homilies

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The homily, **IMHO **is supposed to be a lesson on the readings.
If it happens to lend itself to these things as well, it can be a real blessing.
But really, nothing takes the place of good catechesis in the first place.
These things should be taught in religious ed classes.
The fact that the adults don’t know what the church teaches about these things or choose to ignore or disregard the teachings, is unfortunate.
I’ll bet their children do, if they attend religious ed, at least from 6th grade up.
Unfortunately, this is precisely when people pull their kids out of religious ed.
because they’re “done”. They’ve learned all the Bible “stories” and they’ve been Confirmed and received First Communion.
Imagine what good Catholics we’d have if the entire family remained in catechesis…🤷
 
pianistclare said:
The homily, **IMHO **is supposed to be a lesson on the readings.
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If I recall correctly, the Latin is oportet sit, which translates to something between “should be” and “must be.” The Law dictionary leans more to the latter modal verb.
 
pianistclare said:
But really, nothing takes the place of good catechesis in the first place.
These things should be taught in religious ed classes.
The fact that the adults don’t know what the church teaches about these things or choose to ignore or disregard the teachings, is unfortunate.
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👍

The desire for adults to receive their catechesis in the context of a 5-7 minute weekly talk, in an environment in which there are way too many catechetical needs (well catechized? poorly catechized? adult? teen? child? motivated to learn? bored and just taking up space?), without any opportunity to ask questions and get clarifications, and without any continuity or progression in subjects taught… well, that desire is just impossible to fulfill.

Homilies can have catechetical context… but they can’t be expected to act as a course in catechesis. They’re part of a primarily liturgical, not catechetical, context. 🤷
 
Even though I have always seen the homilies on that Sunday’s Gospel
reading, I think the priest can also use the moment when an important ruling happens, a significant world event happens pertaining to Christians, or a current event is unfolding to reinforce a Catholic teaching or what the Vatican or Bishops have said. I can understand
their reluctance, but as one of our priests recently said - we, meaning the congregation, are the ones in the trenches fighting our daily battles.
Thete are those of us who want to stand by and defend the Church teachings. it is nice to be encouraged in a homily that the priest also stands firm and is not afraid to remind the parishoners what we believe
and teach. Unfortunately, many Catholics don’t want to be reminded on issues like abortion or homosexuality so they are fine if the priest never brings up those issues.
Our lives are not that different from the lives of the people who lived in the times of Jesus. Most of the readings should be relevant to our daily lives as well.
 
Just an anecdote:

A couple of pastors ago we had one who would regularly talk about political issues, things in the news, and such.
It caused so much drama in the parish. The older parishioners would simply get up and walk out of Mass. Often he spoke with great disdain about the country or the military, and veterans would storm out. You could hear children saying “mama, what is daddy so mad about? What’s happening?”
Obviously the priest that followed heard the stories, and took great pains to mend those fences by sticking to the readings.

At any rate, if one is well catechized, and has a good moral compass, I think most halfway intelligent adults can glean from the universal messages in the Gospel how we are to apply those Christian principals to daily life. Life is sacred. We hear that in the readings. I think sometimes we Catholics are too literal. We want everything spelled out for us, and a guarantee attached. At some point, we have to listen tot he Holy Spirit.
If my priest never preaches about abortion (not saying he won’t of course, I’d welcome it)
I STILL know that it’s murder. Care for the poor. Visit the sick. Mercy to captives.

Be a disciple already, LOL
I think if we all make a conscious effort to be faithful instead of worrying if the guy sitting next to us got the message, we might have a better world and these things would **take root in our culture. **
:twocents:
 
pianistclare said:
Just an anecdote:

A couple of pastors ago we had one who would regularly talk about political issues, things in the news, and such.
It caused so much drama in the parish. The older parishioners would simply get up and walk out of Mass. Often he spoke with great disdain about the country or the military, and veterans would storm out. You could hear children saying “mama, what is daddy so mad about? What’s happening?”
Obviously the priest that followed heard the stories, and took great pains to mend those fences by sticking to the readings.

At any rate, if one is well catechized, and has a good moral compass, I think most halfway intelligent adults can glean from the universal messages in the Gospel how we are to apply those Christian principals to daily life. Life is sacred. We hear that in the readings. I think sometimes we Catholics are too literal. We want everything spelled out for us, and a guarantee attached. At some point, we have to listen tot he Holy Spirit.
If my priest never preaches about abortion (not saying he won’t of course, I’d welcome it)
I STILL know that it’s murder. Care for the poor. Visit the sick. Mercy to captives.

Be a disciple already, LOL
I think if we all make a conscious effort to be faithful instead of worrying if the guy sitting next to us got the message, we might have a better world and these things would **take root in our culture. **
:twocents:
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That is why I said I can understand a priest’s reluctance to bring up any issues during a homily. Of course, the way the homily is delivered makes a big difference. Most priests are not fire and brimstone and have a gentle way of delivering a homily. It seems you had an unfortunate experience at your parish. These issues don’t have to be brought up in every homily. But I don’t think they should be ignored either. Sadly, the voting record for many Catholics does not reflect on the teachings of the Church. We do worship in the Catholic Church so I don’t think the views of the Church should be a “no go zone” in a homily.
 
7_Sorrows said:
That is why I said I can understand a priest’s reluctance to bring up any issues during a homily. Of course, the way the homily is delivered makes a big difference. Most priests are not fire and brimstone and have a gentle way of delivering a homily. It seems you had an unfortunate experience at your parish. These issues don’t have to be brought up in every homily. But I don’t think they should be ignored either. Sadly, the voting record for many Catholics does not reflect on the teachings of the Church. We do worship in the Catholic Church so I don’t think the views of the Church should be a “no go zone” in a homily.
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Well said. 👍

Mary.
 
