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Many religions reserve a special enmity for nonbelievers. In recent years, nonbelievers have returned the favor with a series of belief-skewering books. Now comes Justin Catanoso, ambling onto the scene with an open heart and a reporter's notebook, to offer a different take on faith and skepticism.

Catanoso, the executive editor of the local Business Journal and a much-respected former writer for the News & Record, has a new book out called "My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family, and Miracles." It's a story with multiple threads, including the life and works of his grandfather's cousin, Gaetano Catanoso, who was canonized by Pope Benedict in 2005; the relationships Justin establishes with the family his grandfather left behind when he emigrated from Italy to the United States almost a century ago; and the progress of the Catanosos in this country.

As he learns about his cousin and spends time with his extended family in Calabria -- the book is worth reading for the travelogue alone -- Justin is confronted, again and again, by questions of faith and practice. He meets people who believe that his cousin literally works miracles from his place in heaven. Nuns in the order founded by Gaetano devote themselves to furthering his work, priests speak of him as a holy man, cousins accept him as an important part of their religion and a fixture in their daily lives. And in the midst of it all, Justin must deal with the illness and death of his brother, Alan, and the host of existential questions raised by that sad situation.

At the beginning of his story, Justin barely qualifies as a lapsed Catholic. He learned some basics as a schoolboy forced by his mother to go through the motions, and he read and thought deeply about religion while in college, but faith has not been much of a factor in his adult life. He has a vague belief that God exists, but he doesn't put any stock in supernatural stories, much less the specifics of the Apostles' Creed. He's not scornful of religion in the manner of a Hitchens or a Dawkins, although he is leery of the power it can hold over people. It's just not something that really works for him or that seems essential to him.

When he is thrust into this world of intense belief, though, Justin reacts with a journalist's curiosity and a forbearance born of the affection and respect he feels for his new-found family. And so he visits Aspromonte villages to understand Gaetano's work as a priest dedicated to helping the poor. He talks to the nuns and priests and cousins about what Gaetano's life and work mean to them. And he goes to the Vatican to interview church officials about the canonization process and the meaning of sainthood (this was one of my favorite parts of the book -- Justin is a dogged reporter and a talented writer, and he is able to put complex thoughts onto the page in an engaging manner).

Along the way he begins to examine his own beliefs. What does it mean to have a saint in the family? Why was there no miracle for his own brother, despite his mother's prayers to cousin Gaetano? Where are the lines that separate faith from superstition, and the power of ritual from rote obedience? And how much dogma does one have to accept before he can call himself a Catholic? He often thinks back to a maxim passed on to him by a mentor many years before: Believe what you can.

What Justin finds is that he likes the ritual and the comfort of being at Mass (he recently joined St. Pius X Catholic Church here in Greensboro). The example of his cousin's life is a challenge to him to be the best person he can, and a promise that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. His exploration of things Catholic has taken him further into the realm of faith than he could have imagined a few years ago, yet belief in things like the literal truth of the virgin birth and resurrection are still, he tells me, "a tougher nut to crack." Like Thomas Jefferson, who cut all the supernatural parts out of the Gospels to create a moral life of Jesus, he seems at this point to be more into goodness than godness.

Such an approach to religion is not going to satisfy a lot of people -- the ones who insist on literal belief or the ones who abhor it -- but these fragments shored against the ruins seem to be working just fine for Justin. I would guess that a lot of people, hopeful but uncertain as they feel their way through life and its mysteries, will find this part of his family story especially compelling.

Edward Cone (www.edcone.com, efcone@mindspring.com) writes a column for the News & Record every other Sunday.