Burnout, low wages, gig labor, layoffs, and the struggle to balance purpose with pay have made many people questioning what work is, what it could be, and what it should be. Kate Ward, who earned a Ph.D. in theological ethics from Boston College, offers a fresh, timely perspective on work that is rooted in Catholic social teaching. Her new book, Making a Life: Catholic Social Teaching and the Meaning of Work (T&T Clark/Bloomsbury, 2026), explores work not only as a paid job but as purposeful human activity, examining it through five lenses: purpose, care, food, art, and pay. Making a Life encourages readers to rethink what work is for, who it serves, and how it can nurture human flourishing. Ward is an associate professor of theology at Marquette University. She also is the author of Wealth, Virtue and Moral Luck: Christian Ethics in an Age of Inequality and co-editor of Bothering to Love: James F. Keenan’s Renewal and Retrieval of Catholic Ethics.