What HAVE you heard in homilies?

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We hear the same thing over and over… We hear how God loves us so much so that I just want to jump up and say…“Hello, put down that fiddle, and help us put out the fire!!!” I wish I could write the homilies for the priests…If I could, I would relate the Gospel readings to an issue facing us Catholics today and/or to a teaching of the Church…There’s room for such a connection, but for some reason the priests are hesitant to get on the roof, so to speak, and preach from the housetops…
We laity yearn for people like the Cure or someone with the backbone and conviction of John the Baptist…if the priest would just call a spade a spade, they would reenergize the Church, but alas…week after week,we hear about God’s love when what we need to hear more of is God’s justice which will be imparted when he judeges us on our free will choices. But if we’re not told about the consequences of our free will choices, then we’re basically being set adrift. I don’t know if the priests recognize that if they don’t teach us, they are culpable as to the fate of our souls.
 
I have heard all of the above frequently, especially on frequent confession, but the posted time for confession in the parish amounts to 1/2 hour on Saturday afternoon.
 
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NWUArmyROTC:
American Soldiers = Terrorists

Peter was married = so priests should be

shouldn’t call priests Father

We are the body of Christ, theological differences don’t matter
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Wow. You do have it bad.

I’m pretty lucky. My priest is not only orthodox, but his brother is a Marine.
 
I have heard most of them.

Thank you to God for giving us good priests! Amen

Blessings!

G.G.
 
I have heard some pretty strong sermons against contraception and abortion.

I have heard sermons exhorting the people to go to confession.

I have heard a few wishy-washy statements such as “we know there is a hell, we just don’t know if any one is there.”

I heard one priest quote Jesus in the Gospels. He said “if you love me you will keep my commandments.” For the first time this really sunk in. I was mostly worried about committing a mortal sin but never gave much thought to venial sin. I think about this often. For some reason it really made an impression.
 
I must say that I have not heard any of this at my parish. They may have been hinted or qualified in some way. Our priest is a good man but really likes to avoid controversy.
There is a parish that has “Shrine Days” every summer for a week nearby and they have mass everyday where the priest gives a great homily about an hour long or more and last summer he touched on every one of these topics. He didn’t hold anything back it was great! 🙂
 
All of the above! I was truly blessed to have a great priest when I reverted. Sadly he was recently moved to a different parish.
 
I have not heard any of the topics in the survey over the last two or three years.
 
At the Parish we regularly attend, we hear all of the above. However, I attended the parish I’m registered at this Sunday because I was helping with the voter registration drive and I heard that ‘all we need to do to receive Communion is to pour ourselves out in love.’ Ay yi yi

Nicole
 
We have a very nice priest, but all he does is tell stories, and none of them actually relate to any issues that face catholics today. They are sort of feel good stories, and I just wish he would get down to the nitty gritty. We have people going through RCIA that have no idea what a sin is, and we don’t hear it from the pulpit. 😦
 
What bothers me is what I have not heard, abortion, homosexuality, premarital sex (for the youth sake especially), the truth of the Catholic faith, apologetics…etc…
 
+veritas+:
In light of the post regarding teaching from the pulpit (namely, hell being taught) I am just curious as to how many people have actually heard these things at their parish during the homily?

Or not heard these things? Or not heard other things?
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My wife and I attended faithfully a parish for 7 years, and the homilies were mediocre at best. The original pastor, while a loving priest, well-loved by the parish, used a stream-of-consciousness style that was undemanding for listeners (except to stay awake). The new pastor is very learned but homilitic themes tend to be very light and not very doctrinal.

Just recently we both discussed matters and joined an adjacent parish, where the pastor is far more orthodox regarding the liturgy, for starters. And guess what? This past Sunday his sermon was about the Real Presence (and Mass concluded with Benediction!). We both feel very blessed to have found this parish so close by. The amazing thing: the pastor is a convert from the Missouri Synod Lutheran clergy (he says that’s why he’s so biblically-based and such a fervent Catholic).
 
Our priest (a Byzantine Catholic priest), is quite an exceptional homilist. He has mentioned all of the topics presented in the above poll, plus he frequently mentions saints, church fathers, controversies and scandals, and throws in some apologetics quite often. He also places some really wonderful quotes from various Catholic writers and saints within our bulletins. My brother, who is also a Byzantine Catholic priest, is atleast (to be fair, and not show any favoritism) as good, or better. He also provides these things, and a lot of apologetic information for his parishioners.

I adore listening to these type(s) of homilies versus generalized ‘feel good’ ones which really don’t explain, by example or detail, nor give a Catholic any insight into ‘WHY exactly they are Catholic’. I am impressed with our priest (and my brother’s) homilies.

