Washington

If you think somebody's famous because they've written scads of books on spirituality, traveled the world speaking about God's love, and have 150,000 people on a daily email list for meditations, then brace yourself for when that person sits down for a televised face-to-face interview with Oprah Winfrey.

"That person" is Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr, and his interview with Winfrey will be seen on "Super Soul Sunday," which runs at 11 a.m. Eastern time Sunday, Feb. 8, on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Rohr will be the first Catholic priest to appear on "Super Soul Sunday" since the series debuted in fall 2011, 101 episodes ago.

"We're prepared for the 'A.O.' effect -- After Oprah," laughed Rohr, who prefers to be addressed as just "Richard." "What it is is what it is."

Winfrey had Rohr in the interview chair for an hour and 20 minutes, the priest told Catholic News Service from the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, N.M., which he founded in 1987.

Rohr said Winfrey had one of his books in her hands during the interview. "She had highlighted page after page, arrow after arrow," he said. "She wasn't threatened by Catholic theology." But the book was so marked up, he added, "she didn't get to ask one-tenth of what she wanted to say."

After the interview, Rohr said, "they had me put on my Franciscan habit and go over to the old Mission Santa Barbara [in California] for another two hours. So I'm walking around there, looking holy. It was a bit embarrassing."

On top of that, a staffer at the Center for Action and Contemplation, at the show's request, sent them "lots of pictures from my boyhood -- everything: my first Mass, my ministry with the Indians. She sent them everything she could. I'm going to be as surprised as anybody" to see the finished product, Rohr said.

"Super Soul Sunday" runs just one hour. Take out the commercials and promos, and there's 42 minutes of content. "It's going to be interesting to me to see what she does include and what she drops," he said.

Still, the experience was quite positive, Rohr said. "We really connected, I think it's safe to say. If you care to watch, there's good chemistry between us. That started before they started filming, although we never met until that day. ... She's got an amazing mind and an amazing heart."

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Franciscan priest to appear on Oprah Winfrey's 'Super Soul Sunday'