Length of Catholic sermons a small percentage of Christian counterparts

  • Thread starter Thread starter CatholicCourier
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Of course they’re shorter. At many Protestant churches, the sermon is the main reason people are there, and there isn’t much to the service apart from the preacher preaching. The last time I attended a Protestant service, it was basically 20 minutes of praise and worship music, nearly 2 hours of the preacher preaching, and 5 minutes of the collection being taken up and the kids being escorted out to the Sunday school room.

Catholics are at Mass to participate in the unbloody sacrifice of Jesus, not to hear a sermon. As my mother always said, “You don’t go to Mass to hear the priest talk.”

I would note though, that certain cultures like Latinx and African expect to hear a longer homily at Mass, so it’s typically longer if you’re at one of those parishes.
 
Last edited:
When Homilies were used to catechize the faithful, a little long was a good thing.
When used to promote social justice and the Cause De Jour, not so much.
 
I can remember, from my days as an independent Pentecostal, when the length of the preacher’s sermon would be dictated by the length of the audio cassette in the recorder, and most of the time those cassettes were C90s.

D
 
CatholicCourier said:
What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
According to a former priest at our parish, he can see a definite increase in congregational squirming after about 10 minutes. That was his cue to skip to the abbreviated version of his homily and wrap things up.

To be fair, a good, old-fashioned, fire-and-brimstone sermon from an enthusiastic protestant minister who is really preachin’ it can get the Amen Chorus all fired up. Makes a typical Catholic homily seem pretty tame by comparison.
 
One of our priests was sent to the diocesan homiletics center (which was largely used to dry out priests, but that’s another story).

Anyway, he came back having progressed from so-so/average, to good.

He told us the most useful thing they taught him was “seven minutes.”

very few are productive after that point, and it also imposes a discipline to get to the point.
 
We are gifted with one of he rare priests capable of going far past that, although he doesn’t usually go much past 10. He can actually keep people engaged, and can hold his own against the Jesuit elite . . .

Several years ago, he was invited to a black parish in Chicago that had converted, wholesale, from protestant to RC. He was told that the expected homily was something like a 50 minute minimum ( 😱), and those that didn’t do so didn’t get invited back.

I would have loved to hear him with that. His adult ed sessions are also nothing to miss . . .
 
Earlier this year at a Spanish Mass, the Priest must have given about a 15 minute sermon. I really appreciated it and it really got through to me. So, it can be done.
 
It can be done effectively, and I’ve seen it.

In most cases I’ve seen, though, it’s been done by someone who should have kept to seven, and would have been far more effective if edited down to that time.

Enthusiasm and repetition does not turn five minutes of material into fifteen . . .
 
Social justice, in particular preferential concern for the poor, has always been absolutely central to the Church’s message and mission. Christ has dire warnings for those who neglect the poor, particularly in Matthew 25. That’s the only kind of “social justice” I’ve ever hear discussed in a homily.
 
You’re lucky. I have heard much more, especially around CCHD campaign time.
I agree that charity is a central tennant of the Faith. And always has been.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top