cover image: why bother praying by Fr Richard Leonard sj

Book launch – 7:30pm Tuesday 2 April, 20-13, St Mary’s Church, North Sydney

Fr Richard Leonard SJ, Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting will launch his new book Why Bother Praying? (New York: Paulist Press, 2013) 7.30pm, Tuesday 2nd April 2013, St Mary’s Church, 264 Miller St, North Sydney.

Why Bother Praying? is less about how to pray, and more about why we pray and what it does for us, for God and for the world.

Richard explores the context within which we pray, what is distinctive about Christian prayer, praying to Jesus, what communal prayers do, how Mary and the Saints help us pray, and finally, what the point of prayer is – sending us out with Christ to witness to the reign of God in our world. The book will be available for sale, there will be an opportunity for a signing, and a reception will follow the lecture in The Ron Dyer Centre.

Praise for Why Bother Praying?

Richard Leonard has done it again, tackled a difficult theological and spiritual question with honesty, deep knowledge, humor and a warm heart. Why Bother Praying? moved me to tears and to laughing out loud.. I urge you to buy this book and then you will also want to get the earlier one “Where the Hell is God?” -William A. Barry SJ

This is a marvellous book. Richard Leonard writes with the intelligence of an academic, the wisdom of a rabbi and the sensitivity of a counsellor. Leonard neither baulks at contentious issues nor does it wallow in sentimentality, but illustrates from scripture, history and hagiography the durability of faith which draws on the deep wells of God -Rev John Bell, Iona Community, Scotland

Why bother praying? Re-discover good reasons, offered with humility, humour and a wealth of inspiring anecdotes from the author’s own fascinating journey. -Margaret Silf author of “Inner Compass.”

What I like most about my friend Richard Leonard’s wonderful books, and what I would suspect thousands of other readers like as well, is his unique ability to be clear and pastoral, blunt and faithful, provocative and consoling, all at once. Why Bother Praying? is a wonderful contribution to the rich tradition of writings on Christian prayer, only this one is one that you’ll be able to understand–and use. -James Martin S, author of “A Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything”