BOOKS

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."

The author has told the team's story twice — first via a CNN article and after seeing reader comments that were both rewarding and disturbing, it turned into a book idea. "And I was off to the races," she wrote.

There is a close relationship between charitable action and philanthropy on the part of religious organizations, according to Thomas J. Davis, editor of "Religion in Philanthropic Organizations: Family, Friend, Foe?" But the philanthropy his book focuses upon aims principally at alleviating society's ills and making the world a better place. This might be done through caring for the sick, feeding and educating the poor, disaster relief, counseling families that suffer or aid for immigrants.

One thing we can truly know about the Rosary is that nothing about it is arbitrary.

One thing that all readers need to be aware of is that sometimes books will sneak up on them. Marie-José Roumain’s new novel, “Indelible Fixation”...

Celebrate with us the 800th Anniversary of the Order of Preachers by learning about the man and saint who started it all.

It's available from En Route Books and Media, a small Catholic publishing company based in St. Louis that donates 10 percent of proceeds to pro-life causes, and other outlets including as an e-book.

"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.

"Salvation history... is the story of God entering our world... most often through ordinary stuff," the authors write.

The conflict between science and religion, which we all hear about, is much like today’s politics — there’s nothing to it. If it were true that an irreconcilable conflict exists, we wouldn’t have Catholic priests like Copernicus (Sun at the center of the Solar System) and LeMaître (the Big Bang) discovering how the entire universe works.