Is the homily the same?

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Jennifer132

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Hello,

I just had a question regarding Saturday evening Mass and Sunday Mass. If the same priest is there, is the homily the same on Saturday night as on Sunday? And if he does more than one Mass on Sunday, is the homily the same?
 
Jennifer132 said:
Hello,

I just had a question regarding Saturday evening Mass and Sunday Mass. If the same priest is there, is the homily the same on Saturday night as on Sunday? And if he does more than one Mass on Sunday, is the homily the same?
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It’s up to the priest. Our old pastor gave the exact, same homily. The new one starts out the same, but he has a tendency to go off in different directions once he starts, and it usually ends up being the same, but different. 😊
 
Given the amount of prayer, reading, preparation, and writing that goes into a good homily, one shouldn’t begrudge the fact that Father or Deacon uses it at all Masses on a given weekend.
 
Is it true that there is a book where a priest can get all of his homilies?
 
My priest seems to write out notes rather than word-for-word what he will say. The homily on Saturday night and Sunday morning is essentially the same, but there are slight differences. The emphasis may be a little different or details may be added in one that are not included in another, but its the same basic homily.
 
Alex_H said:
Is it true that there is a book where a priest can get all of his homilies?
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Many priests use aids of some kind, while targeting the message to their own parishioners. I doubt they would just lift a homily out of a book without adapting it to suit their specific audience.

I met one priest who said he thought it was good that the Bishop moved him around every three years, because it meant he never had to write another homily - he would just use the ones he had already written. (He might have been kidding … )
 
The homily is not necessarily the same. In my parish, the English Mass homilies are probably the same - I think the priest mostly uses something he got from a book for the homily as he seems to be reading most of it. For the Polish Mass, it seems like he is speaking more spontaneously and from what I can understand of Polish when I have been present for both language Masses on a weekend, it doesn’t seem to be the same as the English homily.
 
Alex_H said:
Is it true that there is a book where a priest can get all of his homilies?
Click to expand...
There are actually quite a few online sites that sell either sermon/homily outlines or complete texts. Here is one example:

pastorshelper.com

I know that one Episcopal church found out that their priest was not writing his own sermons and asked him to resign.

It’s not exactly above board, but with all the businesses out there selling them, I would guess that more than a few clergy are taking advantage of the service. Maybe it’s like buying a term paper… If you’re behind and you need some help, it’s easy to go online.
 
Jennifer132 said:
Hello,

I just had a question regarding Saturday evening Mass and Sunday Mass. If the same priest is there, is the homily the same on Saturday night as on Sunday? And if he does more than one Mass on Sunday, is the homily the same?
Click to expand...
I’d say the norm would be for the homily to be pretty much the same.

There are reasons why it could be different. For example, there could be some special group in attendance at one (or both) of the Masses or there could be a sacrament taking place at that Mass. In those cases the priest might want to tailor his homily for the circumstances.
 
Many priests say 3 or 4 Sunday masses per weekend (between Saturday night and Sunday) and with their already demanding loads wouldn’t likely have the time or energy to compose 3 or 4 distinct homilies. As they are celebrating the same mass (same readings and propers) it would make sense to preach the same homily. That being said, if you went to mass Saturday morning it would be the mass for Saturday, not the Sunday mass, and the homily would be different (and likely shorter). Remember, most priests are also giving a brief homily for each daily mass in addition to the longer Sunday homily.
 
Homiletic and Pastoral Review has been serving Catholic clergy for over 100 years.

This isn’t a Protestant website or links to other websites. HPR has articles, reflections and homilies written by Catholic theologians and clergy specifically for Catholic clergy.

Many Catholic clergy used to subscribe to this magazine before they went to an internet only format. Very well known among the clergy, not so much by the laity.

-Tim-
 
It really depends on the priest. The priests at my parish tend to speak either from notes (our vicar) or just as it comes to them after having prepared themselves mentally ahead of time (our pastor and visiting priests). I have never attended two Masses in one weekend by the same priest, so I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine that our pastor makes the same point, but the words are not identical each time he preaches.

However, at a neighboring parish, the priest types out and reads his homily and often posts it online. So, in that parish, yes, the homily is always the same.
 
They typically preach the same homily and some use notes, some read the homily directly and others have a general direction and go. I have noticed that most priest that English isn’t their native language tend to read their homily and suspect it is so they don’t make language translation mistakes.

Considering most priest do at least one homily daily it’s an amazing volume of work to produce on a yearly basis. I wouldn’t begrudge any priests for recycling homilies or using reference material to produce them. The important thing is their conviction to spreading the Gospel.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
There are actually quite a few online sites that sell either sermon/homily outlines or complete texts. Here is one example:

pastorshelper.com

I know that one Episcopal church found out that their priest was not writing his own sermons and asked him to resign.

It’s not exactly above board, but with all the businesses out there selling them, I would guess that more than a few clergy are taking advantage of the service. Maybe it’s like buying a term paper… If you’re behind and you need some help, it’s easy to go online.
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:eek:

Now that there is a huge difference between protestants and Catholics – our priests’ main job is to offer the sacrifice of the mass, not to give a stellar homily.

The pastor at my former parish always had a piece of paper that he read from for his homily. I saw that paper up close on several occasions, and it was a printout of a reflection on that day’s gospel – had illustrations that made it look like it was from a magazine or website. He read the reflections thoughtfully and in a way that made them feel “live” rather than read. We actually enjoyed the reflections as they were bang on and gave a lot of food for thought.

Back in those days, I always attended mass on Saturday evenings at a parish near my home (with my young son), and then on Sunday morning at another parish (where I played the piano).

Week after week, I would almost always hear the same “side stories” from the life or a Saint (or the like) from different priests at different parishes. I began to assume that priests in our diocese use the same reference source when creating their homilies. 👍
 
Jennifer132 said:
Hello,

I just had a question regarding Saturday evening Mass and Sunday Mass. If the same priest is there, is the homily the same on Saturday night as on Sunday? And if he does more than one Mass on Sunday, is the homily the same?
Click to expand...
A few years back, I was attending the Saturday vigil mass and two Sunday morning masses – a church musician’s job is never done! 😃

Occasionally, I would hear the same priest’s homily all three times.

At each mass, Father would tailor his homily for the people in attendance – mostly senior citizens on Saturday evening, families with young children at 9am, and the 100+ teens (and their parents/siblings) in the confirmation class at the 11am mass.
 
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