Credo: Essays on Grace, Alter Boys, Bees, Kneeling, Saints, the Mass, Priests, Strong Women, Epiphanies, a Wake, and the Haun

Asked by a friend why he was Catholic, Doyle, editor of Portland magazine, cited among his reasons ""the enticing power of the story."" Doyle's appreciation of story as the expression and vehicle of faith is evident throughout this small volume, a collection of the author's essays. Nearly all have been previously published, mostly in a variety of Catholic publications. The quality of the selections is somewhat uneven. Some readers may find certain pieces too short and pious for their taste; others may value those same selections for devotional or reflective reading. Overall, though, Doyle's enviable skill as a wordsmith elevates these essays above the norm of the ""spiritual memoir"" genre. A few selections, such as the author's reflections on the ""cold black country"" where he waited for a child to come out of heart surgery and his hilarious parody on hagiographic legends about saints, are especially memorable. Doyle's topics range from reminiscences on his tenure as an altar boy--in an exceptionally strong piece originally published in the American Scholar--to short reflections on familiar rituals and petty annoyances: kneeling and making the sign of the cross, for instance, as well as ""Christmas Catholics."" As a whole, the essays are valuable for their evocation of Catholic spirituality: ""Catholic is my language, Catholic is the coat I wear, Catholic is the house in which I live."" (Nov.)