Youtube Interviews
In this episode of Roadmap to Heaven, host Adam Wright interviews Dr. Ray Guerendi while on the road. Dr. Ray, a psychologist, shares insights about his career choice, personal life, and the common challenges faced by parents.
They discuss the impact of technology, specifically smartphones, on children and the importance of safeguarding their well-being. Dr. Ray also talks about his busy schedule and involvement in music, including playing in restaurants and nursing homes. He shares his love for ballads and appreciation for dry, subtle humor.
The episode concludes with Dr. Ray reflecting on the lessons he has learned from his marriage, parenting, clinical work, and radio hosting. He touches upon the journey towards self-improvement and the power of Catholic radio in his life.
Adam Wright:
Alright, so we are in the car with the doctor, Dr. Ray Guarendi. And Dr. Ray, it’s good to have you with us today.
Dr. Ray:
Thanks, Adam. I appreciate that. Just came in from a flight. It was very high.
Adam Wright:
It was very high.
Dr. Ray:
We came down to land slow, which is what you want.
Adam Wright:
Are your arms tired from all the flapping?
Dr. Ray:
Tell you what, they don’t pay you for those jokes, do they?
Adam Wright:
They don’t. We have to get a new comedy department here. The writing’s gone a little downhill.
Adam Wright:
How long have you been a psychologist?
Dr. Ray:
From licensure to now? 46 years.
Adam Wright:
Okay. And why did you pick psychology?
Dr. Ray:
Accident.
Adam Wright:
Accident?
Dr. Ray:
Started out in engineering, was at my master’s preparing for law school, and decided I’m going to keep going because the master’s was in clinical psychology, and I thought, you know, this psychology thing may have some utility to it.
Adam Wright:
So wait a minute, you went from engineering to law school?
Dr. Ray:
I didn’t go to law school. I went to pre-law.
Adam Wright:
Pre-law?
Dr. Ray:
Majored in pre-law.
Adam Wright:
Okay. And then to psychology.
Dr. Ray:
Yes. Circuitous, but ultimately alright.
Adam Wright:
How’d you meet your wife?
Dr. Ray:
Accident. I was with a friend. It was her brother, and I just happened to be stopping by his house, and she was there. She was there with her boyfriend, who turned out to be not a good match. And ultimately I asked her out on a whim because I thought that the girl I wanted to ask out had stood me up on a previous date. But she didn’t. But I made a mistake, so I asked her out, and then bang. Five and a half years later, we were married.
Adam Wright:
Alright now, where was home? Where did you grow up?
Dr. Ray:
Canton, Ohio. Home of Mother Angelica. My parish was St. Anthony Parish, which is Mother Angelica’s Parish. And being Italian, that was the Italian parish. It was law in Canton. If you’re Italian, you had to go to St. Anthony. That’s law.
Adam Wright:
What did you want to be when you were a kid growing up? Engineer? Cowboy.
Dr. Ray:
Cowboy. Yeah.
Adam Wright:
Alright. Favorite cowboy movie?
Dr. Ray:
Oh, High Noon.
Adam Wright:
What would you say, of all the calls you receive on The Doctor Is In, what’s the number one call you get that people have a question about?
Dr. Ray:
My adult children don’t want to have anything to do with me.
Adam Wright:
Why?
Dr. Ray:
By far. By far. Most of the time, from what I can ferret out, it’s religion and morals that the kids have abandoned, and they don’t like their parents’ religion and morals. Don’t like their politics. The other part of it is sometimes the parents will admit that they handled situations poorly and the kids are now carrying resentment. Most of the time the kids are not religious. Vast majority of the time the kids are not religious. They’ve abandoned religion, and so therefore they have no real compunction about forgiving their parents.
Adam Wright:
What’s the number one thing parents today can do to safeguard their children?
Dr. Ray:
Get rid of the smartphone. Absolutely. If they’ve got a smartphone, you better put the best security on it you can find. I cannot speak ill enough of smartphones. Their effect, their danger, their misshaping of the soul. It’s not an accident that the vast majority of kids are leaving the faith. They’re being shaped. They’re being shaped by the culture that just jumps right inside their ears and their eyes.
Adam Wright:
It’s not necessarily the telephone part, is it? Or is it all the other accessories that come with the smartphone?
Dr. Ray:
It is communication with every part of the world, no matter what, no matter how evil, no matter how much sewage, no matter how much social media can shift and shape the way you look at life, the way you look at God, the way you look at morals. If it were just a phone, okay, you could say, well, you can talk to anybody, anywhere, anytime, which can be a danger. But the more soul misshaping influence is the ability to travel the ugliness of the world.
