why do Catholic priests not yell and scream like non Catholic Preachers?

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Lutheranteach said:
Wow…the simplicity of the answers is dazzling. For a group (Catholics) so in love with oral tradition there is no understanding of how speaking techniques impact the preaching of various regions and cultures. And, be aware that some protestants will leave a mass thinking the priest must not feel very strongly about what he was saying since he spoke so softly and barely made eye contact. Now, I know that isn’t the case. And, my good Catholic friends also know that the “amen corner” at the nearby predominantly African-American baptist church doesn’t exist to be part of a show but rather because those in attendance feel it and believe with every fiber of their hearts and souls.

I’ve heard homilies that lasted 10 minutes that felt like hours. I’ve heard 90 minute sermons that felt like the blink of an eye. I’ve seen young pastors and priests look like old, feeble men after five minutes in the pulpit. I’ve seen an 82 year old pastor attack a sermon like a man 1/4 that age and leave the college grad and the grade school child both feeling they’d been talked to on their own level.

…and there is always Father Pfleger
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I don’t think these answers are simple at all. They merely reflect the fact that the homily is not the emotional or spiritual high point of the Catholic liturgy. It is true that the homily is a very important part of the liturgy and that the priest should use a variety of means to help his listeners receive and understand his message, but this does not necessarily entail using the same preaching style utilized by many evangelical preachers. I have nothing against this particular style of preaching if it is effective and does not distract the worshipers from the high point of the liturgy. The priest, like Fr. Pfleger, should know his flock and seek to speak to them in ways they can comprehend, but an “Amen Corner” is not necessary in order for Catholic worshipers to reveal the depth of their faith in “every fiber of their hearts and souls.” Reception of the Holy Eucharist reveals this.
 
I’ve heard screaming Catholic priests. I was at a conference once with some Jesuit whom I’m used to hearing as quiet intellectual types sounding like some kind of Southern Baptist pronouncing Jesus as Jeeeeesus aparently the longer and more e’s one can put in the Divine name the better. He also turned Mary into Maaaareeeey:eek:I litterally had to go as far away as I could in the church because I couldn’t stand him. I also had a priest friend that was pastor at an all black congregation where folks would be shouting out hallelujahs and preach it Fathers and such during the homily. He said the first mass there threw him because he was used to just preaching until he was done without interruption and almost lost his train of thought. I also remember one mass with one poor old priest who preached forever about a half dozen unrelated sermons for the price of one. The homily went on so long I started counting candles to see which saint was most popular.
On the other hand the longest sermon in the protestand world I’ve heard was in a Re-orgnised LDS church. They probably had a dozen priests and each one took their turn to preach and they were all long winded talking about mormon doctrines and scriptures for which I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about!
 
scottywolf777 said:
The homily went on so long I started counting candles to see which saint was most popular.
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😃

When our priest is on vacation, “Father Shakespeare” fills in. We call him that because he basically sounds like a Shakespearean actor. He is not doing it for show, though; I guess he has a bad stutter and needs to focus really hard on articulation.
 
kamaan said:
😃

When our priest is on vacation, “Father Shakespeare” fills in. We call him that because he basically sounds like a Shakespearean actor. He is not doing it for show, though; I guess he has a bad stutter and needs to focus really hard on articulation.
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Actually at World Youth Day in 1993 I had the privledge of hearing Basil Cardinal Hume the former Arch Primate of London ( I love that term it always makes me think of a very dignified gorilla in a Bishop’s outfit) preach and got positively lost in his beautiful English to this day I really can’t say what he said but, it was like poetry like Shakespeare.
 
It was such a hoot, our regular priest was gone and a retired priest sub’d for him one Saturday.

This old retired priest, counted out the sins and told us what was right and what was wrong.

Right down the line, this is how you make an arrow fly straight.

As a revert, I had such a smile on my face:D

You go Father 👍

His serman ranked right up there, behind Fr. Corapi and Fr. Pavone, of course.
 
sdtouchton said:
why do Catholic preachers dont yell and scream like non catholic Preachers during preaching a sermon?
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Have you seen some of the pontifical rants of Michael Pfleger in Chicago? Sorry to all concerned, I cannot call myself to bestow the honorary nominator of “Father” to this man, regardless of the validity of his ordination. I cannot call a man “Father” who is explicitly a race baiting Marxist.
 
