Guillaume Goubert, editor-in-chief of La Croix made this significant point in reference to the new legislation:

Although he does not suggest it, Francis does not exclude the possibility of women being ordained deacons, or lay people (including women) being allowed to preach at Mass.

If we leave aside the larger issue of women and the diaconate, one very immediate issue is whether it is now time to look at the question of preaching in the Eucharistic assembly.

The current position is set out Canon Law no. 767. It is quite explicit that the most important kind of preaching is the liturgical homily and it "is reserved to a bishop/priest or a deacon" (et sacerdoti aut diacono reservatur).

So, not only women are excluded from giving the homily. All lay persons are.

This whole position is urgently in need of being re-examined, re-imagined and reformed.

A change is needed for both theological and practical reasons.

The underpinning ecclesiology of the present canon law

The image of preaching used in Canon Law is not that of a baptized people bearing witness - in a variety of ways - to the Good News. Rather, it is one of an organizational pyramid for the diffusion of an officially sanctioned communique.

This neat, cut-and-dried world begins, naturally, at the top.

The office of preaching to the whole Church has been committed principally to the Roman Pontiff and to the College of Bishop (cf. Canon 756§1).

Then, in the mind of the creator of the code, the bishops individually are charged with preaching in their dioceses, while priests are charged with preaching in their parishes and elsewhere. (756§2).

Lastly, "the laity may be allowed to preach" "if necessary" and "if advantageous in particular circumstances" and "if the local bishops' conference" allows it.

Then it adds a "but" - and it is a crucial but - not at the Eucharist.

This "but not at the Eucharist" effectively rules out lay preaching because it is only at the Eucharist that the vast majority of Catholics ever hear preaching.

This vision of who can preach (basically: clergy preach, laity listen) is based on the pre-Vatican II notion of the Church as the society of two parts.

The higher and the lower; those who give the teaching and those who receive it; those who have revelation and those who do not. This was given formal shape in the notion of the ecclesia docens(the teaching Church) and the ecclesia discens (the learning Church).

This Church of two un-equal parts is that of clergy and laity, and it does not harmonize with the notion of one People of God, the community of the baptized, where everyone should minister to one another, by using their distinctive gifts.

Moreover, it does not take account of the fact that the Holy Spirit speaks in every heart and calls on each of the baptized to give an account of the hope that is within.

The image of preachers in one place in the Church and listeners in another may be very neat - an ecology of knowledge that is really little more than a clerical dream - and can seem plausible in the way that all neat arrangements appear attractive.

But it ignores the reality of the Spirit in the heart of the Church, which is the community of the People of God.

The Code of Canon Law may have appeared nearly two decades after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), but its ecclesiology in this point dates from the early part of the twentieth century.

It needs to be looked at with critical eyes in the light of the conciliar texts Dei VerbumandLumen Gentium.

The practicalities of preaching

Strangely, the Code does recognize that lay people have something to offer, except in special circumstances — but never at the Eucharist. So, in effect, it is a good idea, but no use in practice.

But why is it a good idea that there should be several people, apart from the presbyter, who could be appointed to preach?

The most important reason is that no one person can give witness to the presence of God in the hearts of the assembly. I may be able to "tune in" to some, you to others, and someone else to yet others.

I preach authentically - as distinct from just giving classes - when I bear witness to the Christ in my understanding. But that means that it needs a mosaic of voices / witnesses / experiences to begin to bear witness to the whole Christ which we as a community are.

If someone imagines that preaching is just "reciting the catechism" or "giving basic introductions to the scriptures", then that person is not engaged in the celebration of the liturgy, but is imagining our worship as a classroom.

A particular skillset

The second reason is that while many people know the presence of God in their lives, only a few have the reflective ability, indeed the grace, to actually speak about this.

Moreover, if one can speak, then one needs the communication skills so that this is a living part of the liturgy - and not (as so often happens) the boring bit where one tries to pass the time.

Many presbyters are simply unaware they do not actually possess this communications' skillset!

There is a simple way to see how poor most of our preaching is. Just slip up to the gallery or balcony at the back of a church with pews. Try not to be observed, and then count how many people are texting on their smartphones during the homily.

A presbyter needs many skills and has to deploy them as he presides on a Sunday. But communicating requires energy - and if this can be shared, so much the better for all.

A community rich in the gifts of the Spirit

The third reason is that preaching involves a sharing on my Christian life on the assumption that it finds an echo in the lives of the other celebrants - and everyone in the assembly is a celebrant.

This assumes a sympathy humanly, culturally, and spiritually within the homily community. If any group has a few people with that sympathy - and it is just arrogance to assume that the presbyter has it automatically or more eminently than others - then that is a community rich in the gifts of the Spirit.

