I was cheered to find this item in a Tennessee paper about another deacon working in broadcasting. Is this a trend, or what?

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

Amid the clatter of plates and the sound of coffee being poured, Deacon Jeff Drzycimski settles in each Sunday morning to what he calls “the luxurious corner booth.”

Inviting his radio audience to join him for all things Roman Catholic, Drzycimski (pronounced druh-ZIM-ski) alludes to being in a cozy cafe, where he and his co-host order up steaming cups of joe and dive into platters of pancakes.

In actuality, “The Catholic Cafe” radio show is taped inside a cramped room in a former convent, while a soundtrack provides the bustling background noise.

“I’ve had people ask ‘Are you really drinking coffee? Are you really eating doughnuts?'” laughed the 46-year-old Drzycimski from the building behind St. Louis Catholic Church on White Station.

A big man wearing gray clerics, the deacon recently sat in the closet-sized studio where the only refreshments come from a mini-fridge.

“The Catholic Cafe,” which has been on the air for less than three months, runs on two stations, one in Memphis and one that reaches across western Tennessee.

Drzycimski and close friend and sidekick Tom Dorian sit down each week with a guest to delve into topics such as conversions to Catholicism, the relationship between the church and science, and racier issues such as contraception.

“It’s never preachy. That’s our goal,” Drzycimski said.

While there is no shortage of Catholic radio programs, “The Catholic Cafe’s” chatty style is earning it recognition.

Its Web site, which offers downloads of the show, has received more than 97,000 hits. It is also ranked among the top hundred Catholic Podcasts on iTunes.

Nationally syndicated Catholic networks including Relevant Radio and EWTN have expressed interest in airing the program, Drzycimski said.

“Preaching doesn’t work well on the radio,” said Father John Geaney, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, who has seen many shows of that type come and go.

With the blessing of the diocese, “The Catholic Cafe” aims to explain Catholicism and bring those who have strayed back to the church, he said.

Deacon at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Drzycimski was ordained in April.

Although he was raised Catholic and married a devout Catholic, with whom he now has nine children, about 15 years ago he discovered he was spiritually running on empty.

“You can become sort of a robot if you don’t know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it,” he said.

A freelance video producer, Drzycimski was creating a Christian music video for Ardent Recording Studios when the message of the video brought him a “born again” experience, something completely foreign to his Catholic upbringing, he said.

He decided to join a nondenominational church, but his wife made him agree to meet with a priest first.

Torn over what direction to go in, he knew he wanted to practice whatever type of Christianity was closest to what Christ practiced.

Reading the earliest writings he could find, he decided, he said, “The Catholic Church was what Jesus intended.”

Not long after that he felt the tug to be a deacon.

Referring to himself as a “re-vert,” Drzycimski said radio has been a way for him to express his journey back to the church to those who may be looking for direction.

“We want to put it out there, let people hear it and let the holy spirit handle the rest,” he said.

You can visit the Catholic Cafe and hear more for yourself.

Photo: by Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal