BOOKS

College is that place where Catholic students first meet with the world’s great diversity, where students first take care of themselves, where they must first make the majority of their own decisions, and where their faith is first really tested.

A Maryland-based catechist and writer reviews a book by a professor emeritus at Arizona State University and twice a Fulbright fellow, who begins "The Catholic Labyrinth" with these words, "The argument of this book is not that Catholicism changes ... the story concerns how the church changes and by how much, and the direction of the change as well."

"I am not writing a biography but a conversion story," Joseph Pearce explains in his new book, "Race With the Devil." His was a Christian conversion in the strict sense that it represented a full turnaround of his life. A Catholic today, Pearce during his teens became a white supremacist in England, devoting his talents then and in his early 20s to promoting racism.

Al Kresta's book, “Dangers to the Faith: Recognizing Catholicism’s 21st Century Opponents,” shines light into all the nooks and crannies where the dangerous things lurk and sets us thinking about our own ambivalence and lack of action toward them.

Literary critics, the world over, write critiques and reviews of novels every day. Catholic novels are something different or we wouldn’t label them “Catholic.” We can suppose that such novels contain our particular set of beliefs and practices and we know that all Catholic novels teach some kind of lesson.

We live in a desert, in what many see as a vast wasteland; but geologists tell us that this place was once a part...

Illustrated book brings Mexican tradition into full color This time of year is, perhaps, filled with more ritual than any other. Yearly Christmas cards are...

In "Will Many Be Saved," Ralph Martin is more specific, particularly when it comes to those engaged in the new evangelization. His focus is on the 16th section of "Lumen Gentium" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), the section that deals with who will be saved and missionary activity in the church.

Local eighth-grader Peter Troiano has always wanted to be an author. Now, at 12 years old, he’s had his first book published. “A Servant’s Heart: Rosary Meditations for Altar Servers” is the fruit of his summer vacation.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Nativity story, like the whole story of Christ, is not merely an event in the past, but has unfolding significance for people today, with implications for such issues as the limits of political power and the purpose of human freedom, Pope Benedict writes in his third and final volume on the life and teachings of Jesus.