When the laity are more skilled than the clerics

Lastly, there was a time when only the presbyter was learned person in the parish. He was the one who could do everything "clerical", such as write letters.

Then, as education spread, and the demands for learning within homilies became more widespread, the cleric was the only one with any theological education. That too has changed!

Indeed, with fewer candidates for the priesthood and, de facto, falling standards in seminaries, it is now quite possible that there will be one or more lay people in the community with more technical skill in theology than the presbyter.

Not to use such skilled people in the service of their sisters and brothers is to fall into the trap of the lazy and wicked servant in the Parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14-30). He buried his talent, he would not even make minimal use of it, and so it was taken from him and he was cast into outer darkness.

Women and men

Right now, there is a focus on permitting women to exercise a ministry of giving the homily.

This is an urgent need: we need to hear all the Christian voices that can enrich the assembly.

But the challenge is first to de-clericalize, then to value the gives of speaking in the assembly of every Christian with that gift - whether that person is a woman or a man.

And gifts alone are not enough. Gifts have to be developed into skills. This means investment and training.

We have a long, challenging path before us. And we should be realistic. No group that has set itself up as unique and special has ever given up easily that which it sees as making it special, its prerogatives or its privileges. All too often clerics defend clericalism as "the will of God".

This is silly, and possibly blasphemous. But it's an effective tactic to impede the work of the Second Vatican Council.

Oops!

When I see and hear a tired presbyter (not in sympathy with his sisters and brothers as they assemble at the Lord's Table) and watch the eyes wandering in boredom and the hear the feet shuffling with impatience, I often wonder how many people, both sisters and brothers, in this assembly have been empowered by the Spirit to bear witness to the truth (cf. Jn 18:37).

But then I recall: Oops! The answer must be zero - otherwise the Code of Canon Law would need changing.

In all these areas of ministry - and Spiritus Domini invites to think about this again - we cannot too often re-read Paul's advice on ministries to the assembly in Corinth (1 Cor 12:4-13):

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;

and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every person.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom,

and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit,

to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
to another the working of miracles,

to another prophecy,

to another the ability to distinguish between spirits,

to another various kinds of tongues,

to another the interpretation of tongues.
All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit,

who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

For just as the body is one and has many members,

and all the members of the body, though many, are one body,

so it is with Christ.

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (Jews or Greeks, slaves or free) and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

• Thomas O'Loughlin is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, emeritus professor of historical theology at the University of Nottingham (UK) and director of the Centre of Applied Theology, UK. His latest award-winning book is Eating Together, Becoming One: Taking Up Pope Francis's Call to Theologians (Liturgical Press, 2019).

In the Church today, we have one single instrument for leadership—the pastor.

Search church positions on any of the many job search forums and recruitment sites and you'll find there is only one tool churches are searching for—pastor.

Senior pastors, teaching pastors, executive pastors, worship pastors, children's, teens, collegiate, campus, in-take, discipleship and volunteers pastors.

We seem to think the only kind of leadership we need can only come in one form—pastor.

To be fair, pastors are important and should be instrumental in leading the Church but it was not God's design for the Church to have but one instrument. Because we only have one tool, every task, goal, obstacle, vision statement, purpose statement, and organizational strategy typically has just one leadership perspective-a pastor's perspective.

When it comes to leadership, the Church in North America is like a small boy with a hammer and because of that, everything looks like it needs pounding.

We cannot reach the world with just a hammer, no matter how great that hammer is.

Ephesians 4:11-13 tell us, however, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (NIV).

Leadership in the Church is five-fold and incorporates an array of tools to achieve missional maturity.

Missional maturity is the goal—a maturity that has breadth and depth, that is centripetal and centrifugal.

Missional maturity achieves evangelism and discipleship, community engagement and spiritual formation.

Missional maturity can only be achieved when we have more tools in our toolbox than just a hammer-as great as hammers are.

What the church needs are apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors.

Even when a church looks for a senior leader who will operate as an apostle (typically a church planter/multiplier) or as an evangelist, they smack the word ‘pastor' on top of their role and superimpose the additional character/gift traits of pastor onto their expectations.

In other words, even when churches are open to a screwdriver, we want that screwdriver to also double as a hammer.

Evangelists, in particular, are important for missional maturity but they often aren't great doubling as a pastor.

To be sure, many evangelists have secondary gifting in pastoral ministry—I'm not one of them.

I've met these people, I envy them, but as much as I've tried, I'll never be like them.

Most evangelists are extremely externally facing, super-passionate about making spaces and experiences open to non-churched people. They think primarily of the ‘milk of the word,' or the simple gospel message and how to colour everything the Church does with that message.

