Tom Borders

Tom Borders wanted to be a writer and a filmmaker, both of which he tried. Meanwhile, he and his brother opened a small bookstore in Ann Arbor in 1971. He soon became far too busy to write or make films. The bookstore grew and grew. Decades later, those literary interests still rumble in his head.

Borders was very impressed and influenced by his friend, Bishop John McCarthy. He encouraged the Bishop to participate in several formal recorded interviews, with both biographical and topical subject matter. McCarthy was eloquent and the interviews were transcribed. Along comes Jill Grimes who focused on specific, serious Catholic topics with the Bishop. She edited his comments and also edited and incorporated the earlier interviews with the Bishop. And voila, Bishop McCarthy's "Off the Cuff & Over the Collar", which is very Common Sense Catholicism, a very important book for Catholics.