Joke homilies

[Gordon_Sims]

I’ve heard Michael Voris and a couple others mention homilies that are essentially nothing but a mini-standup routine but had never actually seen one until this past week. Before I get to that, though, I should mention that my regular priest will often throw in a joke or amusing anecdote into his homily. It’s generally somehow related to the gospel or readings, and always helps him make his point.

This past week, though, I went to a different parish. They had a visiting priest and at first he seemed really engaging. He had a strong, clear voice and sounded very enthusiastic. His delivery of the gospel was engaging and really got me geared up for a great homily. What we got, though, was a joke. Literally.

In all fairness, it was pretty amusing and gave me a chuckle. However, after getting his laugh, he basically told everyone to go out and enjoy their Sunday then went on with the Mass.

Now, this wasn’t my priest and not one I’ll likely see again so this isn’t something I’d try to address with him or go over his head or anything, but I was curious to know if anyone else had to deal with anything similar. I could see letting it slide once in a great while from my regular priest, but if every Sunday became his chance to dust off some old Henny Youngman routines, I don’t think I’d be able to hold my tongue.

 

[centurionguard]

I’ve heard Michael Voris and a couple others mention homilies that are essentially nothing but a mini-standup routine but had never actually seen one until this past week. Before I get to that, though, I should mention that my regular priest will often throw in a joke or amusing anecdote into his homily. It’s generally somehow related to the gospel or readings, and always helps him make his point.

This past week, though, I went to a different parish. They had a visiting priest and at first he seemed really engaging. He had a strong, clear voice and sounded very enthusiastic. His delivery of the gospel was engaging and really got me geared up for a great homily. What we got, though, was a joke. Literally.

In all fairness, it was pretty amusing and gave me a chuckle. However, after getting his laugh, he basically told everyone to go out and enjoy their Sunday then went on with the Mass.

Now, this wasn’t my priest and not one I’ll likely see again so this isn’t something I’d try to address with him or go over his head or anything, but I was curious to know if anyone else had to deal with anything similar. I could see letting it slide once in a great while from my regular priest, but if every Sunday became his chance to dust off some old Henny Youngman routines, I don’t think I’d be able to hold my tongue.

I admit that some priest’s will make satrical anedotes using the folly of situational human nature in some of their homilies. I’m not convinced all such moments are to invoke humor if not to drive home a pitch point in their homily. Invarible we all laugh at our mistakes from time to time. I wonder sometimes if priest use them as ice breakers in their homilies. Not all priest are gifted in speech particularly when it comes to teaching or giving homilies. My parish priest often uses a slight of soft humor in his homilies.
Not really sure if its born out of habit. I think its part of his personality.
As long as its not something overdone or creates clapping in the congregation there’s little harm I guess. I prefer a spiritual teaching in a homily myself.

 

[catholictiger]

I admit that some priest’s will make satrical anedotes using the folly of situational human nature in some of their homilies. I’m not convinced all such moments are to invoke humor if not to drive home a pitch point in their homily. Invarible we all laugh at our mistakes from time to time. I wonder sometimes if priest use them as ice breakers in their homilies. Not all priest are gifted in speech particularly when it comes to teaching or giving homilies. My parish priest often uses a slight of soft humor in his homilies.
Not really sure if its born out of habit. I think its part of his personality.
As long as its not something overdone or creates clapping in the congregation there’s little harm I guess. I prefer a spiritual teaching in a homily myself.

there is a priest I know well who actually starts all of his homilies off with a joke, now I think I have only heard one homily of his and I don’t remember it to well, so I don’t want to make a judgement based off one homily. Priests could have very pastoral reasons he wants to tell jokes in his homily, as long as he is looking to bring the people closer to God I see no problem with jokes in homilies. My own bishop tells jokes all the times in his homilies.

 

[MtnDwellar]

The pastor at my parish prints out jokes that were forwarded to his email. He reads them during the homily. I have come to view the homily as something that is NOT part of the Mass.

I’m trying to work with him.

