As anyone who is even remotely interested in spiritual reading knows, keeping up with the vast number of titles that appear each year could be a full time job. Finding the opportunity to read everything would mean doing little else. Fortunately Brian Doyle has done a favor for those who are looking for an excellent sampling of the variety of Catholic writing available and collects it in THE BEST CATHOLIC WRITING 2004.

Many of the contributors will be familiar to Catholic readers. Familiar names include James Martin SJ, Lawrence Cunningham, Kathleen Norris, Pail Elie, Andrew Greeley, Mary Anne Glendon, Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, and Doyle himself. Others may not be as well known, but each presents something that demonstrates what it means to be Catholic and how Catholicism is lived today.

Understandably, many of the writings deal with the importance of recognizing the gifts of the laity in the Church which is essential at this point in Catholicism. The current scandal in the Church is also touched upon in many articles. Yet there are also stories about Catholic heroes, day to day life, challenges of ministry, as well as the gift that is the catholic faith. The individual points of view of the authors represent the whole of the Church and are reflective of the different points of view that can be found in Catholicism today. The writings show that what makes us Catholic is not so much as conformity as it is humanity.

While there are many "Best of..." type books on the market today, this is the first attempt by Loyola Press to collect the bets of Catholic writing. I hope there will be a 2005 version as well.