Adam Wright:
Switching gears. Pardon the pun, but we are in a car. What does a day in the life of Dr. Ray look like?
Dr. Ray:
I am actually probably busier now than I was even 30 years ago. Back then, I spoke maybe 100 to 120 times a year with a clinical practice, and my books were fewer and farther between. Now what’s happening is that sometimes my days can be absolutely crazy with contacts, demands for interviews, 100, 200 emails per month on requests, having to do video interviews in a car when I just flew in and I wanted to relax. You know, that kind of thing.
Adam Wright:
Yeah. I have heard that once upon a time you played in a band. Is that accurate?
Dr. Ray:
Played individually. I played in restaurants and supper clubs and sang nightclubs. Now, at this point, the day of the organ in a restaurant is over, so I play for the folks in the nursing home. So I’ll go in there and I do some singing at restaurants, too.
Adam Wright:
Does the staff ever mistake you for a resident?
Dr. Ray:
Well, that’s been a problem. That is a problem. But I’m old enough that they say, he’s a little too old to be a resident here.
Adam Wright:
What’s your favorite song to play?
Dr. Ray:
I like the ballads. No question. The ballads of the time of Sinatra and Dean Martin and Tony Bennett and Perry Como. Those were beautifully written. They were poetic, they were thoughtful, they were easy to sing. No question. The music of the last 20 years would be very difficult, in some respects, for me to sing anyway.
Adam Wright:
What makes Ray Guarendi laugh?
Dr. Ray:
I really appreciate dry, subtle humor. The kind of stuff that makes a comment about life. It’s true in its core, but it’s enough of an exaggeration to be funny.
Adam Wright:
Now, as a father of ten, are you a fan of the dad joke?
Dr. Ray:
Three of my children have disowned me. Three of them will not talk to me. They said, “No more dad jokes.” I think I’m pretty clever with them, and I’ve used the dad jokes for years to embarrass them in public.
Adam Wright:
Alright, let’s see what you’ve got here. What’s your go-to dad joke if I put you on the spot right now?
Dr. Ray:
The doctor said that I had CDO. Actually, he said OCD, but I had to put the letters in the right order.
Adam Wright:
Alright, I like that one. The doctor is in, ladies and gentlemen. The doctor is in. What’s the number one lesson you’ve learned about yourself from all of your years of marriage, parenting, clinical work, radio hosting?
Dr. Ray:
The closer I try to get to God, the more I see wrong with me.
Adam Wright:
How do you cope with that?
Dr. Ray:
Because, in fact, that’s the way you want to be. You can’t despair. You recognize that’s the natural progression. It’s like moving towards a bright light. You want to get to the light, but as you get closer to the light, you see more flaws. And as a psychologist, one of the toughest things I have to deal with is people who do not recognize or will not admit the things they need to improve, and that’s common to the human condition.
Adam Wright:
How did you end up with a radio show on EWTN?
Dr. Ray:
I was very active in secular media. 20 some years ago, some guy came to me and said, “We’re starting up a Catholic network. You want to be on the air?” I was so enthused. I said, “No, I don’t.” At that time, I was a clinician doing a lot of public speaking. I didn’t want to be tied to a microphone. My wife said, “Give it six months, Ray. Just see what it does.” Do what the women tell you. Nobody gets hurt. So when I found out the power of Catholic Radio, I couldn’t believe it. Well, this particular network was for a profit network, and it went down. It’s not like the ones we have now that are just wonderfully successful. Opportunity came up later, Catholic Answers approached me and said, “Would you like to do a show for us?” I knew better. When I saw the power of Catholic radio, I didn’t want to say to our Lord, “Well, it’s a pretty good thing, but I’m a busy guy. I got places to go, people to see. I don’t have time for you.” At the time I started, I think there were eight Catholic stations, something like that. Inch by inch, with all the wonderful Catholic people adding stations, and Covenant Network’s one of the big ones. It just sort of happened.
It’s been 20 years now, and I remember I used to do Oprah a lot. I used to do Jenny Jones and CBS This Morning. I used to do all those shows. Matter of fact, I even used to do Springer. But that’s before he dove into sewer when he was a magazine format. I always wanted my own TV show. Never happened. So as I got older, I thought, well, that’s the end of that. Not going to happen. End of story. Friend of mine who’s a producer, we went to EWTN and said, “Here’s our idea for a show. You interested?” They must have liked the idea because Living Right with Dr. Ray is in its 13th season. And so I finally got the TV show, and the interesting thing was I get to talk about God. If I would have had a secular show, who knows the compromises they would have thrown at me, and I probably would have quit. It’s one of the greatest blessings of my life, being in Catholic media. Unbelievable. It’s something that has transformed the direction of my life, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Adam Wright:
So we just had a really bad set of directions from the GPS, and we’re supposed to be on that road over there, so we’re going to find out where we’re going to turn around now.
