Raymond Arroyo on Campus April 17

Award-winning journalist and New York Times Bestselling author Raymond Arroyo will speak at Benedictine College on Monday, April 17, at 7:00 p.m. in the McAllister Board Room on the fourth floor of the Ferrell Academic Center. The talk is co-sponsored by the Gregorian Institute.

His presentation, “How Fiction Can Save Our Culture and Renew the Church,” will touch on his success with his Will Wilder series of children’s adventure books. The second book in the series, Will Wilder: The Lost Staff of Wonders (Random House), was just published in March. His lecture is sponsored by the Benedictine College Convocation & Arts Committee and the Gregorian Institute. It is free and open to the public.

Arroyo is an internationally known journalist and producer who founded founded EWTN News and The World Over program in 1996. As founding news director, managing editor and lead anchor for EWTN News, he is seen in more than 350 million homes on six continents each week, and heard on more than 500 AM/FM affiliates and a stand-alone Sirius satellite radio channel. In addition to his work at EWTN, Arroyo has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN Headline News, Access Hollywood, The O’Reilly Factor, Erin Burnett Outfront and the Laura Ingraham Show. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, The New Yorker and elsewhere.

Benedictine College writers have high hopes for Arroyo’s fiction career.

“If we hope to have a Catholic Literary Revival,” Professor Steven Mirarchi wrote at Crisis, “we need to engage the ‘tweens.’”

“As other reviewers have noted, Arroyo has a popular suspense writer’s command of his genre, which is not surprising given that Arroyo cut his teeth on Dean Koontz’s work, conducting substantial interviews with the private author,” Mirarch wrote. “Arroyo’s chapter closings are not quite as cliff-hanging as Koontz’s, but given Arroyo’s audience, that is to be expected. The book moves quickly and fluidly, and just about everything in the text works toward a single unifying effect.”

He added: “A great part of the appeal of the book arises from Arroyo’s ability to satirize contemporary secular culture.”

Tom Hoopes wrote at Aleteia about “Raymond Arroyo and the revolution in Catholic literature.”

“His book is a truly ‘fun read.’ It is part comic novel, part treasure hunt, part thriller, and part social commentary,” Hoopes wrote. “It is dark and dangerous enough to capture the attention of middle school boys, but kept light enough to win the approval of their moms.”

In addition to his new Will Wilder series for young readers, Arroyo has also written books for adults, including his now famous biography of Mother Angelica. Five of his adult books, including Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles, have been New York Times Bestsellers.

Known for his penetrating interviews, Arroyo has talked with the leading figures of the day. Highlights include: Mother Teresa of Calcutta; Placido Domingo; Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump; a groundbreaking interview with comic legend Jerry Lewis; the first exclusive, sit down interview with Mel Gibson about his film, “The Passion of the Christ;” and the first and only English interview with Pope Benedict XVI (pictured).

Before coming to EWTN, Arroyo worked for the Associated Press, The New York Observer and the political columnist team of Evans and Novak. He is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He has acted and directed in New York and London. He resides in Virginia with his wife, Rebecca, and their three children.

Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas.  The school is proud to be named one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report as well as one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by First Things magazine and the Newman Guide.  It prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging.  It has a mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.