While books can be welcome gifts at any time, there is something especially appealing about settling down on a winter's later afternoon or evening and losing oneself in a good book. And if that book connects in some way with one's own life, or current life issue/situation, so much the better, yes?

This week, The Tidings offers a look at several recent literary releases, one or more of which are likely to make a connection to someone you know.

For reflective executives with real-life challenges
Reviewed by William Droel

Immoral capitalists are the only real threat to capitalism today, these three complementary books agree.

In "The Power of Principles," Jesuit Father William Byron, who has served as president of three Catholic colleges and teaches business ethics, offers executives and other readers a meditation around 13 principles like "the common good," "fairness," "veracity" and more.

Father Byron's principles are derived from Catholic social thought, but his book is not Catholic per se. That is, he does not simply assert these principles. Instead he draws upon newspaper articles and his interviews with scores of executives to illustrate how a principled or virtuous life is good for an executive and good for the economy.

Among Father Byron's vignettes is one about the professor in a graduate school of business who includes this question on a test: "Name the person who cleans this classroom every day." When the students protest that the question is unfair, that teacher has the opening for a major lesson in real-life business conduct.

James Nolan, author of "Doing the Right Thing at Work," is a lawyer and a founding director of the Woodstock Business Conference, a Jesuit-inspired network of support groups for executives --- 13 chapters in the United States, two in England and one in Canada.

Nolan believes that most business leaders "want to find a reliable moral compass" and want to contribute to "the greater good." In the hectic circumstances of their work, however, there is little space in which to reflect. Thus, his book describes how the Woodstock participants regularly use "hard choices" from the workplace to inductively reinforce their ethics.

R. Paul Stevens is a professor at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has been a carpenter and a partner in a construction firm. His book, "Doing God's Business," is also situated in real life. Stevens plays actual dilemmas off of Christian concepts, particularly the Trinity, to suggest an approach to business and to frame a theology of work.

Most books about business from a Christian perspective tend to focus on the individual executive. Each of these books tries to go a step further, saying that heroic individual virtue will not suffice without company policies and economic structures that purposefully improve morality and enhance worker dignity.

Stevens, writing from the evangelical tradition, even suggests that business institutions must in some sense "be saved" and that our cooperation with God's creation will, again in some sense, continue in heaven.

These books will appeal to reflective executives because they avoid being preachy. It is easy for a Christian on the outside to moralize about the expansion of a tobacco company in Uzbekistan. To these authors, however, executives inside a company will most likely make moral decisions when their own reflective process is respected. These authors appreciate that in real life the wheat grows up amid the weeds.

For Catholics seeking knowledge of their faith
Reviewed by Daniel S. Mulhall

There seems to be a growing interest in the Catholic Church in the United States concerning the state of catechesis and the need for a rediscovered apologetics. The fear is that Catholics today don't know what the Catholic Church teaches and, thus, can't defend their beliefs when under attack from door-knockers or TV evangelizers.

These four books attempt --- with varying degrees of success --- to offer ways to improve the state of catechesis or provide folks with the scriptural ammunition they need to defend the faith.

I would recommend David Wilson's "A Practical Guide for Imparting the Faith" to anyone engaged in catechetical leadership or planning. The author proposes that we change the way we think about how we catechize, challenging the view that catechesis is merely a course of study, primarily for children and young people, held in a parish building, using a textbook.

Citing recent catechetical documents, Wilson argues for re-imagining catechesis so that it includes a comprehensive approach to faith formation that offers community-building, evangelization, instruction, prayer and worship, along with justice and service. While the ideas are fine, the book is poorly written and edited, making the author's arguments difficult to follow. But for those in catechesis, the reading is worth the effort.

"To Hold and Teach the Catholic Faith" by Kelly Bowring also calls for the restructuring of catechesis, but with a Thomistic approach replacing all other methods. The problem with the book is that while Bowring presents frequent quotations and copious research supporting the greatness of St. Thomas' writing and the cleverness of his methods, he never bothers to explain how we might use the Thomistic approach today.

If those responsible for catechesis today are as inept as Bowring suggests, then their ability to bring St. Thomas to bear on young minds would seem impossible. I would be interested in learning how we can improve the state of catechesis by incorporating the wisdom of St. Thomas, but I didn't find it here.

The other two books each turn to Scripture to find verses to support Catholic teaching. Both are written to provide Catholic answers to those who challenge the biblical veracity of Catholic teaching, and thus both are written in an argumentative style. Both also show little concern for promoting ecumenical dialogue, which is a problem for each.

