There are many books on my shelves that haunt me with a sense of guilt every time they catch my eye. They are my sins of omission, those worthy tomes that deserve my attention and which I should have read but which I have thus far neglected. “Read it?” I respond when one of these books comes up in conversation. “Read it? I own it!” The smile with which the quip is delivered hides the clawing and cloying sense of guilt with which my negligence affronts my conscience. One such book is A Catechism for Business: Tough Ethical Questions & Insights from Catholic Teaching, recently published by Catholic University of America Press. This book warranted my attention merely for its subject matter, but I was particularly interested in reading it because one of its two editors is Andrew V. Abela, Dean of the School of Business and Economics at the Catholic University of America and a scholar whom I have admired for many years.
Several years ago, Dr. Abela wrote an article entitled “Shire Economics” for the St. Austin Review, the cultural journal which I have the honour of editing, in which he elucidated, with masterful insight, the economic vision with which J.R.R. Tolkien informs The Lord of the Rings. This essay remains, in my humble opinion, one of the finest ever published in the thirteen years since the St. Austin Review was launched. I knew that any “catechism” of business with which Dr. Abela was involved would not only command my respect but should also demand my attention. It was, therefore, added to my many sins of omission as I continued to ignore it.
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