author of the book, continental ambitions. let me ask you this, about your title. you say there are many fine histories of catholics in america that have a regional and national perspective and you have taken the perspective of continental. why did you adopt this perspective and where does it take you? >> i adopted this perspective because it was adopted by two very strong catholic civilizations in the 14th, 15th and 16th century, new spain and new friends. and i adopted it because i wanted to get that mixture of approaching the continent of north america in terms of exploration, settlement and in certain cases, conquest and terrible misbehavior toward the north americans. at the same time, the other side that was submerged and surfacing in the evangelization of coming into this new world, in north america and bringing catholic peoples there, encountering the indigenous people and trying to create some kind of catholic civilization in this magnificent game and unfolding continent. >> from your book i was reminded how huge north america is. from the bottom of panama