Dr. Ray:
Do you ever notice — I got this theory of communication from the GPS. There is a silent, at the end of every direction, “idiot.” “Turn right, idiot.”
Adam Wright:
I had a Latin teacher who referred to his GPS as Our Lady of the Dashboard, never leading him astray. He must have had a different GPS. Here’s something I’ve always wondered about you. You’re Italian, I know that. We’ve established that. Do you cook as well?
Dr. Ray:
My toast has bones in it.
Adam Wright:
Okay.
Dr. Ray:
Yeah. When I cook, we pray after we eat. So no, I’m terrible. Italian male. I can make a curry sometimes. One time I did it when my wife didn’t come down first, so I did it. I forgot to put the cup underneath it. That wasn’t good.
Adam Wright:
Any questions for me?
Dr. Ray:
Yes. When do we eat?
Adam Wright:
Alright. Well, Ray, thanks for being with us in the car here. First ever car interview. I can’t think of a better guest.
Dr. Ray:
You asked a lot of questions. You asked rapid-fire questions.
Adam Wright:
I was ready. When you’re driving 70 miles an hour, you have to be ready to go rapid-fire. Anyway, always good to be with you, sir.
Dr. Ray:
Alrighty. Is this where the event is?
Adam Wright:
No, this is not where the event is. We’re going to get you a chance to rest here since you had to ride with me in a car. In the meantime, I’m going to sign off and we’ll catch you on the other side of our YouTube channel here.
Adam Wright:
Alright, so we are in the car with the doctor, Dr. Ray Guarendi. And Dr. Ray, it’s good to have you with us today.
Dr. Ray:
Thanks, Adam. I appreciate that. Just came in from a flight. It was very high.
Adam Wright:
It was very high.
Dr. Ray:
We came down to land slow, which is what you want.
Adam Wright:
Are your arms tired from all the flapping?
Dr. Ray:
Tell you what, they don’t pay you for those jokes, do they?
Adam Wright:
They don’t. We have to get a new comedy department here. The writing’s gone a little downhill.
Adam Wright:
How long have you been a psychologist?
Dr. Ray:
From licensure to now? 46 years.
Adam Wright:
Okay. And why did you pick psychology?
Dr. Ray:
Accident.
Adam Wright:
Accident?
Dr. Ray:
Started out in engineering, was at my master’s preparing for law school, and decided I’m going to keep going because the master’s was in clinical psychology, and I thought, you know, this psychology thing may have some utility to it.
Adam Wright:
So wait a minute, you went from engineering to law school?
Dr. Ray:
I didn’t go to law school. I went to pre-law.
Adam Wright:
Pre-law?
Dr. Ray:
Majored in pre-law.
Adam Wright:
Okay. And then to psychology.
Dr. Ray:
Yes. Circuitous, but ultimately alright.
Adam Wright:
How’d you meet your wife?
Dr. Ray:
Accident. I was with a friend. It was her brother, and I just happened to be stopping by his house, and she was there. She was there with her boyfriend, who turned out to be not a good match. And ultimately I asked her out on a whim because I thought that the girl I wanted to ask out had stood me up on a previous date. But she didn’t. But I made a mistake, so I asked her out, and then bang. Five and a half years later, we were married.
Adam Wright:
Alright now, where was home? Where did you grow up?
Dr. Ray:
Canton, Ohio. Home of Mother Angelica. My parish was St. Anthony Parish, which is Mother Angelica’s Parish. And being Italian, that was the Italian parish. It was law in Canton. If you’re Italian, you had to go to St. Anthony. That’s law.
Adam Wright:
What did you want to be when you were a kid growing up? Engineer? Cowboy.
Dr. Ray:
Cowboy. Yeah.
Adam Wright:
Alright. Favorite cowboy movie?
Dr. Ray:
Oh, High Noon.
Adam Wright:
What would you say, of all the calls you receive on The Doctor Is In, what’s the number one call you get that people have a question about?
Dr. Ray:
My adult children don’t want to have anything to do with me.
Adam Wright:
Why?