Evangelists are angular in the best sense of the word.

I remember showing up to a leadership gathering with some fellow evangelists some years back and having one of the organizers bemoan our entrance.

With a long, annoying slur, he said, "Oh great! The evangelists, the angular people!"

What was then a slight that hurt my feelings has now become a badge of honour.

I'm not like the pastor, I'm not the one ‘go-to' tool in the toolbox but my leadership is important, even necessary, for missional maturity in the body!

While teachers and pastors are celebrated, rewarded and empowered in the Church, the angular leaders—apostles, prophets, and evangelists—are encouraged to look and act more like a hammer if we want to get by.

This is to our shame and part of the reason why so often our churches lack missional maturity.

Click to read five ways having an evangelist on staff as a senior leader will change the way you think about missional maturity. Continue reading

• York Moore is the Executive Director-Catalytic Partnerships and as National Evangelist for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA.

"Go to my brothers," he said, delivering a direct commission to announce the "good news."

"I have seen the Lord," she told the disciples.

In our parish in Northern California, lay women began to preach the good news during the Sunday liturgy in 1996.

The practice emerged from within the faith community.

Several women had approached our pastor and spoke of the devastating lack of women's spiritual wisdom and leadership in the church for 2,000 years.

We asked: Couldn't women, who feel called and are prepared, give a homily—a teaching that expands on the message of the Scripture readings and invites listeners to a change of mind and heart?

"I wondered if anyone would ever ask," he said.

Like Mary of Magdala, women who gave homilies had experienced a deep call and felt commissioned to share the good news.

We had discerned both with our spiritual directors and pastor.

All of us who were lay preachers had studied theology at the university level—some had earned a masters of divinity degree.

Some were or had been members of a religious order or had special knowledge of a particular pastoral issue within our parish community. We had demonstrated an expertise or experience of the lay faithful, as required by Canon Law (No. 766).

Members of the congregation told us they were eager to hear our words.

One parishioner said to me: "Hearing a Catholic woman reflect on the Word during Sunday's liturgy is a breakthrough experience for women and for men. It strengthens us as the body of Christ."

We felt that the church, local and universal, recognized in us the gifts bestowed on us by the Spirit—the fresh perspectives we contributed to the community—just as the early Christian church had recognized women's leadership.

Each time one of us preached, the pastor who had first invited us wrote a two-page, single-spaced letter to whomever had spoken, warmly commenting on the delivered homily.

Once a year, the parish priests invited us lay preachers to dinner at the rectory, where together we discussed what went well and what we might do better.

We women felt enmeshed in the prophetic leadership of the parish.

Parishioners might say, as the townspeople of Samaria did 2,000 years ago, "We believed in Him on the strength of the woman's testimony" (Jn 4:3).

In 2001, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in accordance with No. 766 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, declared that "preaching by the lay faithful may not take place within the Celebration of the Eucharist at the moment reserved for the homily."

Nevertheless, the conference recognized the right of each bishop to permit the practice of lay preaching in his own diocese, though not during the time traditionally set aside for the homily.

Like Mary of Magdala, women who gave homilies had experienced a deep call and felt commissioned to share the good news.

Our bishop and our parish priests, years earlier, had recognized the gift of lay preaching.

Nobody expected that the clock might be turned back.

But in 2009, restrictions began to be put in place.

A new bishop in our diocese mandated that the priest celebrant must read the Gospel at Mass and he alone give a short homily. Lay people could then offer a "reflection," sharing our thoughts. But we could not give a homily.

The congregation was stunned. Continue reading

• Jean Molesky-Poz is a Religious Studies lecturer.
• Image: SantaClara Magazine

It might seem obvious that a church facing a crisis of legitimacy caused by clergy raping children would show more humility when claiming to hold ultimate truths about human sexuality.

Instead, in the past month alone, a Rhode Island bishop tweeted that Catholics shouldn't attend gay pride events because they are "especially harmful for children"; a Vatican office issued a document that described transgender people as "provocative" in trying to "annihilate the concept of nature"; and a Catholic high school in Indianapolis that refused to fire a teacher married to a same-sex partner was told by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis that it can no longer call itself Catholic.

There is an unmistakable hubris displayed when some in the church are determined to make sexuality the lynchpin of Catholic identity at a time when bishops have failed to convince their flock that they are prepared to police predators in their own parishes.

Even before abuse scandals exploded into public consciousness more than a decade ago, many Catholics were tuning out the all-male hierarchy's teachings on sexuality.

Surveys show the vast majority of Catholics use birth control and nearly 70 percent now support same-sex marriage.

This isn't simply a matter of the church's image, however.