 

[PaulinVA]

I am against anything that fosters a “cult of personality” around any particular priest. It’s not the Father N show, it’s the Catholic Mass.

A Priest or Deacon can be engaging and personable, but he needs to remember why people are there - it’s not to see him.

I take that back - for some people, they really are there see Father N because he is so cool. That is so wrong.

 

[centurionguard]

The pastor at my parish prints out jokes that were forwarded to his email. He reads them during the homily. I have come to view the homily as something that is NOT part of the Mass.

I’m trying to work with him.

In your situation I think its extremely overdone. The Homily is not meant to create an aire of joviality.

 

[centurionguard]

I am against anything that fosters a “cult of personality” around any particular priest. It’s not the Father N show, it’s the Catholic Mass.

A Priest or Deacon can be engaging and personable, but he needs to remember why people are there - it’s not to see him.

I take that back - for some people, they really are there see Father N because he is so cool. That is so wrong.

great post!

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I’ve heard Michael Voris and a couple others mention homilies that are essentially nothing but a mini-standup routine but had never actually seen one until this past week. Before I get to that, though, I should mention that my regular priest will often throw in a joke or amusing anecdote into his homily. It’s generally somehow related to the gospel or readings, and always helps him make his point.

This past week, though, I went to a different parish. They had a visiting priest and at first he seemed really engaging. He had a strong, clear voice and sounded very enthusiastic. His delivery of the gospel was engaging and really got me geared up for a great homily. What we got, though, was a joke. Literally.

In all fairness, it was pretty amusing and gave me a chuckle. However, after getting his laugh, he basically told everyone to go out and enjoy their Sunday then went on with the Mass.

Now, this wasn’t my priest and not one I’ll likely see again so this isn’t something I’d try to address with him or go over his head or anything, but I was curious to know if anyone else had to deal with anything similar. I could see letting it slide once in a great while from my regular priest, but if every Sunday became his chance to dust off some old Henny Youngman routines, I don’t think I’d be able to hold my tongue.

So if I understand you correctly - Father told his joke, got the laugh, said, “Have a nice Sunday,” and that was the end of his “homily?” A 30 second joke WAS the homily?



Not Kosher, if you’ll pardon the expression. I guess Father was telling you that he didn’t prepare…

:tsktsk::dts:

 

[GEddie]

I am against anything that fosters a “cult of personality” around any particular priest. It’s not the Father N show, it’s the Catholic Mass.

A Priest or Deacon can be engaging and personable, but he needs to remember why people are there - it’s not to see him.

I take that back - for some people, they really are there see Father N because he is so cool. That is so wrong.

Don’t take it too far.

Some Fr’s personae actually draw people to Mass and Confession who might not go otherwise.

ICXC NIKA

 

[zab]

I’ve heard Michael Voris and a couple others mention homilies that are essentially nothing but a mini-standup routine but had never actually seen one until this past week. Before I get to that, though, I should mention that my regular priest will often throw in a joke or amusing anecdote into his homily. It’s generally somehow related to the gospel or readings, and always helps him make his point.

This past week, though, I went to a different parish. They had a visiting priest and at first he seemed really engaging. He had a strong, clear voice and sounded very enthusiastic. His delivery of the gospel was engaging and really got me geared up for a great homily. What we got, though, was a joke. Literally.

In all fairness, it was pretty amusing and gave me a chuckle. However, after getting his laugh, he basically told everyone to go out and enjoy their Sunday then went on with the Mass.

Now, this wasn’t my priest and not one I’ll likely see again so this isn’t something I’d try to address with him or go over his head or anything, but I was curious to know if anyone else had to deal with anything similar. I could see letting it slide once in a great while from my regular priest, but if every Sunday became his chance to dust off some old Henny Youngman routines, I don’t think I’d be able to hold my tongue.

It sounds to me like he didn’t have a homily prepared for that day, Perhaps he was called at the last minute to substitute. Maybe he fogot to bring his notes. There could have been a mix up in the scheduling and he wasn’t aware until the last minute that he was scheduled.

