Your priests' homilies: are they over the heads of many people, or too are they too simplistic?

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I found this quote in this article in an Australian news source:
Three years into his papacy, the church’s former top liturgical enforcer has shown no sign of dumbing down the homilies he gives around the world or trying to be a slick performer.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi admitted that many listeners at the final Mass for the youngsters would have found his speech very challenging.

‘It was the Holy Father’s intention to give a speech, not so much to impress,’ he told reporters.​

What about the homilies in your parish?

Are they over the heads of typical parishioners?

Are they challenging but still comprehensible?

Are they neither challenging nor simplistic?

Are they too simplistic or “dumbed-down”?
 
I hardly ever get any benefit except the practice of holy wrath.

Sermons today either send you to sing kumbaya with druggies or write a biography of the main subject of the sermon’s anecdotes.
The first person singular, I.

Even the "orthodox"ones sound like a cathecism of the times of Pius XII or they simply disarm any sense of Catholic combativity.

AND worst when it is in Latin. Not only do they pronounce Latin like a cow but they sing it like girls with their head crooked to the side and their little hands together like butterflies.

So what does this mean…

No grace.
Simply put.
Sanctity moves hearts. Words occasionally move wallets.

It is all or nothing. There is no third party.
 
Lepanto said:
What about the homilies in your parish?

Are they over the heads of typical parishioners?

Are they challenging but still comprehensible?

Are they neither challenging nor simplistic?

Are they too simplistic or “dumbed-down”?
Click to expand...
Social justice, social justice, social justice. We shouldn’t drive as much, global warming bad, think of the poor children! That sort of thing.

That’s nice and all, but usually irrelevant to the Mass of the day. I usually understand what Fr is saying but I haven’t the faintest idea why he is saying what he is saying. Miss one word and the whole thing falls apart. If there was a connection to the readings from Sacred Scripture, I forget by the time someone asks me after Mass.

A reporter wrote an article (a blog entry first published on the community newspaper’s website) saying that Fr’s homiles are the best and our music is terrible. I have no idea what planet the reporter is from. There are apparently a few people at my parish that like the homilies; I have no idea why. 🤷

I’d prefer a little more about [SIGN]ETERNAL SALVATION
Directions to the Life in the World to Come[/SIGN] but that’s just me. (How about once a year? How about Divine Mercy Sunday, eh?)
 
Our priest’s homilies are always related to the Mass readings and always good, sound theology.
 
[SIGN]I don’t care about what you saw on TV or whatever happended to you[/SIGN]

[SIGN]Please hit the Mute buttton I came to recieve Holy Communion not a Marxist lecture[/SIGN]

Jeez I sometimes with I could interupt like they do in the Universities here in Rome.

“Uh Your Excellency will pardon me but…”

Ouf! You’ll get little old cardinals and friars making you cry for opening your mouth to say stupid things.
 
Excellent theological examinations of the readings. Dryly delivered from written form.

Approachable, yet challenging. Sometimes even make my 8yo ask good questions.
 
Wow…guess we’ve just been blessed at our parish. Our priests homilies are usually excellent. Some are more powerful than others, but I’ve not been disappointed or confused by one yet. 😃
 
Lepanto said:
What about the homilies in your parish?

Are they over the heads of typical parishioners?

Are they challenging but still comprehensible?

Are they neither challenging nor simplistic?

Are they too simplistic or “dumbed-down”?
Click to expand...
We’re lucky if we can hear the homily at all. Father is getting along in years, was never much of an orator, and the speakers are turned down real low.

As for content, I could stand for a little tougher stuff, y’know, to stimulate the mind, really get it thinking about what’s going on. As is, it’s just trying to decypher the last mumbled word.😊
 
Lepanto said:
What about the homilies in your parish?

Are they over the heads of typical parishioners?

Are they challenging but still comprehensible?

Are they neither challenging nor simplistic?

Are they too simplistic or “dumbed-down”?
Click to expand...
Homilies given by Father are either a retelling of the Gospel in a manner that is very engaging for my children, but not so much for the over-6 crowd, or the “I’m OK, you’re OK” touchy-feely stuff one hears on Oprah. He is a very gentle man whose approach to his ministry is to be very very indulgent and non-confrontational with people, but not challenging.

However, last Sunday, we had a guest Deacon who not only mentioned H-E-L-L (the first time I’ve EVER heard it from the pulpit) as in “some people are sending themselves there”, but also directly tied that in with sexual sins, birth control, and being closed off to life.

It was the first time I ever gushed over a homily. I felt like a star-struck fan thanking him for it.
 