Scott_Lafrance said:
Have you seen some of the pontifical rants of Michael Pfleger in Chicago? Sorry to all concerned, I cannot call myself to bestow the honorary nominator of “Father” to this man, regardless of the validity of his ordination. I cannot call a man “Father” who is explicitly a race baiting Marxist.
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Well, I just checked this guy out and move over Reverend Jesse Jackson this guy shouts louder than you.BTW if this Father Pflegger really feels that way why doesn’t he give up his privledges too! I can guess that he’s probably living in some nice rectory in Chicago and probably flew first class to make that speech ( I would call it neither a sermon nor a homily.) None of my ancestors EVER owned slaves. The white ones were poor immigrants who came here for freedom and a better life and the Indians weren’t much better than slaves and I’ll bet I’m living his vow of poverty better than he does without one!
 
sdtouchton said:
why do Catholic preachers dont yell and scream like non catholic Preachers during preaching a sermon?
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My father in law’s a Methodist minister and he doesn’t yell and scream and his sermons are a bit like my own priest.

It might only be in one Church.
 
budgie2 said:
My father in law’s a Methodist minister and he doesn’t yell and scream and his sermons are a bit like my own priest.

It might only be in one Church.
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It seems to be only in certain churches that that’s the case and it’s usually more emotional ones where you find people being “slain in the spirit” and stuff. A lot of black churches seem to get into it and it’s a cultural thing that goes back to being oppressed. The same dynamic in music created the blues. I have wondered though about Southern Baptist preachers and why they always have that southern accent and the exagerated pronunciation of the name of Jesus the more e’s the better. I heard a guy on the radio once, in New York City preaching like that and you’d swear he was in Georgia.
As for this Father Pflegger, if I’d been at one of his masses and had him screaming at me like that I’d probably get up and leave. I consider that sort of preaching a liturgical abuse. Considering he’s in Chicago finding another catholic church wouldn’t be too hard.
 
I always wondered why these crazed evangelists like Hagee and them have to pronounce “God” as “Gwwwwwahduh!” :D:confused:😛
 
scottywolf777 said:
It seems to be only in certain churches that that’s the case and it’s usually more emotional ones where you find people being “slain in the spirit” and stuff. A lot of black churches seem to get into it and it’s a cultural thing that goes back to being oppressed. The same dynamic in music created the blues. I have wondered though about Southern Baptist preachers and why they always have that southern accent and the exagerated pronunciation of the name of Jesus the more e’s the better. I heard a guy on the radio once, in New York City preaching like that and you’d swear he was in Georgia.
As for this Father Pflegger, if I’d been at one of his masses and had him screaming at me like that I’d probably get up and leave. I consider that sort of preaching a liturgical abuse. Considering he’s in Chicago finding another catholic church wouldn’t be too hard.
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I’m afraid I don’t understand some of your statements here. You mention that a rather lively form of preaching can be found in many black churches and that it’s a “cultural thing that goes back to being oppressed.” But I have heard many Black preachers (and priests) who do not utilize this form of preaching and I’m not convinced it can be described as “Black” any more than Abraham Lincoln’s utilization of tall tales and anecdotes in his speeches can be described as “White.” I also fail to see how this style of preaching emanates from the Black experience of oppression. After all, many white preachers also utilize this method of preaching and they do not share the Black experience of oppression. I would think that such forms of preaching emerge from a different source, mainly the experience of preaching to large crowds outdoors without the use of microphones. It’s possible to see many similarities between religious sermons and political stump speeches given by Southern politicians like Huey Long, for example, who also spoke outdoors from stages to large crowds of people with little to enhance the power of his voice except cadence and rhythm. Such preaching or speaking is designed to increase the participation of the listeners in the event and calls for a swell of intensity and emotion as the speech continues. The speaker not only requires an intellectual assent to his words, but an emotional one as well. As for Southern Baptist preachers who preach with a southern accent, well, perhaps it’s merely because they are from the South.
 
If you watch TBN or attend several different fundamental churches you will see that many of the preachers stand a certain way, they wipe their foreheads with a hanky, they move the same way and some sorta jump up and down. They all sound and act the same.

I really believe that they are taught this way of preaching in the Bible school they attended, as I expect most of them have not attended seminary.

This is not to say that all fundamentalists are this way, but I have seen the exact similarities in their styles of preaching, that it has to be taught, it isn’t something that appears to be natural.