7_Sorrows said:
That is why I said I can understand a priest’s reluctance to bring up any issues during a homily. Of course, the way the homily is delivered makes a big difference. Most priests are not fire and brimstone and have a gentle way of delivering a homily. It seems you had an unfortunate experience at your parish. These issues don’t have to be brought up in every homily. But I don’t think they should be ignored either. Sadly, the voting record for many Catholics does not reflect on the teachings of the Church. We do worship in the Catholic Church so I don’t think the views of the Church should be a “no go zone” in a homily.
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I never said they should be avoided. Please read carefully. Thanks.
 
pianistclare said:
The older parishioners would simply get up and walk out of Mass.
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I’ve seen people walking out of church for various reasons but the political issues seem to be the #1 reason. That has to be an embarrassing moment for the priest, parish, diocese, etc.

I guess people can debate over whether the Bible is the best moral guide (outside of the Ten Commandments and Christ’s commandments) but there’s a reason why priests are “asked” to preach on the scripture readings of the day.
 
ProVobis said:
I’ve seen people walking out of church for various reasons but the political issues seem to be the #1 reason. That has to be an embarrassing moment for the priest, parish, diocese, etc.

I guess people can debate over whether the Bible is the best moral guide (outside of the Ten Commandments and Christ’s commandments) but there’s a reason why priests are “asked” to preach on the scripture readings of the day.
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If they are walking out because they don’t agree with the teachings of the Catholic Church that is not good. If the priest gives a homily that is not in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church and people walk out that is not good either. It really isn’t about politics, but what the Church teaches.
 
No, never, and I’ve been to many churches up and down the coast. We just this month got a new priest from the Dominican Republic so we’ll see. I think those “hot button” issues could be easily worked into a homily about the readings. I think the priests are afraid to preach on these topics.
 
Just last week when I traveled to a different parish, the Pastor talked about contraception and NFP. He gave a very good homily on the beauty of NFP. I heard that particular parish is good at talking about moral issues. The young priest did a wonderful job. I went there to check it out due to so many compliments I heard from different people. Their homilies are to do with all kind of moral issues all the time, and the church is booming.

As for my own parish, no I have never never heard any moral issue be taught. The reason we are in the situation we are in now is because most priests did not carry out their obligation of moral teaching.
 
PTL said:
Just last week when I traveled to a different parish, the Pastor talked about contraception and NFP. He gave a very good homily on the beauty of NFP. I heard that particular parish is good at talking about moral issues. The young priest did a wonderful job. I went there to check it out due to so many compliments I heard from different people. Their homilies are to do with all kind of moral issues all the time, and the church is booming.

As for my own parish, no I have never never heard any moral issue be taught. The reason we are in the situation we are in now is because most priests did not carry out their obligation of moral teaching.
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That is good to hear. We are Catholic and should not be afraid or angry because a priest actually weaves a Church teaching into a homily.
 
7_Sorrows said:
That is good to hear. We are Catholic and should not be afraid or angry because a priest actually weaves a Church teaching into a homily.
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You are absolutely right! It was so disheartening to read a parishioner get mad to hear “sin” mentioned in homily. Shame on him! Jesus said the road to salvation is narrow and the road to destruction is wide. How true! It is too bad that priests are afraid of offending parishioner by preaching the truth but not afraid of offending God by not preaching the truth.

Here is the testimony of Fr. Steven Scheier. He was at the judgment seat for the above reason.

youtube.com/watch?v=4uZ38qeO7LQ
 
PTL said:
You are absolutely right! It was so disheartening to read a parishioner get mad to hear “sin” mentioned in homily. Shame on him! Jesus said the road to salvation is narrow and the road to destruction is wide. How true! It is too bad that priests are afraid of offending parishioner by preaching the truth but not afraid of offending God by not preaching the truth.

Here is the testimony of Fr. Steven Scheier. He was at the judgment seat for the above reason.

youtube.com/watch?v=4uZ38qeO7LQ
Click to expand...
Thank you for the link!
 
PTL said:
Just last week when I traveled to a different parish, the Pastor talked about contraception and NFP. He gave a very good homily on the beauty of NFP. I heard that particular parish is good at talking about moral issues. The young priest did a wonderful job. I went there to check it out due to so many compliments I heard from different people. Their homilies are to do with all kind of moral issues all the time, and the church is booming.

As for my own parish, no I have never never heard any moral issue be taught. The reason we are in the situation we are in now is because most priests did not carry out their obligation of moral teaching.
Click to expand...
I would be interested to know how NFP was discussed in sufficient detail to make the point but at the same time appropriate to a congregation that included children.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
I would be interested to know how NFP was discussed in sufficient detail to make the point but at the same time appropriate to a congregation that included children.
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The very young Pastor (in early thirty’s) did not teach NFP. He gave a homily of the beauty of NFP by referring to Pope Paul VI’s Humane Vitae, paragraph 20 specifically. The priest talked about the law of God and marriage, how husband and wife are supposed to help each other to become saints. In the 1960’s when people were practicing NFP, the divorce rate was only 2%, the most probably 3%, and look at today’s divorce rate. The moral law is important. Pope Paul VI knew what was coming.

He said sometimes things may seem impossible, but we must trust in God’s love, and good things will happen. He encouraged the congregation to take time to read Humane Vitae, and reflect on the teaching, and pray for the guidance of God. The priest mentioned there were NFP resources in the entrance of the church, encouraged people to pick up some information.

That was the outline I remembered. It was a great homily.
 
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