Catholic Preaching

[Gabriela]

Hello, all. I've just returned from a two-day conference sponsored by Lilly Endowment's Clergy Renewal Program. The conference focused specifically on strengthening Christian preaching. There weren't a whole lot of Catholics there, but the Aquinas Institute and Notre Dame were represented. The Catholics who were there agreed that we are in a very different situation from the Protestants who were present. For one, the lifestyle of Catholic clergy is very different from that of the people they preach to, which cannot be said for most Protestant clergy. It is therefore harder for Catholic clergy to relate to how laypeople live, and so to preach to that experience of life. For two, our clergy seem much less proficient in the basic skills and knowledge required for public speaking than many Protestant clergy do, which is likely due to "curriculum crunch" in our seminaries (caused partly by the priest shortage).

These two specific deficiencies came up because Lilly has encouraged seminaries to implement "peer discussion groups", i.e., to get a bunch of priests together to talk about preaching, with the hope that this will improve their preaching. Some Protestant seminaries have been using these peer discussion groups with success. But in the Catholic context, it seems much more productive to get priests together with laypeople and/or preaching/public speaking experts. We worry that leaving out the laypeople and/or the experts will exacerbate the uniquely Catholic problems mentioned above, because priests may simply get together and reinforce one another's bad habits.

There's a lot of money (Lilly's money, which it gives to the seminaries) and likely a whole lot of souls riding on us getting this right. I'm bringing this conversation to you because you're Catholics and you have a stake in Catholic preaching. I'm interested to hear your thoughts, and so are the seminary directors to whom I'll be forwarding a link to this discussion.

Have at it, fratres (and sorores).

[Donna]

Intriguing. I think you're on to something. It also makes sense to me to have some lay involvement/preaching/public speaking experts.

[Ark]

Peace be with you,

I think helping priests to improve their delivery in sermons is a good thing, but I think we have to keep in mind that the priest is not a showman, he is a priest and his main duty is to act as a mediator (in a relative sense) between God and his people while performing the holy sacrifice. Even if a priest skipped the homily of every mass he celebrated, he would still be fulfilling his duty to the people, even though skipping the teaching is not prudent. But again the idea of helping priests better deliver orthodox and edifying sermons is a good thing. At the end of the day I'd prefer a reserved but holy priest over a corrupt charismatic speaker.

[Luigi]

Ark - I think priests are NOT supposed to skip the homily. I think one of the Vatican II documents talks about the priest "breaking open" the word of God during the homily. (But I've been wrong about more important things than that before.) 

Gabriela - Liturgy of the Word is all most Protestants have. They don't have liturgy of the Eucharist (Anglicans and Lutherans excepted). So I think they've always emphasized the  preaching more because that's really all there is to their service.Some have occasional (like once a month) symbolic communion services, but it's not the same. 

And priests in holy orders don't live like most of their flock, but they weren't raised in a vacuum either. They grew up in families, they saw their parents work and pay bills and probably sacrifice some luxuries so they could send their children to Catholic schools. Priests have as many brothers and sisters and cousins and friends as everybody else in society (which varies wildly, of course), and  I'm sure they hear all about the travails those folks endure in everyday life. Some of them may even have had paycheck jobs at some point in their lives. 

Now I admit that it's easy to fall in that "I'm special because I'm a priest" mindset. I've seen it in a number of priests - but not all. Their parents treat them like gold because he's My-Son-The-Priest. A lot of parishioners treat them like gold - being generous to a priest is a way to generous to God, i guess. Some of them feel like "I should have nothing but the best because I've given up so much to become a priest." In fact, I think that used to be a fairly common idea, and with the shortage of priests we've had for so long, it might even be getting reinforced. 

But in general, I'd say priests are pretty well aware of how the families in their parishes live.

Which is not to say there's anything wrong with clergy-laity discussion groups about improving preaching. It sounds like a great idea. Can't hurt and might help. 

 

 

[dUSt]

I think priests who do not excel at public speaking should compensate for this by making their homilies shorter. 

