This treasury of prayer will quickly become your go-to resource when it’s time for parish prayer that falls outside liturgical celebrations and communal devotions. Justin McClain, author of the popular resources Called to Pray and Called to Teach, anticipates the needs of busy parish leaders by providing prayers for meetings, social gatherings, every time of day and season of the year, and for predictable occasions and unexpected events—both tragic and joyful. The Prayer Book for Catholic Parishes will help you gather your people for prayer with confidence and ease.
Justin McClain is a veteran Catholic educator, catechist, and author. He received a Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching and commitment to Catholic education from the Archdiocese of Washington in 2017. McClain has taught and consulted within Catholic education since 2006. He is active in the pro-life movement, as well as in the ministry of teaching about the role of wildlife within God's gift of nature.
McClain is the author of several books, including
Called to Teach, Alleluia to Amen, and the award-winning
Called to Pray. He is a regular contributor to the
National Catholic Register, Catholic Exchange, and the National Catholic Educational Association. He was a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church's Subcommittee on African-American Affairs in 2015, as well as to the USCCB's Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development, and the Secretariat of Catholic Education, in 2018.
A lay Dominican, McClain lives with his wife, Bernadette, and their children in Bowie, Maryland.
Timothy P. O'Malley is a Catholic theologian, author, and professor. He serves as the associate director for research at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. He regularly teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in sacramental theology, marriage and family, catechesis, and spirituality.
O'Malley earned his bachelor's degree in theology and philosophy and his master's degree in theology with a concentration in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame. He earned a doctorate in theology and education from Boston College, where he wrote on liturgical formation in the writings of Augustine of Hippo.
O'Malley is the author of many books, including three award-winning books published by Ave Maria Press: Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating, and Marriage in a Hookup World; Real Presence: What Does It Mean and Why Does It Matter?; and Becoming Eucharistic People: The Hope and Promise of Parish Life. His most recent book, Behold, Believe, Become: Meeting the Hidden Christ in Things We See, Say, and Do at Mass, has also been well received. He has written for scholarly journals, the McGrath Institute for Church Life's Church Life Journal, and popular magazines throughout the United States.
O'Malley is the lead investigator on two grants from the Lilly Foundation: one related to preaching and the other to children and worship. These grants pertain to his interest in cultivating a contemplative and sacramental imagination in an age dominated by technology, spectacle, and polarization.
He lives with his family in the South Bend, Indiana, area.