Since Christmas, I've been reading Cavins's confessions which my niece bought me in a gift exchange tradition among my husband's side of the family. I was bowled over with his early, consistent success in making impressions on people, being handed opportunities, and getting conversions. This all made sense, however, when I reached the book's center and saw Cavins's personal snapshots. I saw how good-looking he was as a young man. People react positively to good-looking people.

My interest was piqued when I read that we were both in the Dayton, OH area in the early 90's. He writes on pages 101 and 102:

... in January 1990, we parted amicably with Open Arms [in Minneapolis] and moved to Xenia, Ohio, full of fire, and started meetings on how we were going to develop an authentic New Testament church. [...] The church in Xenia was called "New Covenant Fellowship." ... met in a warehouse.

Within a few years, he wanted to move the church to Dayton in hopes of attracting more people. However, instead of relocating, the church split.

There was, in fact, an animosity toward the people from Dayton who were increasingly filling the pews of the church. These new people upset the apple cart and forced the folks from Xenia to begin to think and do things in new ways.

He visits an Episcopal church and picks up Howard's book from the back table. He develops a desire to go to mass and finds a Saturday evening service in Centerville at - he doesn't say.

Map

"C" is where I attended, St. Henry's.
But, with today's map, it could have been St. Francis of Assisi ("B") or Incarnation ("D").¹

I wasn't very adventurous in those days, not exploring much. And, hard to believe, there was no internet then. I found information about things in the neighborhood by looking in a phonebook or local newspaper. Without a TV, there was no way to know. I did venture to Holy Trinity downtown a couple of times for what was, in the early 90's something novel, especially to me, the Tridentine Latin Mass. They don't even seem to offer it any longer. They've turned it over to the FSSP which may be more fitting. Pretty church, wish I had visited there.

So far, one other mention Cavins makes of central Ohio is St. Mark's bookstore. It's difficult to tell from the website whether it's still in business. In those days I didn't buy many books, trying to live very simply, and rather made use of the public library. So I wasn't in the market for books and didn't visit any Catholic bookstores,² just like I didn't visit many churches. I do remember taking a business trip to Columbus in '93 and visiting a bookstore to order some foreign language bibles. Sounds strange now that I get ABS's catalog in the mail. The store had to ship the books to NJ. I bought a German one and a French one which I could read puzzle out then. I haven't tried lately. Now that these and all my other books are out of storage, maybe I'll try, just as soon as I finish Cavin's book!

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¹ St. Leonard's ("E") seems a little different. The archdiocese doesn't even list it. If Cavins had dropped in there, he might still be an evangelical.

² I have a bookmark from Books & Co., so I must have gone there once or twice, in Kettering.