 

[Joe_5859]

It sounds to me like he didn’t have a homily prepared for that day, Perhaps he was called at the last minute to substitute. Maybe he fogot to bring his notes. There could have been a mix up in the scheduling and he wasn’t aware until the last minute that he was scheduled.

That would be my thought as well.

I’ve known some priests that utilize canned jokes more than others, but none to the extent that I would refer to the homily as a stand up comedy routine.

 

[Godfollower]

Honestly, the conclusion I’ve come to over the years is that our seminaries do a lousy job of teaching homiletics. Most priests get a slight bit of training in what is, after all, public speaking, but it’s nowhere near enough. That’s why you get priests reading their written homilies aloud, working off index cards, thinking you have to “open with a joke,” and generally stumbling through their homilies. God bless them, they have way too much on their plates, so I get where they’re coming from. I just wish they had better training in how to give homilies.

The homily shouldn’t be entertainment as such, because its purpose is to preach the Word of God. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with the homily being entertaining. I can see how a priest might give a homily on the Parable of the Prodigal Son that would be a total laugh riot. Humor can serve the truth and can make a point in a way that fire and brimstone cannot. So long as humor is used for the purpose of preaching (rather than preaching being used for the purpose of humor), I see no problem with it.

 

[catholictiger]

one thing that must be remembered over all else, is that a homily should be said TO THE PEOPLE of that parish. Sometimes jokes may help teach a message better then just a straight talk. A priest is a shepherd of the people and because of that they have a call to come down to their level and bring them to Christ. Telling jokes may be necessary to do this.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

So if I understand you correctly - Father told his joke, got the laugh, said, “Have a nice Sunday,” and that was the end of his “homily?” A 30 second joke WAS the homily?

It was more like 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, but that was it. It’s possible he was trying to make a point with the joke, but it wasn’t clear enough without some additional (name removed by moderator)ut on his part. Like I mentioned, our priest will sometimes tell a joke as part of his homily, but it always either relates directly to the readings or to the rest of his homily in some way, and he’ll make a comment at some point to try to tie it all together. I figured this priest was going to do the same, but the punchline hit and he was done.

To be fair, he could have been ill-prepared and all so I can’t really judge him on the one homily. He seemed like a pretty good priest in all other regards.

I also agree with PaulinVA’s comments about not wanting to foster a “cult of personality” around a priest. We went to Mass with some friends a while back. Before hand, they couldn’t stop talking about how cool their priest was. He was young, good looking, energetic and full of charisma. He came down into the congregation for his homily and was pointing to people, calling out certain parishioners by name, telling lots of jokes, making tons of pop culture references, tweaking kids’ noses and ruffling their hair. His homily went for nearly 30 minutes and most of the people loved it. It only had about 5 minutes of “meat,” though, and he ran through that before he even left the altar. Our friends talked all about it afterward, but I found it to be pretty vapid. I go to Mass to hear about God, not to hear about which late night talk shows the priest watches.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

Most priests get a slight bit of training in what is, after all, public speaking, but it’s nowhere near enough. That’s why you get priests reading their written homilies aloud,…]and generally stumbling through their homilies.

I’d rather have a priest who writes out his entire homily in a well-written, thought provoking paper that leaves you feeling just a little bit uncomfortable with yourself and wanting to go to confession and have him stumble through it, than have Fr. Personality get up to the ambo engaging the congregation with mirror and smoke screens of fancy metaphors, and illuminating imagery that lack sustenance and leave you walking out of the church realizing he actually didn’t say anything.

I actually had this happen to me this summer. A former priest was visiting who apparently gave “the most amazing homilies.” Everyone who went to the parish while he was there was going on and on about how great his homilies were. So he preached, and was quite engaging, and animated, used great metaphors and imagery. I was getting pretty wrapped up in it, until I walked out of church and realized he didn’t really say anything.

That being said, I am a university student, so I’m used to the whole lecture-style of just reading your notes for class for an hour and twenty minutes, and have adapted to maintaining focus for at least 25 minutes.