Dr. Ray:
By far. By far. Most of the time, from what I can ferret out, it’s religion and morals that the kids have abandoned, and they don’t like their parents’ religion and morals. Don’t like their politics. The other part of it is sometimes the parents will admit that they handled situations poorly and the kids are now carrying resentment. Most of the time the kids are not religious. Vast majority of the time the kids are not religious. They’ve abandoned religion, and so therefore they have no real compunction about forgiving their parents.
Adam Wright:
What’s the number one thing parents today can do to safeguard their children?
Dr. Ray:
Get rid of the smartphone. Absolutely. If they’ve got a smartphone, you better put the best security on it you can find. I cannot speak ill enough of smartphones. Their effect, their danger, their misshaping of the soul. It’s not an accident that the vast majority of kids are leaving the faith. They’re being shaped. They’re being shaped by the culture that just jumps right inside their ears and their eyes.
Adam Wright:
It’s not necessarily the telephone part, is it? Or is it all the other accessories that come with the smartphone?
Dr. Ray:
It is communication with every part of the world, no matter what, no matter how evil, no matter how much sewage, no matter how much social media can shift and shape the way you look at life, the way you look at God, the way you look at morals. If it were just a phone, okay, you could say, well, you can talk to anybody, anywhere, anytime, which can be a danger. But the more soul misshaping influence is the ability to travel the ugliness of the world.
Adam Wright:
Switching gears. Pardon the pun, but we are in a car. What does a day in the life of Dr. Ray look like?
Dr. Ray:
I am actually probably busier now than I was even 30 years ago. Back then, I spoke maybe 100 to 120 times a year with a clinical practice, and my books were fewer and farther between. Now what’s happening is that sometimes my days can be absolutely crazy with contacts, demands for interviews, 100, 200 emails per month on requests, having to do video interviews in a car when I just flew in and I wanted to relax. You know, that kind of thing.
Adam Wright:
Yeah. I have heard that once upon a time you played in a band. Is that accurate?
Dr. Ray:
Played individually. I played in restaurants and supper clubs and sang nightclubs. Now, at this point, the day of the organ in a restaurant is over, so I play for the folks in the nursing home. So I’ll go in there and I do some singing at restaurants, too.
Adam Wright:
Does the staff ever mistake you for a resident?
Dr. Ray:
Well, that’s been a problem. That is a problem. But I’m old enough that they say, he’s a little too old to be a resident here.
Adam Wright:
What’s your favorite song to play?
Dr. Ray:
I like the ballads. No question. The ballads of the time of Sinatra and Dean Martin and Tony Bennett and Perry Como. Those were beautifully written. They were poetic, they were thoughtful, they were easy to sing. No question. The music of the last 20 years would be very difficult, in some respects, for me to sing anyway.
Adam Wright:
What makes Ray Guarendi laugh?
Dr. Ray:
I really appreciate dry, subtle humor. The kind of stuff that makes a comment about life. It’s true in its core, but it’s enough of an exaggeration to be funny.
Adam Wright:
Now, as a father of ten, are you a fan of the dad joke?
Dr. Ray:
Three of my children have disowned me. Three of them will not talk to me. They said, “No more dad jokes.” I think I’m pretty clever with them, and I’ve used the dad jokes for years to embarrass them in public.
Adam Wright:
Alright, let’s see what you’ve got here. What’s your go-to dad joke if I put you on the spot right now?
Dr. Ray:
The doctor said that I had CDO. Actually, he said OCD, but I had to put the letters in the right order.
Adam Wright:
Alright, I like that one. The doctor is in, ladies and gentlemen. The doctor is in. What’s the number one lesson you’ve learned about yourself from all of your years of marriage, parenting, clinical work, radio hosting?
Dr. Ray:
The closer I try to get to God, the more I see wrong with me.
Adam Wright:
How do you cope with that?
Dr. Ray:
Because, in fact, that’s the way you want to be. You can’t despair. You recognize that’s the natural progression. It’s like moving towards a bright light. You want to get to the light, but as you get closer to the light, you see more flaws. And as a psychologist, one of the toughest things I have to deal with is people who do not recognize or will not admit the things they need to improve, and that’s common to the human condition.
Adam Wright:
How did you end up with a radio show on EWTN?
