Fire and brimstone homilies

[Ghoti]

I like to hear a bit myself. We had a visiting missionary (not sure if he is from a certain order) priest on Sunday and man he was on fire I actually liked what he had to say and my kids sure listened. He was really fast though. I thought we would be done in 30mins at the rate he was going. Those visiting priests are always very inspirational.

My mom said that her high school used to have retreats every so often, and missionary priests used to come in to give sermons. She said it was usually the Redemptorists, and the students would be scared to death by the thunder from the pulpit.

 

[JKing]

He doesn’t have to stick around and bear the consequences of angry parishioners and a drop in the weekly collection, like a pastor does.

Is this true? Or just an assumption? Does anyone have any evidence that when good homilies are given collections go down?

(Nothing personal, O, just wondering.)

In my experience, lukewarm homilies yield lukewarm parishioners. Parishes with feel-good, psychobabble homilies never seem to have enough funds. My current parish has good homilies every week and there is no bingo, no raffles, no bake sales for parish needs. All parish needs are met by the Sunday collections.

(Individual groups have fund raisers but never does the parish have to fund-raise to meet it’s needs.)

J

 

[NeedImprovement]

I
… feel-good, psychobabble…
J

lol ... :thumbsup:

 

[vee8]

My parish has no air conditioning, lots of windows open and a few fans going though, so right now in the summer EVERY homily makes us sweat!

 

[Kansas_Girl]

Originally Posted by KingAlfred
What do you folks think of homilies that always come in the form of long, typed scripts, which are calmly read to the congregation, word for word, without exception, for years at a time?

I’d much rather hear a good sermon that is written and read than one that is slipshod and given without notes. I think the homily should explain the readings of the mass–and not just the gospel but the epistles and Old Testament readings also. It is a real teaching opportunity for priests who should take advantage of it.

 

[StAlph]

Not too long ago, at a day retreat for RCIA catechists in my diocese, I overheard a lady in her 50’s talking to a friend from another parish. She was saying how the parish had a new priest and “he preaches about sin too much. People don’t want to hear about sin!”

I felt really sad about that comment and said a prayer for her. How can we really appreciate the sacrifice of Christ without knowing why he had to pay that price in the first place. We understand His mercy so much more when we know how little we deserve it.

Perhaps sin abounds in our society because we hear so little about what it is!

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

I think you have something there.

 

[wynnejj]

I once bought a book of sermons of Saint John Vianney, the patron saint of priests. His sermons were of the fire and brimstone variety. He did not pull any punches, and his sermons on modesty, chastity, and all forms of impropriety were about as stuffed-shirt as stuffed-shirt could get. Comparing that with the Polyanna movie where Polyanna convinced a fire-and-brimstone minister that he should make ‘happy’ sermons, John Vianney was very much the antithesis of the Polyanna solution. Today we have the Polyanna solution and 50 million murders over 35 years and, a Catholic constituency who still de-emphasize the Pro-Life cause on the scale of political priorities.

 

[BSHoop96]

What do you folks think of homilies that always come in the form of long, typed scripts, which are calmly read to the congregation, word for word, without exception, for years at a time?

That depends. Are they relevant? Probably public speaking is not an area he is comfortable with and who knows…perhaps he spends a good deal of time and thought typing them up.