By Kate Ward. Explores work not only as a paid job but as purposeful human activity, examining it through five lenses: purpose, care, food, art, and pay. Caregiving, often undervalued yet essential to every life, reminds readers that work extends beyond the workplace. Food and art reveal how creative and repetitive labor shape satisfaction, meaning, and sense of contribution. And pay exposes the persistent gaps between society’s valuation of labor and the real costs of living. Draws on the Church’s centuries-long reflection on work, justice, and human dignity, showing how its teachings speak directly to the frustrations and potential of modern labor. This first book devoted to Catholic social thought on work illuminates how communities and societies can better recognize, support, and value meaningful human activity. Encourages readers to rethink what work is for, who it serves, and how it can nurture human flourishing. Provides a compelling roadmap for understanding work as a path to both personal meaning and the common good. Read more.