Convert, author, and noted radio host Al Kresta succumbs to liver cancer

Al Kresta, host of the nationally syndicated talk show “Kresta in the Afternoon” on Ave Maria Radio and the EWTN radio network, has gone to his eternal reward at age 73. His illness was brief, having been diagnosed with liver cancer just two months ago, in April, but he was blessed to have the opportunity to say goodbye to friends and loved ones. His daughter Alexis posted a family photo on social media, and I count 28 smiling faces: Al and his wife Sally, their children and their many grandchildren.

Al’s voice will be greatly missed. His show, which airs on more than 200 stations nationwide and Sirius Satellite Radio, had as its goal, in Al’s words, to “look at all areas of life through the lens of Scripture and the teaching of Christ’s Church.” Al was interested in politics, theology, culture, literature, and the arts. His great love of God showed itself in his great generosity toward the people with whom he came in contact each day: his friends and neighbors and co-workers, of course, but also the people who joined the conversation on his daily talk show. Al was always kind, understanding that you can catch more flies with honey—and what he wanted, most of all, was to “catch some flies,” to lead others to Christ through his words and his work.

I was Al’s first producer at evangelical radio station WMUZ-FM in Detroit, when he was still a Protestant serving as pastor of Shalom Ministries in Taylor, Michigan. I remember how I learned about the position: just reentering the workplace as our children grew older, I had accepted a temporary position through Kelly Services. I was driving home from downtown Detroit and listening to Al Kresta’s fairly new show on the car radio. “I’d like to find a producer,” Al was saying; “someone who could answer phones and help set up interviews…”

“I’d love to do that!” I thought, although I’d never set foot inside a radio station in my life. I applied for the job and was invited for a personal interview with Al and the station’s manager, Frank Franciosi. Noting from my resume that I’d earned a bachelor’s in sociology from the University of Michigan, Al asked me why I didn’t continue my studies and become a teacher in that field; I told him, in all honesty, that I didn’t believe what they’d taught me. In fact, the idea that if your parents did this, you would necessarily grow up and do that seemed in direct opposition to the Christian concept of free will. I guess that was the right answer, because he offered me the job.

So, there I was, Al Kresta’s producer, scheduling speakers at his request or sometimes suggesting someone I’d read about on my own, and watching from my desk as Al urged his guests to explain their positions more fully. In those first years in the radio business, there was no internet, so I’d read magazines and newspapers, searching for news of interest to our Christian audience. I’d call the Information Desk at the Detroit Public Library to find a phone number in another city.

Al’s talents as talk show host were the stuff of legend. He drew out his guests, asking the toughest and most insightful questions. He managed to adhere to a rigid schedule, even when there were multiple guests debating a controversial topic. On those occasions when he disagreed, he’d challenge them respectfully but clearly. Often, guests would come into the studio in person; and they would be made to feel at home. One of those in-studio guests, Tom Monaghan, was the founder of Domino’s Pizza and then-owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. Monaghan would later persuade Al to lead his effort to launch a Catholic radio network, Ave Maria Radio, from the offices of Domino Farms in Ann Arbor.

During my later years at WMUZ, we developed a Friday afternoon series we titled “How I Changed My Mind.” In the last hour of the Friday show, Al would talk with someone who had changed from one faith to another: a lifelong Muslim who embraced Christianity; a Jew who became a Baptist; a Presbyterian who had converted to the Catholic Faith. And while Al still at that point served as a Protestant pastor, he was using those conversion stories to clarify some things in his own mind.

And when he talked to an individual who had converted to Catholicism–especially a prominent convert like Scott Hahn–I’d help to arrange follow-up conversations, perhaps lasting several hours on a weekday evening.

Those conversations bore fruit. Al began studying the early Church Fathers and discovered, to his surprise, that they were decidedly Catholic! Eventually, Al felt obliged to resign from his post as pastor of Shalom Ministries, since he could no longer sign their statement of faith. During Holy Week 1992, Al Kresta, accompanied by his wife and children, took the final step into full communion with the Catholic Church. His example influenced others to consider the issues which prompted his conversion; and in the following years at least two of Al’s better known friends–Steve Ray and Pastor Alex Jones–followed in his footsteps.

Al’s conversion led to new opportunities, and he was called to establish a Catholic radio network, Ave Maria Radio, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There he served as president and CEO of WDEO-FM, while at the same time hosting his own show on weekday afternoons (and I again served as his producer for a short time). He authored or co-authored four books which can help readers who seek a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith:

• Why Do Catholics Genuflect? And Answers to Other Puzzling Questions About the Catholic Church (2002)
• Why Are Catholics So Concerned About Sin? More Answers to Puzzling Questions About the Catholic Church (2005)
• Moments of Grace: Inspiring Stories from Well-Known Catholics (2008, with Nick Thomm)
• Dangers to the Faith: Recognizing Catholicism’s 21^st-Century Opponents (2013)

On the cover of his first book, Why Do Catholics Genuflect?, Al explained the issue that motivated his writing and his daily broadcast. “Are you puzzled,” he asked, “by all that ‘Catholic stuff’?” He has given his life to answering the questions posed by non-Catholics, new Catholics, and even “cradle Catholics.”

We now go on in the world, living and learning the Catholic Faith, without the clear insights and respectful dialogue of Al Kresta. He will be missed in many ways. I imagine God welcoming him home with the words we all hope one day to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”