Wildwood son returns to speak in Avalon, North Cape May

Last year, Wildwood native Justin Catanoso published a book about his cousin, Gaetano Catanoso, who was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in October 2005.
The book, My Cousin, the Saint, has done rather well, so well in fact, that it will be released in paperback this June, and Justin will be appearing locally this weekend—7 p.m. at the Avalon Elementary School gym, 235 32nd St. on May 16, and at 10:30 a.m. at St. John of God Church, 680 Town Bank Road in North Cape May on May 17.
He’ll speak about the genesis of the book, and how it affected his family—both here in Wildwood and in Italy—and how his journey continues to find the deeper meaning of having a saint in the family.
The paperback will have a new cover and new subtitle—A Story of Love, Miracles, and an Italian Family Reunited.
The former subtitle—A Search for Faith, Family and Miracles—pigeonholed the book.
“The new subtitle is designed to make the book less religious,” said Justin in a recent telephone interview. “We found that the hardback was getting shelved in the religious section of bookstores, and it’s really more of a family memoir.”
After good critical reviews and sales, Justin—an editor at a North Carolina business journal—found himself flooded with correspondence from others who were, like him, wondering spiritually, and wandering both physically and emotionally.
“I got e-mails from first and second generation immigrants—Italians and non-Italians—who told me that my story pushed them to go back (to their ancestral lands),” he said.
Whenever he does a speaking engagement (he has done more than 60), he relays some of his favorite stories from the book. The one that gets the most response is about his uncle Tony, a former mayor of North Wildwood.
“He was serving in World War Two as an interpreter in Italy,” Justin explained, “and he went AWOL looking for relatives.”
Justin went looking for, and found, some of those same relatives when he returned years later, looking for his roots that now included Saint Gaetano Catanoso.
“What I’ve found at most of these lectures is that people want to share their own such stories,” he said. “They want to talk about how they have searched for relatives.”
Justin will be speaking, selling, and signing copies of his book when he appears in Cape May County May 16 and 17, and no doubt he’ll be doing a lot of listening also.
As the book clearly illustrates, he is still on a journey—a journey many in his audience share with him and the countless others who have made this country of immigrants their home.