The Catholic Prayerbook: from Downside Abbey - Tapa dura

Appeared in article in Church Times, September 2009. 'I welcome the publication of this Prayerbook. It is indeed a treasury. I am sure that all those reponsible for leading prayer in our Catholic schools will benefit from it. I think it would make a wonderful present for many youngsters at the time of their Confirmation. It could become their treasured companion on the pilgrimage of life.' Bishop Vincent Nichols, Department for Catholic Education and Formation 'This book should provide a treasure-trove for anyone who has to improvise services, prayer-meetings or assemblies, and above all for the ordinary Christian who needs a focus, a text, or perhaps even a point of departure for prayer.' John Sullivan, Priests and People 'Most prayerbooks leave the reader to get on with the praying himself. Rather different is The Catholic Prayerbook from Downside Abbey. The editor, Dom David Foster, draws on the great saints of west and east as well as King Charles I and even anonymous boys at Downside School. Its great value for a pitifully inadequate praying man, such as myself, lies in his thoughtful introductions to the major prayers and discussion of the best way to go about the exercise. Sometimes one can stick to established texts, at other just use their opening words to launch into our own. If this goes badly, switch back to somebody else's prayer, he counsels.' David Twiston Davies, The Catholic Herald

'These prayers help me to pray... All prayer is talking to God as to a friend, and it is God's closest friends who can teach me how to do that best.' Timothy Radcliffe OPThis treasury of prayers for the Third Christian Millennium offers practical spiritual guidance for an increasingly busy world.The late Cardinal Basil Hume, in his Introduction, writes that "the need for us to be people of prayer has never been more urgent. We know that unless we are deeply rooted in a sense of God's presence and able to refer all things to God, then our pilgrimage into the future will be marked more by uncertainty than by the peace which is God's gift."The book's extensive range includes favourite Catholic prayers such as the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross, along with others that may be less familiar, organized under many different themes and topics. Helpful introductions and a pattern of daily prayers make this book nothing less than a course in Christian spirituality.The book is for people approaching Christian prayer for the first time, and also for those who want to begin afresh. It will be especially helpful to young people, and the parents and teachers who want to help them learn to pray in the living tradition of the Church.