: Time for my signature ending question. This is a blog about books. What is currently on your bookshelf to read?

RAYMOND ARROYO: Glancing at my night stand: ‎I am re-reading Treasure Island for the first time since I was 9, working my way through a collection of Gabriel Garcia Marquez short stories, James Lee Burke’s All Saints Day, a Nero Wolfe mystery (Too Many Cooks), and Trigger Warnings by Neil Gaiman.  Note that I am reading much, but finishing few…