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What Does It All Mean?: A Guide to Being More Faithful, Hopeful, and Loving

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What Does It All Mean? brings together into one volume three previous works on belief and its challenges: Where the Hell Is God?, Why Bother Praying?, and What Are We Doing on Earth for Christ's Sake?

This work revises, restructures, edits, augments, and develops the early works into a single coherent case for belief. It does not shy away from the biggest challenges to faith inside and outside of the Church, but outlines a contemporary and accessible response to the issues that confront and sometimes confound believers today. It has an index for easy and quick reference.

224 pages, Hardcover

Published February 7, 2017

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Richard Leonard SJ

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Gary Emig.
201 reviews
September 25, 2019
I can agree with much of what he says, but believe that we are all saints if we believe that Jesus is the son of God. "Sainthood" is not just for those we think meet human criteria for goodness, but the expectation when we commit our life to Christ.
134 reviews
April 21, 2020
This is an excellent book but a few times over my head. I read a chapter at a time to let it sink in during Lent. I have so much more to learn about my faith and the Catholic Church.
Profile Image for MargCal.
547 reviews9 followers
August 8, 2021
2 ☆
Finished reading … What does it all mean?: a guide to being more faithful, hopeful and loving / Richard Leonard SJ ... 03 August 2021
Sub-title variant: Faith's Big Questions
ISBN: 9780809106417 … 209 pp. incl. Notes, Index

I found this book a mixed bag. The first section, The Case for Faith, is mostly very good. It uses language and ideas that anybody could take on board and used if ever asked why they believe in God. Parts of the last section, on prayer, are also quite good. The rest isn't great.

I have two specific gripes.
First, in addressing the problem of sex abuse in the Church, Leonard highlights that sex abuse happens everywhere, and goes on a bit in that vein. Frankly, until the churches in general and Leonard's Catholic Church in particular, clean up their own house, however true his criticisms of others might be, his raising of them merely serves to add to the Catholic Church's denial, minimisation, and ducking and weaving of responsibility.

Second, as an Australian reading a book by an Australian, it is extremely irritating to read Mom instead of Mum, and ranch instead of farm or station. Are USAmericans so ignorant or incapable of understanding that across the globe there are spelling and word alternatives in the English language?

I recommend the first section of the book but the rest not so much.
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