Homilies given by newly ordained priests

[thistle]

I would estimate our homilies are about 10 to 15 minutes. Our Masses last about one hour. They can’t be longer than that as we have 10 Masses every Sunday.

 

[felsguy]

Our deacon claims that our pastor, in his early 60s, once told him that a homilist has to say something eight times for the people to get it. Unfortunately the pastor’s weekly 18 minute homilies regularly indicate that he does believe that.

 

[dans0622]

Wow a minute and a half! That is shameful! Is it because there are so many people receiving the eucharist? That almost makes the Mass seem like a job we have to get through and the clock is ticking so I will cut the homily short.

Hello,

I wouldn’t call it shameful. For a weekday Mass, when no homily is required, 1.5 minutes is plenty long and people do have jobs to get to…so the clock is ticking. I would rather have no homily at a weekday Mass, at least every now and then. Just give us a minute of silence.

Dan

 

[7_Sorrows]

Hello,

I wouldn’t call it shameful. For a weekday Mass, when no homily is required, 1.5 minutes is plenty long and people do have jobs to get to…so the clock is ticking. I would rather have no homily at a weekday Mass, at least every now and then. Just give us a minute of silence.

Dan

Yes most homilies in weekday masses are short but I assumed we were talking about the Sunday Mass.

 

[on_the_hill]

Yes most homilies in weekday masses are short but I assumed we were talking about the Sunday Mass.

Nope, I referenced the weekday, not weekend.

Cardinal Dolan is a gifted speaker, whether he’s brief or speaking at length.

 

[captainmike]

Pick Pick Pick Pick:

Discourage and denigrate:

And we wonder why young men find it hard to be priests.

Of course they are learning and of course they are full of the Holy Spirit and long to fill our hearts with their new found love. Of course they have a lot to learn. The hardest lesson of all is the constant griping picking and discouragement they receive from those in the congregation who have nothing better to do that to sit back and pick, pick, pick and pick.

I have no use what-so-ever with your attitude.

i’m giving constructive criticism. i’m giving these young men the benefit of my almost-five-decades of experience of attending church every Sunday. I’m trying to help them understand what works and what doesn’t. That is all.

 

[7_Sorrows]

i’m giving constructive criticism. i’m giving these young men the benefit of my almost-five-decades of experience of attending church every Sunday. I’m trying to help them understand what works and what doesn’t. That is all.

I don’t see anything wrong with that.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Nope, I referenced the weekday, not weekend.

Cardinal Dolan is a gifted speaker, whether he’s brief or speaking at length.

Um, I was referring to the OP’s post who started the thread not your post.

 

[BostonMyrtleBea]

are frequently too long and way too focused on the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

Stick to the lessons, fellas, and keep the homilies to ten minutes or less.

We have a new priest (I think this is only his second year?) and I was thinking how much I liked his homily. Our head priest talks about abortion and leaving Mass too early way too much, and this new priest is a breath of fresh air.

His explanation of today’s readings were so good and relevant that I was excited to chat to a friend of mine about it today.

I didn’t time it, though

 

[Gorgias]

i’m giving constructive criticism. i’m giving these young men the benefit of my almost-five-decades of experience of attending church every Sunday. I’m trying to help them understand what works and what doesn’t. That is all.

Hmm… you’ve been in the presence of wives for almost-five-decades, but you’re not a wife, yourself; do you tell newlywed brides how to act, too?

 

[Oneofthewomen]

i’m giving constructive criticism. i’m giving these young men the benefit of my almost-five-decades of experience of attending church every Sunday. I’m trying to help them understand what works and what doesn’t. That is all.

Constructive criticism would be taking the priest out for lunch or a cup of coffee and talking with him about your thoughts.

What you are doing with this thread is just complaining. I have to agree with HelenRose, I often wonder why any man, especially one who might read CAF, would even think of becoming a priest.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Constructive criticism would be taking the priest out for lunch or a cup of coffee and talking with him about your thoughts.

What you are doing with this thread is just complaining. I have to agree with HelenRose, I often wonder why any man, especially one who might read CAF, would even think of becoming a priest.

Taking the priest to lunch is a wonderful idea.
We have a comment box at our church, but if you don’t put your name you don’t get an answer. I am not sure how you would approach the priest about this, but I guess let the Holy Spirit lead you if you really want to make your thoughts known to him.

