» Hear Justin Catanoso talk about his cousin, Padre Gaetano Catanoso, on NPR
Justin Catanoso has a bona fide saint in the family.
After Catanoso's grandfather left Italy to find a better life in America at the turn of the 20th century, the American and Italian branches of the family lost track of each other. Growing up in New Jersey, Catanoso didn't know of anyone in his family that he would have considered a candidate for sainthood.
When Catanoso connected with his relatives back in Italy, though, he learned that the family did indeed have a member worthy of such recognition -- Padre Gaetano Catanoso, a cousin of Catanoso's grandfather who was one of 482 saints authorized for canonization by Pope John Paul III.
Catanoso was raised Catholic, and, although he stopped going to Mass as an adult, he never stopped thinking of himself as Catholic.
"I never walked away entirely from the church," he said.
Connecting with family in Italy, learning about his grandfather's cousin, going to the canonization ceremony in 2005 and, not incidentally, the painful experience of watching his older brother die put Catanoso on a path of self-examination.
In his just-released book My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family, and Miracles, Catanoso tells the story of Gaetano Catanoso while examining his own spiritual thoughts and beliefs as he explores the question of what it means to be a saint.
Catanoso is the executive editor of the Triad edition of The Business Journal. He lives in Greensboro with his wife, Laurelyn Dossett, and their three daughters. On Wednesday, he will be at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Winston-Salem for a discussion and book signing.
The book grew out of a three-minute commentary that Catanoso did in 2005 for National Public Radio in which he talked about his cousin the saint in the context of the death of his brother, Alan. A literary agent who heard the commentary thought that there might be a book there.
With a contract in hand from HarperCollins in New York, Catanoso returned to Italy for more research. In the process of writing the book, he said, he realized that for it to work he needed to be frank about his own spiritual journey.
"I just had to be honest with really personal things that I'm not comfortable sharing," he said.
He writes about his inability to fully accept the faith that seemed to come so naturally to his mother and others in the family as they directed their prayers for his brother through the family saint.
"My heart was pretty cold that summer as I watched my brother suffer," he said. "That episode in some ways hardened me."
As time passed, though, life opened him up more to the possibility of finding faith. On his research trip to Italy, a stranger did him a crucial favor in a way that made him wonder whether it was somehow a gift from his dead brother.
Was it indeed a little miracle?
"I couldn't tell my wife about it for a year because it seemed so hokey," he said.
These days, Catanoso is going to Mass again and actively seeking spiritual self-knowledge while continuing to wrestle with fundamental questions of faith.
If the book included a scene in which clouds parted, a light came down from heaven, and Catanoso experienced a spiritual awakening, it would have been more dramatic. But that was not the way it was, he said, and he may never have such an experience.
A priest suggested that, because of his skepticism, Catanoso might always be a "mediocre" Catholic.
Catanoso said he had no interest in overdramatizing, and, as it is, he thinks that his incremental spiritual journey will speak to more people.
"I hope that they can relate to the kind of journey that I have been on," he said.
■ Kim Underwood can be reached at 727-7389 or at kunderwood@wsjournal.com.
■ Justin Catanoso will be at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Winston-Salem at 7 p.m. Wednesday. For more information, call the store at 336-774-0800. More information about Justin Catanoso and Padre Gaetano Catanoso can be found at www.justincatanoso.com.
» Hear Justin Catanoso talk about his cousin, Padre Gaetano Catanoso, on NPR
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