I think we need to remember that priests have their own natural gifts and are better at some things than others. I think we also need to remember that the reason we go to Mass is for the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and not because “Father gives such good homilies. I just luv his homilies.” If your priest’s homilies are lacking and you really need that good homily, there are plenty of good sermons and homilies posted online in mp3 format. I listen to tonnes of them when driving those long boring prairie drives.

With regards to jokes, I hate corny humour and canned jokes, especially during Mass. What’s worse, my priest doesn’t tell jokes during Mass. He’s very serious, and Mass is no laughing matter. But he also has a very subtle sense of humour that he’ll intertwine into his sermon, and I’ll pick up on but not be able to laugh. Sooo torturous.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

It was more like 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, but that was it. It’s possible he was trying to make a point with the joke, but it wasn’t clear enough without some additional (name removed by moderator)ut on his part. Like I mentioned, our priest will sometimes tell a joke as part of his homily, but it always either relates directly to the readings or to the rest of his homily in some way, and he’ll make a comment at some point to try to tie it all together. I figured this priest was going to do the same, but the punchline hit and he was done.

To be fair, he could have been ill-prepared and all so I can’t really judge him on the one homily. He seemed like a pretty good priest in all other regards.

I also agree with PaulinVA’s comments about not wanting to foster a “cult of personality” around a priest. We went to Mass with some friends a while back. Before hand, they couldn’t stop talking about how cool their priest was. He was young, good looking, energetic and full of charisma. He came down into the congregation for his homily and was pointing to people, calling out certain parishioners by name, telling lots of jokes, making tons of pop culture references, tweaking kids’ noses and ruffling their hair. His homily went for nearly 30 minutes and most of the people loved it. It only had about 5 minutes of “meat,” though, and he ran through that before he even left the altar. Our friends talked all about it afterward, but I found it to be pretty vapid. I go to Mass to hear about God, not to hear about which late night talk shows the priest watches.

Sounds like the Jay Leno approach to a homily!

Our old parish priest comes down and wanders all over the front of the church while he speaks…He never uses notes, just rambles…Sometimes he hits some very good points, but by the time all is said at done (30 minute homilies are not rare) everyone has forgotten them in the flood of words. He’s very sincere and, for a wry person, also quite grim in many ways. He’s got a towering intellect which few people recognize but which is very evident when in his presence. He’s never touched anyone during a homily but he will make references and jokes to certain parishioners if it helps him get the point across. It comes off as a bit too familiar, if you know what I mean. Mentioning anyone by name tends to strike me as “this is my inner circle” and as if we are being allowed to see into the workings of the parish, which I don’t want to see.

 

[Tigg]

While I concede that not every priest has the gift of preaching, I truly believe the problem lies with their individual spirituality. We often times get a geography lesson as our pastor is widely traveled, or more often than not, a lesson in church history with spirituality-lite. But the joke at the beginning has its purpose in gaining attention to what is to follow.

Maybe the jokes help some priests temper their message of truth - you know, when you have a family leave the parish because they’ve been told not to use contraceptives.

 

[Phemie]

Our new Pastor has some very good homilies. He saves his jokes for the Communion Rite - yes, between the purification and the Prayer after Communion. And usually they are followed by “Do you get it??”

The lack of laughter at times should tell him that, far from not getting the joke, we are simply not that amused right after Communion. My friend has tried to tell him that but he’s not listening. One Sunday she asked him, “What on earth made you think that was something that was OK for Mass?”

I had to smile last Sunday, though , when our 8 year old ‘niece’ said, “Finally, a joke little kids can understand.”

 

[L_Marshall]

It can be troubling if the priest doesn’t take the homily seriously. I’m not opposed to some humor interjected in a few spots though. I like the way Fr. Larry Richards does his, speaking on a very serious topic, then using a little quip to lighten the mood. I believe he described it as “Punching you in the stomach, then making you laugh”.

 

[pnewton]

I like homilies that are engaging. For some humor may be the best way to connect with the people with whom they are speaking. I do not think there is any special grace in being boring. As pastors, there is nothing more pastoral trying to reach the lost sheep, not just those that make the effort to be attentive even when a great effort is needed.