I really enjoy my priest’s homilies. However, I wish they would talk more about hell, and how people send themselves and about sins and such…we have two English priests and a Portuguese one, the Portuguese one’s homilys are really good, (mostly about the Eucharist) but hard to understand because his accent is so thick.
 
Lepanto said:
What about the homilies in your parish?

Are they over the heads of typical parishioners?

Are they challenging but still comprehensible?

Are they neither challenging nor simplistic?

Are they too simplistic or “dumbed-down”?
Click to expand...
In my OF parish, the homilies are generally good, solid, interesting, and relevant … people are reminded of the importance of Confession, weekly Mass attendance, and urged to visit the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. There was a reference to Pope John Paul II and his “Theology of the Body.” Another sermon dealt with keeping oneself pure in an impure world. And sometimes even a “straight Gospel interpretation” homily will have in it words that reach out and touch me in a timely and personal way.

In my EF parish, the homilies tend to be a tad more scholarly … which I both enjoy and appreciate, although one was so intricate that I must admit to forgetting the details apart from it being about the sin of bearing false witness against one’s neighbor. One was a historical retelling of the life of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. One was a down-to-earth and easily understood talk on humility. One was a “homework assignment” in which the priest wanted us all to voluntarily take on a week’s worth of penance … two weeks before Lent. One was about hell. One was about how all the people that Jesus cured miraculously in the Gospel stories … ended up eventually dying, with the implication that perhaps praying for a miracle cure is not the most urgent or lasting thing we ought to pray for. One was about how to deal with suffering, with real-world easy-to-understand examples.

This is one reason why I am grateful for both my parishes.

~~ the phoenix
 
kristie_m said:
Wow…guess we’ve just been blessed at our parish. Our priests homilies are usually excellent. Some are more powerful than others, but I’ve not been disappointed or confused by one yet. 😃
Click to expand...
Same here. 🙂 And I’ve discovered that the homilies have levels. If I’ve been studying the Scripture readings and doing some serious praying about them, I get so much more out of the homilies because I get to the deeper levels. Which makes me want to study and pray even more. Its wonderful. 🙂
 
Mostly above our heads and confusing. Evey Sunday is a lesson on how mainstream Catholic beliefs or understanding of a particular Gospel are incorrect or misleading in some way. This is usually done with a history lesson of what he has found to be a more plausible truth in scriptural teaching. This is all followed by his committment to the Spirit of Vatican II, whatever that is. I pray for him every day.
 
Too vague. He mentions the readings but seems to fly all over the place and saying a lot without saying a thing. I’m trying to remember Sunday’s homily and the only thing I can remember is the remarks on the fans, the lack of windguards on the candles (the one server accidently blew his out while holding it during the Gospel), and we’re trying new things. I know I paid attention to the homily and he referenced the first reading but honestly nothing sticks out in my mind. His homilies tend to be vague and barely mention the readings. In one case, he almost stated that faith is a feeling. Hello, not it isn’t. He goes more often than not for vague and good feelings. All shallow and no depth. No mention of sin or hell or Church teaching.
 
I am blessed that my PV is the best homilist in the diocese. His homilies are on-target, thought-provoking, challenging and very grounded in Church teaching and liturgical theology. It’s like hearing what I would have imagined to be a young Fr. Joseph Ratzinger.

His homilies challenge me and really get me to think. He also incorporates the Eucharistic Sacrifice into his homilies. I told him that he needed to compile his words into a book. He just rolls his eyes every time I say this, but, it’s true.

He also reads a lot of the Holy Father’s books. Some of the pope’s words pop up into my friend’s homilies. His words also carry a lot more depth than even our bishop’s. This is not to denigrate my local ordinary, but, the preaching just isn’t of the same caliber as my friend’s. Mind you, I’ve listened to my share of my bishop’s homilies, having planned Masses for him. It’s just that the delivery of the message, the content, the depth and the clarity just aren’t there. Not everyone, even a bishop, has the gift of preaching.

There are times when my friend and I will disagree and he will further expound his words over dinner or coffee. I’ll challenge him on a point and he’ll challenge me on my response. Sometimes, it will take me some time to ponder what he actually said. Then, I’ll ask for a clarification and he’ll give it to me.

What is also amazing is that he preaches without notes. The few times that he does use notes, he’s not that good, although, in his worst day, he sounds a lot better than most on their best day.

The second-best homilist I’ve ever heard was a Paulist friend of mine. He is very good, but, doctrinally-challenged on a few things. I knew him as a seminarian, transitional deacon and now priest. Oh we would argue. I would point out something that then-Cardinal Ratzinger would say and he would pooh-pooh it. Then, later on, he would wind up “seeing the light” begrudgingly. I remember one time he asked me to change the wording on the readings to make it “inclusive”. I told him “no.” This was before RS came out. I explained to him that I don’t have the right to tinker around with the readings and neither did he (he wanted to use “fisher-people” where Jesus says, I will make you fishers of men–this was when he was a transitional deacon). I told him to go back to Liturgy 101. He wanted to strangle me, but, when he came back from his ordination, he thanked me.