CAF is a place for discussion so he is getting different opinions and you gave yours.

 

[tafan]

i’m giving constructive criticism. i’m giving these young men the benefit of my almost-five-decades of experience of attending church every Sunday. I’m trying to help them understand what works and what doesn’t. That is all.

In your almost-five-decade experience of attending mass, I strongly doubt you have heard regular homilies from enough newly ordained priests to arrive at your very broad generalization.

Lets just say I am unimpressed with your constructive criticism since it is targeted to a wide group of men. Constructive criticism of this sort, if it should be done at all, should be done one-on-one with the priest in question, in a very respectful manner.

There is absolutely nothing to gain by posting such a generalization on the internet forum. The vast majority of people who read it are not newly ordained priests, so the only possible result is to paint them with an unflattering brush. You will excuse us all if we interpret that as you likely motive, since you cannot believe your post will really do anything to address the perceived problem.

 

[bobballen_18]

What you are doing with this thread is just complaining. I have to agree with HelenRose, I often wonder why any man, especially one who might read CAF, would even think of becoming a priest.

Lol…I see what you mean. But there’s at least one man who frequents CAF and who thinks of becoming a priest - that would be me! I plan on applying for seminary, and if accepted, I will enter next fall. And I’m sure there are many others. I think priests/potential priests realize that they can’t please everyone. I once heard it said that at any given parish, about 25% will love their priest, about 50% don’t really care, and the other 25% dislike him. They’ll realize that, although they must be kind and try to reason with those who dislike him and are “out to get him”, otherwise they will need to ignore those people and go on being a great holy priest.

For what it’s worth, relating to the OP, I imagine that if I end up a priest, I would preach on many different topics, some relating to “the heirarchy of the Church” but always trying to apply the gospel/readings to our everyday life. I imagine my outlook on this will be modified if I end up doing my 5-6 years of seminary, but I am pretty sure I would give pretty short weekday homilies, while I would probably stick around 10 minutes for Sundays unless I had a lot of good stuff to say!

 

[Tigg]

Lol…I see what you mean. But there’s at least one man who frequents CAF and who thinks of becoming a priest - that would be me! I plan on applying for seminary, and if accepted, I will enter next fall. And I’m sure there are many others. I think priests/potential priests realize that they can’t please everyone. I once heard it said that at any given parish, about 25% will love their priest, about 50% don’t really care, and the other 25% dislike him. They’ll realize that, although they must be kind and try to reason with those who dislike him and are “out to get him”, otherwise they will need to ignore those people and go on being a great holy priest.

For what it’s worth, relating to the OP, I imagine that if I end up a priest, I would preach on many different topics, some relating to “the heirarchy of the Church” but always trying to apply the gospel/readings to our everyday life. I imagine my outlook on this will be modified if I end up doing my 5-6 years of seminary, but I am pretty sure I would give pretty short weekday homilies, while I would probably stick around 10 minutes for Sundays unless I had a lot of good stuff to say!

Our pastor spoke quite a bit on vocations this past weekend. He related the disillusionment he felt after a mere few years of priestly ministry and how betrayed he felt when the priest who had initiated his own entry into seminary had left the priesthood to get married. Then, through grace he realized what had happened was not disappointment over his own calling, but rather the underlying ugliness (that is the very word he used) of the fallen human condition. Only one who can maintain their focus on Christ and seek personal holiness can be victorious because it is so disheartening. So we bless you and pray protection over you that the Spirit may foster those virtues within your soul that are needed, and most of all, we pray you keep your eyes on Christ alone so as to please Him; then the criticisms of those around you will not discourage you.

 

[Bklynguy]

are frequently too long and way too focused on the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

Stick to the lessons, fellas, and keep the homilies to ten minutes or less.

Hmmm…it is the opposite at my Parish. The new priest out of seminary gives very deep, inspiring homilies which give the congregation lessons on how to follow the Gospel. The older priests at my Parish give horrible homilies.

 

[Duane1966]

Hmmm…it is the opposite at my Parish. The new priest out of seminary gives very deep, inspiring homilies which give the congregation lessons on how to follow the Gospel. The older priests at my Parish give horrible homilies.