I don't know if you remember when you were in Minneapolis last year, okay. We did that. People are still talking about that panel discussion and about this speech you gave.

Oh, well, it was a great couple of days. I thought it was. I know you do a lot of that. It always goes so well.

Not always, no. That was very nice. It was particularly nice.

Well, this is a very civilized community out in the middle of America.

Oh, Mitch, you're making, oh, I'm playing with my watch. Is that what you're hearing? Okay.

I think should we just get going here? Let's just let's just see how we get on.

Well, I don't, I can't remember where we were with the program now, but now we launched this program called Speaking of Faith as a weekly national program in the summer where

we're growing. We're on in over 50 markets now. We're on in six of the top 10 markets in New York and Los Angeles and Washington and good places.

And it's called Speaking of Faith. And so I say that I let religious people speak in religious ways.

And what I thought I'd like to do with you today in terms of your new book is trace.

Not so much the your life story, but, but focus in on the how your theology developed in that life story and let that be how we, how we focus our conversation.

Okay. Okay. And I'll, and I'm the one who asked the question. So what's up to me to make that happen?

I know my job is good. You're only as good as your interviewer.

So, you know, so I want to start again. You know, I don't want to spend. I also had read previously your first memoir. So I had read that.

And, and I don't want to spend a lot of time on on your time in the religious order, but we obviously have to start there.

And so what I, the way I thought I would just put that question as we begin is, you know, how do you think now about how that experience limited your theology?

Well, well, I think there wasn't very much theology involved in my convent years.

We rather took the idea of God for granted as a being who would listen, who was present, who'd somehow made the world and who had appeared on earth in Jesus Christ.

But, and we were introduced to a little theology, but not very much.

I think the limiting factor was the lifestyle because we were not encouraged to think or explore obedience was the key.

And we had to, in common with most religious orders at that time, we were supposed to be subservient to our superiors, seeing them in the place of God.

And not following your own thoughts through or exploring ideas or expressing doubt or confusion because your job was not to reason why yours, but to do and die.

...