However, not all priests are naturally good speakers. They are people. Some are good speakers. Some are not. Sometimes we must try and meditate on what good things are said, and make our own insight and connections. On a positive note, I believe that with the new wave of apologetics, we may see more assertive, inclusive, educational, and inspiring homilies. But, most of all, we should be concerned, not about how good a homily is (the speaker is at speaking), but that he is annointed by the Holy Spirit and confers God’s gifts of the Sacraments!!! God bless our priests!
 
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Southernrich:
I’ve heard a good bit about the danger of dying in mortal sin and the need to remain in the state of grace. As for Bush’s War, the Pope is against it and so is our pastor. We don’t go wrong following the Pope as he put it.

Very little on the other topics.
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You should point out that the Pope is not unequivocally against the war. His teaching was heavily conditioned.
 
Father Frank Pavone’s latest column deals with this:
Abortion vs. War
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

This column requires extra effort to explain what it is not. It is not an evaluation of the war in Iraq or of any national leaders.

It is, however, an observation, on the level of moral principle, about the relationship between abortion, war, and being pro-life.
And even there, I am limiting myself to a couple of very simple and specific points, and not an exhaustive analysis.

In his historic speech to the United Nations in 1965, Pope Paul VI cried out, “War never again, war never again!” The world
must heed these words. They don’t just mean, “Don’t fight!” They mean that we have to make justice and human rights so
secure that the need to fight disappears.

Many ask whether one can be a good Catholic or be pro-life and support the war. The answer is yes, which is to say that
Catholic and pro-life teaching do allow for circumstances in which war is justified, because sometimes war has to be waged
precisely for the defense of life.

Even when war is justified, life is always lost in the process. But innocent life is never targeted, and that makes all the
difference in the world. How many innocent lives, and how many children, have been deliberately targeted for destruction in
the current war?

By comparison, every abortion deliberately targets and destroys a child; otherwise, it isn’t even an abortion.

The purpose of war is not to kill the enemy, but rather to deprive the enemy of his ability to wage war and to destroy others’
rights. There’s a big difference between targeting military/communications equipment to disrupt the operations of the enemy, and just trying to kill as many people as you can.

No doubt, some will read this column and begin arguing with me that the war in Iraq is not justified. This column is not arguing
with them, but precisely pointing out that it is OK for them to come to that conclusion. It is also OK for someone else to come to the conclusion that the war is justified.

What is not OK is for someone to say, “You are not pro-life because you support the war.” In fact, one may support the war
precisely because he or she is pro-life and concludes that in this case, force is the only way to protect human life, human
rights, and human freedom from the hands of those who would destroy it.
Others may disagree with the conclusion, which is
fine – but don’t deny the other person’s right to come to the conclusion.

And do not miss the profound difference with abortion. There is no room for interpretations or evaluations of whether abortion
may be justified. It cannot be, because its very essence is the deliberate targeting and destruction of a child. In war, we do not
target a single child, whereas every abortion targets a child. Catholic teaching allows more than one position on war, but it
does not allow more than one position on abortion.

Comments on this column? Email us at mail@priestsforlife.org, Priests for
Life, PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314;
Tel: 888-PFL-3448, 718-980-4400; Fax: 718-980-6515; web:
www.priestsforlife.org
 
I have heard all but one (danger of hell). Recently I have heard many about the Real Presence, abortion, and homosexuality. In the past, I attended daily Mass at the Cathedral in Denver where one of the resident priests reminds me of a young John Paul II. He speaks several languages, teaches at the seminary, and FREQUENTLY quotes the Church Fathers and other saints. He is a tremendous blessing to this diocese.

Chuck
 
I am one of the lucky ones that happens to have an excellent and holy priest. I have heard him speak on everyone of those issues in the last month alone!! He is the kind of priest that people commute long distances just to hear him preach, a modern day John Vianney if you will!!
 
I didn’t answer the poll because there is no “None of the Above”. As a matter of fact, we have a Pastor who seems obsessed with Holy Thursday and the washing of the feet. He uses this theme in most of his homilies. As a matter of fact, this was the theme of his homily at the Midnight Mass at Christmas. Of course, this is the same priest who was very upset with our RE teachers because a candidate for Confirmation this year did not know what the Trinity was?
 
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Pax:
You are truly blessed. Perhaps your priest could give retreats to priests and pastors around the country.
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I agree, you are indeed blessed. I wish we could hear more from our priest about these things
 
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Katholish:
All of them. I live in a Catholic paradise, and Homeschooling capital of the U.S. one of our priests is the Cure of Ars reincarnated. (<-- obviously not literally)
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Me, too (St. Thomas Aquinas, Rio Rancho, NM.) Our Msg. Raun is unabashedly trying to make saints of all his parishioners. Daily Mass looks much like Sunday Mass elsewhere. Really remarkable in this day and age. I don’t know what came first in this parish, our holy pastor or 24 hour Adoration of the Holy Eucharist?
 
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