[Basilisa Marie]

Peer discussion groups can be helpful, but if everyone in the group is terrible, or if someone isn't open to criticism, it's not going to go anywhere. The key is to make sure that they're getting different perspectives and quality feedback. It doesn't matter so much if it comes from lay people or from fellow priests (or sems). If all the sems in a group like really long, highly theological homilies with lots of big words, it's unlikely that anyone's going to grow (just as if a group was exclusively short, pastoral, personal experience homilies). You need a good mix.  

Bringing in a quality expert (lay or not) can help ensure you get some kind of mix going, because you know you'll have at least one person with a different perspective. Ideally seminarians should have opportunities to try different homily styles than the ones they're most comfortable with. 

[marigold]

Has anyone ever tried involving someone who can teach public speaking? Is this a thing? Do they do it in seminaries? I know they teach homiletics in the Orthodox seminaries in the US... I've cringed through too many homilies by good priests who simply haven't the foggiest idea about public speaking. I agree that there's a fine line and you don't want business tactics or showmanship, but part of doing the job well is... er... being able to do the job well.

[truthfinder]

Most seminaries do teach homily writing - which involves delivering it as well.  Some do this much better than others.  Some priests come out with an incredibly formulaic way of writing homilies that while solid in content leaves you with a intellectually/spiritually unstimulated state if this happens every week.  

[Catlick]

For one, the lifestyle of Catholic clergy is very different from that of the people they preach to, which cannot be said for most Protestant clergy. It is therefore harder for Catholic clergy to relate to how laypeople live, and so to preach to that experience of life.

​I beg to differ. Catholic priests can relate to how married laypeople very well, but they are related differently. I.e. they speak not from the experience of being, say, married for thirty years, but from handling married people in the confessional for thirty years. This experience complements the experience of, say, married lay people who counsel newlyweds. 

Needless to say this only works if the priest spends a good deal of time in the confessional. Most priests don't. It's not that they don't have the courage, it's just that they don't believe in what the Church teaches (e.g. that you will burn in Hell if you die in mortal sin). What they do believe is often vague, Modernist theology prefering speculative language to the direct, nonsensical language of Tradition. 

So the problem is essentially theological. Frequent Masses where the priest is orthodox and you'll hear much better sermons. 

 

 

[Gabriela]

Out of curiosity, what do you all think needs improving (generally speaking) in Catholic homilies?

[Basilisa Marie]

Out of curiosity, what do you all think needs improving (generally speaking) in Catholic homilies?

​That's a tough question, because I haven't notice any kind of universal fault. Except, well, maybe to give the kind of homily that you like best and are most comfortable with. At my home church we have a young priest who gives really theological homilies, lots of big words, not much variety in his intonation. At my work church we have a very experienced pastor who gives shorter, anecdote-heavy homilies that have something to do with the main theme of the gospel in a broad way. They're basically polar opposites of each other. But I think more people find the homilies at my work church more accessible than the homilies at my home parish.  I know I sometimes struggle with that too when I'm giving a talk to the adults, assuming they know more than they do especially as far as terminology goes. 

[Oremus Pro Invicem]

Out of curiosity, what do you all think needs improving (generally speaking) in Catholic homilies?

More sermons about hell and purgatory. 

[Nihil Obstat]

IMO priests tend to be afraid of making people angry. It is understandable because it directly affects their bottom line in terms of money from donations, but we cannot let clear and firm teaching be held hostage by parishioners with deeper pockets.

Priests need to preach the tough stuff regularly and courageously.

[BarbTherese]

Was really taken aback last Sunday when Father omitted the First Reading and Psalm and gave us a homily/meditation on the Ten Commandments instead. 

As for fire and brimstone only type homilies ............... catch more flies with honey than with vinegar and igniting fear and thus guilt is not what The Gospel is about. The Love and Mercy of God is truly overwhelmingly astounding.

I'm not in favour at all of fire and brimstone!

(........and I can still login and post............Alleluia - Yayyy!)

 

[bernadette d]

IMO priests tend to be afraid of making people angry. It is understandable because it directly affects their bottom line in terms of money from donations, but we cannot let clear and firm teaching be held hostage by parishioners with deeper pockets.

Priests need to preach the tough stuff regularly and courageously.

​This resonates with me so much.