How Important is Preaching?

I think we would all agree the answer is “Pretty Important”! Now the homily is not the reason why we attend Mass, nor is the  music, the color of the vestments, the way the lector reads, the stained glass (or lack thereof), or even the people. We attend Mass because of Jesus in the Eucharist. It is both our sacred duty and privilege to attend Mass. All of those other things enhance our worship experience.

So I’m not advocating leaving the church over one bad homily. If it was really bad, and heretical, then maybe leave that parish and go to one that is teaching the truth. But in general, bad homilies are part of being Catholic.

Not every homily will resonate with every person every time. It’s just not possible when the priest has to preach to people of all ages, genders, states in life, and faith levels. Something that is helpful to me as a daily communicant with a degree in Catholic Theology will probably not be as helpful to the person who is coming back to the faith for the first time after being away for 10 years. We’re in different places.

In the same vein, a homily preached about the importance of communication amongst married spouses as a way to witness to their children won’t resonate with me, a single woman sans children, as it does with a married couple with kids. We’re in different places.

However, that can all be forgiven when the homily is delivered effectively.

I brought this up to a deacon at my parish, not about his preaching, but preaching in general last week. Both parishes I’ve been a member of in the last ten years in Charlotte are ‘training grounds’ for the newly ordained. I’ve been through the breaking in of a few new priests. Let me see… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and now 7 (plus summer Deacon assignments and seminarians). That’s a lot of potentially bad preaching.

Now, with all that practice listening, I know that priests come into their own after a while. We don’t become amazing public speakers without practice. I had my time of practice – those poor 8th graders my first year in youth ministry!

It’s been my experience that newly ordained priests take between 4 to 8 months before they are really settled in who they are as a preacher. Some a little less, others a lot more.

So back to my conversation with the deacon. I asked, “Is there some sort of plan for newly ordained priests to become better preachers?” He looked at me with a sideways glance. I clarified, “For instance, a group of trusted advisors in the parish that a priest could count on for some good, holy, constructive criticism as he learns how to preach.”

I was greeted with a resounding, “NO!” It might not have been that loud, but I got back the answer that they are preaching to a wide audience, not everyone is in the same place, and after a homily two people could come up to them after Mass with exact opposite opinions.

Now, I’m not talking about whether I agreed with the preaching or not, or even if it applied to my life or not. I’m talking about helping the newly ordained (and not-so-newly ordained, for that matter) become more effective speakers.

Years ago when I got a new pastor and he had an assistant I hadn’t heard before, I was talking with another priest friend of mine. Let’s call my new pastor Fr. A, his assistant, Fr. B, and my priest friend Fr. C for clarity’s sake. I was raving about Fr. B’s preaching. It was so effective, interesting, and inspiring. My friend, Fr. C said, “Really? Fr. B never really says anything new. You’ve heard those things before.” I thought about it for a second, and realized why I liked Fr. B’s preaching (& for that matter Fr. C is a great preacher and so is Fr. A). It was because he’s an excellent speaker. A charismatic preacher. I would have gone with him down any road, and I did, really. It was his invitation to a deeper spiritual life that opened me up to liking the latin mass. I even considered veiling at one point (which if you know me was a pretty big leap to even consider).

Effective speaking can make us do almost anything. Used poorly it looks like Adolf Hitler, the Holocaust, and Nazi Germany. Or even Donald J. Trump as our president. I fundamentally disagree with almost everything both of these men say, and yet they were effective in making millions of men and women believe what they were saying was worth fighting (and in some cases) dying for.

Not everyone has the gift of preaching, but our fathers are called to help us grow closer to Christ and to make the faith part of who we are. All I’m asking for is a little humility to practice delivery, to be able to take constructive criticism about delivery to heart to become a better speaker. I hope seminaries are listening to what Pope Francis wrote about in The Joy of the Gospel (135-144) as they are training our newly ordained. Delivery is key.

I’m going to take up praying to St. John Vianney and St. Dominic during the homily as the patrons of priests and preaching. Despite delivery, I am touched by the Spirit during the homily much of the time.