Length of homilies

[jesushost]

The homilies we hav to listen to can last for 25mins. and every one have been about his childhood his school days or his family. maybe sometimes he MIGHT mention the gospel. one Christmas the only chlid he talked about was the birth of his niece! He is boring and repeative. there is alot of people who complain and nearly crying in their pews because they are so bored and frustrated! he never has anything written down so its ad lib. ive even took booklets to read (devotional ones!) i would love either he didnt give a homily or that he would speak about the gospel ,Christ or something catholic. so regarding the 8 min rule of thumb even thats too long in my parish

 

[babochka]

The homilies we hav to listen to can last for 25mins. and every one have been about his childhood his school days or his family. maybe sometimes he MIGHT mention the gospel. one Christmas the only chlid he talked about was the birth of his niece! He is boring and repeative. there is alot of people who complain and nearly crying in their pews because they are so bored and frustrated! he never has anything written down so its ad lib. ive even took booklets to read (devotional ones!) i would love either he didnt give a homily or that he would speak about the gospel ,Christ or something catholic. so regarding the 8 min rule of thumb even thats too long in my parish

Exactly! If a preacher is bad, a short homily is just a blessed reprieve from the boring repetition. If a preacher is good, we can definitely pay attention for longer than 8 minutes.

 

[babochka]

Chrystostom and Ambrose gave what are called catechetical homilies. They were probably not done at Mass but at catechetical sessions, many of them for catechumens. They mysteries of the Church were broken open for them. Some of the best of Chrystostom’s were his mystological homilies that were preached to the Neophytes following their baptism.

That misses the point.

The statement was made that the maximum attention span is about 8 minutes. People in the time of the Church Fathers apparently had attention spans longer than 8 minutes. Modern-day protestants apparently have attention spans longer than 8 minutes. High school and college students are expected to have attention spans longer than 8 minutes. TED talks frequently last 20 minutes, and generally people are able to pay attention.

The most common opinion on this thread seems to be that the quality of the homily is more important than keeping it to an arbitrary length.

 

[WillyAL]

At the parish I attend we recently got a new priest. His first homily was kind of long and all over the place. After Mass he apologized to everyone who filed out of the church at the door where he was standing. In addition to moving from another city, he had some other obligations to attend to and just tried to wing it. “I’ll be better next week, I promise.” And he was. Great homily and less that 10 minutes long. In fact, the entire Mass was slightly less than 45 minutes long. I know that some on here will complain that 45 minutes is too short, but word got around, and Mass attendance has increased by almost 50 percent in the past month or so. Clearly, a short Mass appeals to some folks.

 

[TimothyH]

Paul once celebrated Mass in a third story room and his homily lasted all night. He went on so long that a guy dozed off, fell out the window and died.

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered. And a young man named Eu’tychus was sitting in the window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer; and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and embracing him said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. (Acts 20:7-11)

-Tim-

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Paul once celebrated Mass in a third story room and his homily lasted all night. He went on so long that a guy dozed off, fell out the window and died.

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered. And a young man named Eu’tychus was sitting in the window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer; and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and embracing him said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. (Acts 20:7-11)

-Tim-

Whenever I feel like the homily is dragging on I often think of this. Paul, would have been quite hard to listen too I’m betting. Coupled with his personality I think he would have been driven out of many a parish today…

Of course Jesus was probably saying Mass in the EF when the apostles could not keep watch with him one hour…

 

[MissRose73]

My current priest usually preaches for about 10 minutes at Mass. I’ve been to parishes where the homily was 5 minutes, others where they were about 15 to 20 minutes with many of the longer ones at EF Masses. It is not necessarily the length, but its the context, the ability to keep people paying attention, and presentation that makes a difference for many people including myself.

 

[EasterJoy]

Perhaps we should take a note from the Byzantine Liturgy, and have the deacon shout “Wisdom! Let us be attentive!” every eight minutes during the homily

I have heard there are Protestant churches with an Amen Pew that will respond to a bad effort with interjections of “HELP him, Jesus!! Help him!!”

 

[EasterJoy]

That misses the point.

The statement was made that the maximum attention span is about 8 minutes. People in the time of the Church Fathers apparently had attention spans longer than 8 minutes. Modern-day protestants apparently have attention spans longer than 8 minutes. High school and college students are expected to have attention spans longer than 8 minutes. TED talks frequently last 20 minutes, and generally people are able to pay attention.

