Thank you, Loretto and St. Francis University

The Water Bill Flyer

I returned from my first Wizard Clip Haunting book tour a month ago, and since then I've been hunkered down preparing and marketing  the History of the Catholic Faith in the America's Conference (Saturday, December 19, 2023 at the Priest Field Pastoral Center in Middleway, WV). 

One of my desired tour stops was the Allegheny mountain village of Loretto, PA, the town founded by Fr. Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin. For reasons covered elsewhere, it was Gallitzin who became the natural choice to narrate Wizard Clip Haunting.

I did speak in Loretto and I have a number of people to thank for that very rewarding evening. 

To get an invite to Loretto to speak, I first contacted Fr. John Byrnes, the priest at the parish Gallitzin founded, St. Michael's Basilica. But the church hall and Gallitzin's historic chapel house were both under renovation.  Fr. Byrnes (pronounced Burns) suggested I call the president of St. Francis University (SFU), Fr. Malachi Van Tassell. Fr. Malachi was very receptive to the idea and put me in touch with the Dean of the school's STEAM program, Dr. Peter Skoner. (It's not STEM, but STEAM. The A stands in for Arts and Humanities, thus SFU is a true liberal arts university.)

In turn, Dr. Skoner turned me over to the chair of the history department, Dr. Denise Damico, who was enthusiastic about my visit. We set a date and time, they provided a cottage on campus to stay in and meals for Pam and I, and then Samantha Gorman, Skoner's assistant, ordered eight copies of the novel...no doubt to give the faculty time to read the novel before I got there...just in case they wanted to head-me-off at the Allegheny Mountain pass. 

Stan at Fr. Gallitzin's desk, at which (Chapter 1)
Fr. Gallitzin narrates Stan's novel.

Of course, everyone in town knew who Demetrius Gallitzin was. His name is on all the signs. Gallitzin, PA, a tiny village is nearby as is Gallitzin State Forest. Too, he's known within the Catholic Church as a Servant of God thanks to the postulant work of Frank and Betty Seymour, who live next to St. Michael's Basilica and just a few blocks from the University. I had visited with Betty in 2014 during my research, and on our visit to Loretto this time, we spent several hours with Frank and Betty in their beautifully decored Victorian parlor.

After spending a few hours visiting classrooms, I gave an evening lecture. The turn out was the largest of the tour. About 100 town and university folks including a few students showed up. Not a few brought the novel they had purchased from Amazon and asked me to sign their copies. And, we started to sell books as soon as people arrived, even before the talk...first time that's happened. One family brought three Amazon purchased paperbacks (yes 812 pages each) and asked me to sign them. They were well into their books (all at once) and most impressive to me was their 10-year old daughter who was around page 300 and loving it. Okay, so she must have been a Catholic homeschooler...by and large such children are ahead of the curve. 

Fr. Gallitzin's crypt guarding
St. Michael's Bascilica 

As we were packing up Denise gave me a copy of the flyer pictured above, and told me the story of how they got it distributed to the town.  Someone on her event promotional committee was on the Loretto Water Board. With a little note on the back of the flyer, Denise invited the whole town by sending it out with the water bill. LOL!  

I can't take all the credit for the large turn out. For one thing the flyer is better worded and better looking than any of my ads. Second, it was sent to a captive audience that had to read it or have their water turned off. But, third, Pam and I discovered that there is nothing to do in Loretto at night unless you're a barn owl. There is no restaurant, (not even a McDonalds), no movie theaters, no shopping centers, no band shell, no gas station, no shuffle board court, no golf courses, no traffic light, no newspaper, and no police force. Although they do have a post office, some entertainment that is. Wait! There is an American Legion Hall, although I'm not sure what goes on there.  The ONLY thing in town is the University, luckily (err, I mean Providentially) it's beautiful, big, and the food is great at the student union and cafeteria. So, when there's something happening at the University, people turn out. Fourth and finally, my public lecture was on a Monday night when there were no sporting events schedule. 

Oh, but I forgot, there is the water bill inserts. They can be interesting.

The author with Betty Seymour in her
beautiful Victorian parlor.

St. Francis overlooking the Chapel at St. Francis University