My Paulist friend preached an especially powerful homily the first Holy Thursday after my mother had died. He talked about seeing people that we love for what we think will be the last time and how what we say and what we do in those moments will have a lasting and powerful effect. I was bawling. As we concluded night prayer, I thanked him. He is now in Canada, having celebrated 16 years in the priesthood. I hope he continues to do well.
 
I usually find something to like about in most priests’ homilies.

Unfortunately, not the one I usually end up listening to or at least the way he starts them.

He starts his homilies the same way everytime. He starts by saying “Let’s give a hand to Our God.” (Clapping…me:“huh?”)

Then he says…“Look at the person beside you and say,”(usually something annoying…you’re fat, you need to lose weight, you look ugly…"). Then he’d ask the other person to reply something back equally annoying.

Oh…and he gets REALLY annoyed (and shows it) if his audience shows a lack of enthusiasm to the above.

At that point, I can only roll my eyes and say to myself…“Ugh…not again!”

After which, he’d usually work the annoying remarks into his homily.

I’m not sure why he does that. Perhaps he’s trying to teach humility. I’ve heard some seminaries do “tell-you-off” sessions where seminarians freely tell each other’s annoying faults to teach humility.

I don’t think it works in homilies though. You just end up starting on an annoyed note.

For the most part, his homilies are quite interesting. He’s light on theology but at least he quotes from the Cathecism and corrects the Faithful on the most common moral excesses/errors. He usually incorporates into his homily a story heard from somewhere (most priests here swap stories) or an anecdote about the school he works for as a headmaster. Either way, you won’t get bored at least.

On a side note, I noticed very few priests encourage (at least the ones I hear from) the Faithful to go to Confession. They usually talk about turning away from sin and repentance but not the normal means in doing so, the Sacrament itself.
 
I usually find something to like about in most priests’ homilies.

Unfortunately, not the one I usually end up listening to or at least the way he starts them.

He starts his homilies the same way everytime. He starts by saying “Let’s give a hand to Our God.” (Clapping…me:“huh?”)

Then he says…“Look at the person beside you and say,”(usually something annoying…you’re fat, you need to lose weight, you look ugly…"). Then he’d ask the other person to reply something back equally annoying.

Ummmmm…yeah. I’m thinking there’s something just not right about this. Aren’t we supposed to build each other up? I can’t even imagine what I’d do if the priest told the person next to me to tell me that I looked ugly. (Especially given that person is usually my husband!) :eek: How very very bizarre!!
 
I have yet to hear a bad homily from my parish priest. His homilies are always engaging and challenging enough for us adults but my 11 year old brother still gets it (after a few questions sometimes). Always a good balance between the readings, Church teachings and a little humour and personal experiences.

He was a teacher before becoming a priest which I think is why he has a gift for giving a good homily. Really, though, all the priests I’ve ever heard have been at the very least decent…nothing really crazy or goofy.
 
Our homilies are just right! Our priests give great homilies . Very pithy. Very practical. They inspire us to draw closer to Jesus and to draw on the graces He gives us through the Sacraments.

This last Sunday was especially good. I played for two Masses. Two different friars (one for each Mass). Both gave homilies about the grave evil of contraception (July 25 is the 40th Anniversary of Humane Vitae). Both related their homily to the Gospel about the weeds and the wheat, describing how contraception looks so good, but it is really a “weed.”

You could hear hearts beating in those congregations! I sensed that people wanted to applaud, but didn’t. It was awesome. i also sensed that a lot of people wanted to crawl through the floor.

The priests both mentioned the Sacrament of Reconciliation and urged people guilty of using contraception or procuring an abortion to go to Confession.

They also talked about NFP and described how people could get more information. (There are certified NFP instructors in that parish.)

I have frequently heard homilies denouncing abortion and contraception in our parishes, as well as homilies in favor of chastity. Also, I’ve heard homilies denouncing the abuse of children and teenagers by the priests.

I’ve seen people walk out of homilies about some of these controversial topics, especially contraception.

But our priests aren’t afraid of ANYTHING!

I’ve heard a few social justice homilies, but they are very good. We SHOULD be helping the parishes in New Orleans, and feeding the poor in our cities, and visiting the lonely and the sick, and working for better laws that protect the family. So I don’t mind hearing these. They make me squirm because I have a tendency to ignore all of these needs and assume that someone else will take care of them.
 
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