God at the Ritz

Monsignor Albacete was a consultant to a PBS program on John Paul II and, after presenting it to TV critics at the Pasadena Ritz Carlton, was asked so many questions about faith that he felt as if he were God's spokesperson at the hotel. Hence the title of the ingratiating little book in which he puts his answers together formally. The roots of faith grow out of the human longing for infinity, for transcendence, he says, and are watered by wonder in the face of creation and acceptance, rather than rejection, of reality. Reason is the instrument for understanding the great mystery at the heart of creation, and this is the same reason science employs to discover the material workings of creation. From an absorbing discussion of reason, Albacete proceeds to suffering; sex, money, and politics; and religion. Each discussion is conducted in little chapters that agreeably break up into digestible portions what amounts to a thorough general--that is, not just Christian--theory of faith in God.