They also love to walk around the stage from one side to another holding a Bible, although most of the sermon isn’t always relevant to the versus in the Bible.

Lots of Amen brother and alleluias and praise the Lord yelled by the congregation. I assume this is what they consider their part in the worship service.

I really don’t know the difference between evangelical and fundamentalist churches, except maybe the evangelical ones are much more orderly and follow some type of traditions.

For myself I only feel comfortable in liturgical churches and have never heard yelling in them. Although my priest lets you know that there is sin and hell is waiting for you if you don’t live a Christian life.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette
 
It’s interesting to note that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Southern Baptist minister who used cadence, rhythm and repetition in his speeches and sermons and who called forth some degree of emotional response from his listeners, and yet I don’t really place him in the same box as I would Jimmy Swaggert, Oral Roberts, or many Black preachers I’ve heard. I’m not sure if this is because he primarily spoke within church buildings or halls and wasn’t a revivalist tent preacher as others were or if it was a question of education. What sort of preacher was King? Does he fit within that segment of preachers who “yell and scream” when delivering sermons? I’m not sure he does, though he seems to share much of the same background.
 
I don’t find this a fair characterization of Protestants and Evangelicals. They are more concerned with teaching sermons that elucidate the Bible. Catholic sermons by contrast are more concerned with things you can do to be a good person. Both approaches are good; but I really miss not having a little more fired up Bible teaching being done at the Mass.
St_Francis said:
Catholics and Protestants go to church for very different reasons. Catholics go to worship God in the presence of Christ, and Protestants go to pray together and to learn or get some motivation for being good.

When we are in the Presence of Christ and worshipping God, we are focusing on God. We are reverent before our awesome Creator. Imagine if you had the chance to see Christ Himself; would you pay attention to some guy ranting and raving over on the side there? No, you would be totally focused on Christ, right?

Now, imagine that Christ were speaking to you, but in a way that might be difficult for you to understand, and someone were quietly talking nearby, explaining or translating what He was saying. You would listen to that man because he was clarifying what was happening, but your attention would still be directed towards Christ, no?

this may be a little odd of an analogy, but I suspect you might be fairly young. Suppose you went to a rock concert, you might look at the screen which shows close-ups of the musicians, but you would probably pay no attention to a person nearby who was screaming about how everyone should go to the rock concert, right? You might even find him rather distracting.

When Catholics go to church, the bread and the wine become the Body and Blood of our dear Lord Who died for us on the Cross and thus redeemed us. We don’t know how this happens, but you can see it in St John 6, and in the story of the Last Supper. So we are in the very Presence of God at church, so of course we would not pay much attention to someone else.
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I seem to remember that Father Stan Fortuna had a very forceful delivery from when he came to our school, but i still found him very reverent. I think it does depend. Some preachers who do this do try to steal the show, but I think some do do it to get people fired up, and I don’t see anything wrong with that in the Catholic church
 
Screaming is meant to stir the emotion of people, it keeps them engaged. It helps them believe in what the preacher is preaching.

If you are preaching the truth, the truth will speak for itself. No need to scream.
 
I have been to Protestant churches before where the preacher screamed so loud the veins in his forehead bulged out. That is so totally freaky. Needless to say, I’ve never heard a screaming priest.
 
The most effective and inspiring sermons I’ve heard that have helped me change my life were ones given by a humble priest who would literally read a 15-20 minute sermon from his papers while tripping over his words. He was well-read in Thomistic philosophy, the saints, and the fathers/doctors of the Church. His sermons had substance, and he didn’t need to yell and scream. I would be very turned off by such a priest. Yelling and screaming, unless the situation actually warranted it (ie: an emergency), is immodest.
 
Yelling and screaming — at one time, it seemed to be something found in the movies — “The Apostle,” or “Leap of Faith” — and in televangelist preachers.

In a quest for the perfect charismatic church, a college mate used to drag me with her every Sunday. We hit dozens of churches, but no yelling or screaming. Some mild enthusiasm, some speaking in tongues, people slain in the spirit or on their knees confessing in front of everyone, some tears and amens and alleluias and raised hands — since she never found the perfect church, maybe she was looking for some of the raw emotion mentioned by the OP.

She did come w me to Mass every time I went w her.

As a side note, regarding the many comments about African American churches — the few African American Catholic Churches that I’ve attended have been very, very formal.
 
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