The most common opinion on this thread seems to be that the quality of the homily is more important than keeping it to an arbitrary length.

High school and college students with an attention span of longer than 8 minutes have paper and pencils.

I have heard many homilies that made me want to say, “Father, this is a fantastic lecture, but do you see any pens or pencils out here? You’re killing us, here!”

A homily that is meant for an audience without pens or pencils needs to be constructed in a way that aids memory. Some priests giving a longer homily, for instance, will sum up how the ideas presented so far fit together and lead into the next idea. The listeners have some chance of being able to relate what was said afterwards, without losing big chunks of the effort.

 

[SHoJjhmou]

A homily that is meant for an audience without pens or pencils needs to be constructed in a way that aids memory. Some priests giving a longer homily, for instance, will sum up how the ideas presented so far fit together and lead into the next idea. The listeners have some chance of being able to relate what was said afterwards, without losing big chunks of the effort.

I really like the homilies that start off with a funny story, and then end with connecting the story to the theme of the Gospel reading, Psalms, etc.

 

[Brendan]

I regularly go to Tanzania. The Sunday homilies tend towards the 45 minute range.

If it is the bishop giving the homily, the people feel ‘jipped’ if the homily is not at least an hour, preferably and hour and a half.

In many cases, families walk several miles to Mass. So they expect a Mass that is involved.

From the priest’s perspective, this is the only time he can offer catechesis to his faithful, and he also knows that many families cannot travel the distance to the church every week so he is going to use that time to the fullest extent.

I do wish we had that level of interest in the Faith here.

 

[EasterJoy]

I really like the homilies that start off with a funny story, and then end with connecting the story to the theme of the Gospel reading, Psalms, etc.

I like the introductory story when it is used as a device to make the points of the homily more memorable. When the story is a joke that has little connection to later points that the homilist is trying to make, I just scratch my head. The Mass is not the Tonight Show. Whatever is said ought to serve the purpose of the homily, which is to break open the Holy Scriptures for the greater profit of those who heard them proclaimed. A joke that serves that purpose is fine–we sometimes learn and remember better when we are made to laugh. A joke that does not serve that purpose is out of place.

 

[EasterJoy]

I regularly go to Tanzania. The Sunday homilies tend towards the 45 minute range.

If it is the bishop giving the homily, the people feel ‘jipped’ if the homily is not at least an hour, preferably and hour and a half.

In many cases, families walk several miles to Mass. So they expect a Mass that is involved.

From the priest’s perspective, this is the only time he can offer catechesis to his faithful, and he also knows that many families cannot travel the distance to the church every week so he is going to use that time to the fullest extent.

I do wish we had that level of interest in the Faith here.

That would take a) practice in absorbing what is presented in such a long oral presentation and b) speakers who have the rhetorical skills to talk for an hour in a way that is memorable. Those are both worthy goals!

To just talk and talk and to even delight your audience in a way that they can’t take with them when they leave isn’t better than to talk for a shorter time with the same effect. It is not the length of an oral presentation that makes the teaching the best. It is how much is taken away from the presentation and what difference it makes in the lives of those who hear

 

[5Loaves]

I regularly go to Tanzania. The Sunday homilies tend towards the 45 minute range.

…In many cases, families walk several miles to Mass. So they expect a Mass that is involved…

The priest at our Deaf parish here is from Uganda. I remember him telling about when he was first ordained that people here would say “Father, you’ve got to shorten your homily!” He said that same thing as you, Brendan. Back home people would walk an hour or two to get to Mass. They expected to be there all day.

 

[ComplineSanFran]

The priest at our Deaf parish here is from Uganda. I remember him telling about when he was first ordained that people here would say “Father, you’ve got to shorten your homily!” He said that same thing as you, Brendan. Back home people would walk an hour or two to get to Mass. They expected to be there all day.

I know this parish! I used to attend when Fr Dan Adams was priest. He was a delight, especially during his sermons. Such a lovely, lovely church.

 

[Angel_Bradford]

When I took homiletics, it was strongly suggested that you should wrap things up within 10 minutes and that included reading the Gospel.