Dr. Ray:
I was very active in secular media. 20 some years ago, some guy came to me and said, “We’re starting up a Catholic network. You want to be on the air?” I was so enthused. I said, “No, I don’t.” At that time, I was a clinician doing a lot of public speaking. I didn’t want to be tied to a microphone. My wife said, “Give it six months, Ray. Just see what it does.” Do what the women tell you. Nobody gets hurt. So when I found out the power of Catholic Radio, I couldn’t believe it. Well, this particular network was for a profit network, and it went down. It’s not like the ones we have now that are just wonderfully successful. Opportunity came up later, Catholic Answers approached me and said, “Would you like to do a show for us?” I knew better. When I saw the power of Catholic radio, I didn’t want to say to our Lord, “Well, it’s a pretty good thing, but I’m a busy guy. I got places to go, people to see. I don’t have time for you.” At the time I started, I think there were eight Catholic stations, something like that. Inch by inch, with all the wonderful Catholic people adding stations, and Covenant Network’s one of the big ones. It just sort of happened.
It’s been 20 years now, and I remember I used to do Oprah a lot. I used to do Jenny Jones and CBS This Morning. I used to do all those shows. Matter of fact, I even used to do Springer. But that’s before he dove into sewer when he was a magazine format. I always wanted my own TV show. Never happened. So as I got older, I thought, well, that’s the end of that. Not going to happen. End of story. Friend of mine who’s a producer, we went to EWTN and said, “Here’s our idea for a show. You interested?” They must have liked the idea because Living Right with Dr. Ray is in its 13th season. And so I finally got the TV show, and the interesting thing was I get to talk about God. If I would have had a secular show, who knows the compromises they would have thrown at me, and I probably would have quit. It’s one of the greatest blessings of my life, being in Catholic media. Unbelievable. It’s something that has transformed the direction of my life, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Adam Wright:
So we just had a really bad set of directions from the GPS, and we’re supposed to be on that road over there, so we’re going to find out where we’re going to turn around now.
Dr. Ray:
Do you ever notice — I got this theory of communication from the GPS. There is a silent, at the end of every direction, “idiot.” “Turn right, idiot.”
Adam Wright:
I had a Latin teacher who referred to his GPS as Our Lady of the Dashboard, never leading him astray. He must have had a different GPS. Here’s something I’ve always wondered about you. You’re Italian, I know that. We’ve established that. Do you cook as well?
Dr. Ray:
My toast has bones in it.
Adam Wright:
Okay.
Dr. Ray:
Yeah. When I cook, we pray after we eat. So no, I’m terrible. Italian male. I can make a curry sometimes. One time I did it when my wife didn’t come down first, so I did it. I forgot to put the cup underneath it. That wasn’t good.
Adam Wright:
Any questions for me?
Dr. Ray:
Yes. When do we eat?
Adam Wright:
Alright. Well, Ray, thanks for being with us in the car here. First ever car interview. I can’t think of a better guest.
Dr. Ray:
You asked a lot of questions. You asked rapid-fire questions.
Adam Wright:
I was ready. When you’re driving 70 miles an hour, you have to be ready to go rapid-fire. Anyway, always good to be with you, sir.
Dr. Ray:
Alrighty. Is this where the event is?
Adam Wright:
No, this is not where the event is. We’re going to get you a chance to rest here since you had to ride with me in a car. In the meantime, I’m going to sign off and we’ll catch you on the other side of our YouTube channel here.
In this episode of Roadmap to Heaven, host Adam Wright interviews Dr. Ray Guerendi while on the road. Dr. Ray, a psychologist, shares insights about his career choice, personal life, and the common challenges faced by parents.
They discuss the impact of technology, specifically smartphones, on children and the importance of safeguarding their well-being. Dr. Ray also talks about his busy schedule and involvement in music, including playing in restaurants and nursing homes. He shares his love for ballads and appreciation for dry, subtle humor.
The episode concludes with Dr. Ray reflecting on the lessons he has learned from his marriage, parenting, clinical work, and radio hosting. He touches upon the journey towards self-improvement and the power of Catholic radio in his life.
We often send out our newsletter with news and great offers. We will never disclose your data to third parties and you can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.
Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer free samples. As a retailer, we buy all magazines from their publishers at the regular trade price. However, you could contact the magazine’s publisher directly to ask if they can send you a free copy.
You can create a new account at the end of the order process or on the following page. You can view all of your orders and subscriptions in your customer account. You can also change your addresses and your password.
No, you don’t have to create an account. But there are a few advantages if you create an account.
You never have to enter your billing and shipping address again
Find all of your orders, subscriptions and addresses in your account
Download invoices of your orders
No, we don’t have a physical store location at the moment. We accept only orders through our online shop and we’re shipping all orders with the Swiss Post Service. Please visit our shipping section for more details.
From time to time you will find us at design fairs and popup markets in Switzerland. Subscribe to our newsletter and you’ll receive the latest news.
An initiative of Covenant Network
