We need to stop complaining about "bad homilies"

[Edward_H]

No it’s an imporant - though for daily Mass optional - part of the Mass.

But if the priest struggles with language…that’s no excuse for us…we must “make up” for the priest…as part of “common priesthood”.

Nothing should stop us from squeezing a point of betterment out of each Mass, with or without being able to understand the homily.

To give up is to be a weak and whiny Catholic.

 

[HeDa]

It is a big challenge to be able to prepare a homily that everyone understands. From 5-year-olds to 95-year-olds, those with very limited knowledge of the language spoken during Mass to those fluent in +5 languages, those without any knowledge of the Christian faith to those who spent years learning and might even have a Masters in Theology.

Sometimes priests prepare more than one homily if they are celebrating more than one Mass. A Mass with families with younger children is totally different than one where the people are well educated and +50 years.

 

[Gorgias]

This is a problem… If he’s not good, he shouldn’t be in the job!

Actually, one problem is the perception that the priesthood is a ‘job’. It’s not – it’s a vocation. He’s not selected for his vocation on the basis of his skill in composition or his prowess in delivery: we believe he’s selected by God to become a priest.

And, if all you see of Father is one hour a week at Mass, then I can see why you perceive his ‘performance’ as a homilist as a major part of his ‘job’; after all, his 7-10 minutes of homily delivery is 1/6 of your exposure to him! But… it’s just 10 minutes of his 24/7 week.

 

[Gorgias]

It is a big challenge to be able to prepare a homily that everyone understands.

This!

As one who does public speaking as part of my job, I just laugh when I hear folks presume that they can (and should!) get all the catechesis they need in a weekly homily that’s delivered to such a varied audience! (If I were asked to do that – that is, to deliver a 10-minute speech to a diverse community, touching all necessary points and addressing each individual constituency in my audience – I think I’d ask for an hourly rate a couple orders of magnitude greater than what I normally get! )

 

[DarkLight]

There’s only one homily I’ve heard that I’d consider truly bad. It was…essentially self-congratulatory, talking all about the wonderful things the priest was doing on his mission and how wonderful it was that the congregation supported him. I don’t think any sort of scripture or any actual teaching made it in there. And somehow he made it last 45min.