If you are looking for a book that gives you Bible verses to use when arguing with a co-worker about the Christianity of the Catholic faith, then you may appreciate Patrick Madrid's "Does the Bible Really Say That?" If, however, you are looking for reasoned argument and positive guidance, you will be less pleased.

I found the title misleading: Instead of discovering Catholic teaching in Scripture, Madrid provides Scripture verses to support Catholic beliefs. Because the book's purpose is to defend the faith and not to help the reader grow in faith, the book offers no support to those who want to read and pray with the Scripture verses mentioned, making it of limited value.

"Does the Bible Support Catholic Beliefs?" is an intelligently written, serious presentation of Catholic beliefs and teachings as seen through the lens of the Bible. There are 12 chapters by nine different authors, each with his or her own style and methodology. Although this approach leads to some choppiness and I did not agree with all the conclusions, I found the presentation clear and the arguments crisp.

I liked this book a lot, but would have liked it more if it had been written to help Catholics better understand their faith instead of being written to prove church teaching over the teaching of some Protestant groups.

My biggest objection to this book is in how it uses the Scriptures. Nowhere does it suggest that the Bible is the book of the church and that it was the church that determined the contents and interprets the teaching found in the Bible. Instead, the authors write as if Catholic tradition doesn't matter and that Christian authenticity can be determined only by scriptural citation. While this is a problem, I believe the serious reader will be able to keep this in mind.

This book would lend itself well to adult study groups and for other serious students who are interested in thinking deeply about Catholic teaching. However, I would encourage the reader to have handy a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church when studying this text, as it lacks an imprimatur. I found several statements in the text problematic, if not actually inaccurate.

Henri Nouwen: Still worthwhile reading
Reviewed by Brian T. Olszewski

More than 10 years after his death, books about Father Henri Nouwen continue to be published and republished. Evidence that there is a market for anything with his name on it, especially if he authored it, is that even in December 2006 a Nouwen book was on the list of best-selling Catholic paperbacks.

In "Henri Nouwen: His Life and Vision," Michael O'Laughlin, who served as a teaching assistant to Father Nouwen at Harvard, highlights various experiences in the priest's life, among them life during World War II, the influence of Thomas Merton, teaching at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard, working in Guatemala, and his life in the Daybreak community in Toronto.

As he describes Father Nouwen's life at a particular time, O'Laughlin draws upon the priest's words to describe what was happening. In addition to the author's words, each page contains a photo related to the text, a quote from one of Father Nouwen's books, or both.

Visually, it employs white space liberally, making the presentation of material easy on the eyes. That doesn't mean it is an easy read. It's Nouwen; it requires readers to think and even pray about what they are reading. The intensity of the subject is reflected throughout the book.

It is evident that O'Laughlin, who refers to Father Nouwen as a "spiritual father," knew his subject. What is also evident is that the author succeeds in letting readers know Father Nouwen, too.

"Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith" is exactly that. It is a compilation of Father Nouwen's words --- some previously published and some not --- into a chaptered retreat. Father Nouwen and Michael J. Christensen and Rebecca Laird, who did the research and blended the priest's writing on each subject, did what good retreat masters do: Ask questions, e.g., Who am I? How do I hear the word of God? Where do I belong?

On each topic readers should expect to stop and reflect, providing readers an opportunity to learn and grow from them. This is an excellent book for Advent, Lent or a self-directed spiritual renewal.

"Love in a Fearful Land" is a republication of a 1985 book in which Father Nouwen chronicled the work of Father Stanley Rother, a priest from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City who was murdered in 1981 while serving the people of Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, and Father John Vesey, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., who succeeded him three years later.

Father Nouwen wrote the book after asking Father Vesey what he could do to help. The priest suggested that he write a book about Father Rother, who is considered a martyr by the church in Guatemala.

Through interviews with those who knew him and by reading the correspondence of the late priest, Father Nouwen was able to provide readers with a sense of the priest's commitment and the circumstances under which that commitment was lived. To his credit, Father Nouwen quoted extensively from the priest's letters, giving readers as much of a firsthand view as possible.

The volume does not end with the death of Father Rother. Instead, Father Nouwen includes Father Vesey's story as well, showing that the challenges of proclaiming the Gospel continued.

"Love in a Fearful Land" is a reminder of the price some Catholics paid and are willing to pay in order to live their faith.

---CNS The reviewers: William Droel is a board member of the National Center for the Laity in Chicago. Daniel S. Mulhall currently serves as staff to the U.S. bishops' Committee on Catechesis. He can be reached by e-mail at: dmulhall@usccb.org. Brian T. Olszewski is executive editor and general manager of the Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.