When the Catholic Church describes sexual intimacy between gay people as "intrinsically disordered," it fails to take into account how this degrading language contributes to higher rates of suicide among LGBTQ people; when it condemns even civil recognition of same-sex unions that don't impede the church's ability to define marriage sacramentally, bishops appear indifferent to the roadblocks committed couples without marriage licenses face in hospitals and other settings.

Unless church leaders are content to drive away a generation of young people, these positions are self-inflicted wounds.

Millennial Catholics understandably ask why centuries of Catholic teaching on human dignity and justice don't apply fully to their LGBTQ friends, family members and teachers.

Those who are raised Catholic are more likely than those raised in any other religion to cite negative religious treatment of gay and lesbian people as the primary reason they leave, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

A document on gender identity released earlier this month from the Vatican's congregation for Catholic education, titled "Male and Female He Created Them," underscores why we need a break from lofty church pronouncements on these issues.

Walk the talk

The document is right in its call for respectful dialogue with LGBTQ people, but the work itself fails to reflect that ideal.

The authors clearly didn't spend time with transgender Catholics.

There was no apparent effort to engage with modern science or contemporary medical insights about gender development.

It feels as if it was written in a bunker sealed off from the world in 1950.

Ray Dever, a Catholic deacon who has a transgender daughter and who ministers to Catholics with transgender family members, called the document "totally divorced from the lived reality of transgender people."

Dever added, "I think that anyone with first-hand experience with gender identity issues will confirm that for an authentically transgender person, being transgender is not a choice, and it is certainly not driven by any gender theory or ideology."

Abstract musings are one thing...

While abstract Vatican musings on sex and gender are unhelpful, the church faces a more urgent crisis in the making in the firing of LGBTQ employees at Catholic schools.

In a rare display of defiance, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis clashed with Archbishop Charles Thompson, who wanted the independently operated school to terminate an employee who is civilly married to a person of the same sex.

The school refused, and the archbishop now says the school can no longer call itself Catholic.

Brebeuf Jesuit's supervisory body, the Midwest Province of Jesuits, said the decision will be appealed through a church process all the way to the Vatican if necessary.

"We felt we could not in conscience dismiss him from employment," the Rev. William Verbryke, president of Brebeuf, told the Jesuit publication America magazine earlier this week, explaining that the teacher in question does not teach religion and is not a campus minister.

After the Jesuit school's decision became national news, another Indiana Catholic high school announced it was complying with the archdiocese and dismissing a teacher in a same-sex marriage.

Administrators at Cathedral High School called it "an agonizing decision" and wrote a letter to the school community.

"In today's climate we know that being Catholic can be challenging and we hope that this action does not dishearten you, and most especially, dishearten Cathedral's young people."

In recent years, more than 70 LGBTQ church employees and Catholic school teachers have been fired or lost their jobs in employment disputes.

Heterosexual Catholics who don't follow church teaching that prohibits birth control or living together before marriage, for example, are not disciplined the same way by Catholic institutions. The scrutiny targeting gay employees alone is discriminatory and disproportionate.

Efforts to narrow Catholic identity to a "pelvic theology" hyperfocused on human sexuality raise questions about what Christians should be known for as we seek to live the gospel.

Are Catholic employees at schools and other Catholic institutions evaluated for how often they visit the imprisoned, care for the sick, treat the environment, confront inequality?

All of these moral issues are central to papal encyclicals, centuries of Catholic social teachings and the ministry of Jesus.

"We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods," Pope Francis said in one of his first interviews after his election.

"The church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards."

A year of abstinence for church leaders preaching about sex would demonstrate a symbolic posture of humility that could substantively show those of us still left in the pews that the hierarchy isn't completely clueless to the stark reality of the present moment.

During their silence on sex and gender, Vatican and local Catholic leaders should get out of their comfort zones and conduct listening sessions with married, divorced, gay, straight and transgender people.

They should step away from the microphone and take notes.

There would be disagreement, but the simple act of flipping the script — priests and bishops quietly in the back instead of holding forth up front — might help clergy recognize there is a wisdom in lived reality and truth not found solely in dusty church documents.

Taking risks and sitting with discomfort is part of a healthy faith.

It's time for our bishops to lead by taking a step back.

• John Gehring is Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life and author of "The Francis Effect: A Radical Pope's Challenge to the American Catholic Church." The views in this commentary do not necessarily represent those of Religion News Service.
• Image: RNS
• First published in RNS. Reproduced with permission.

He told those gathered to honour the occasion that his first posting was to Pahiatua where the then parish priest advised him that "the less you say, the more you say."

"As a Martinborough parishioner, where Fr. Don celebrates vigil Mass on a Saturday evening, I can confirm that Fr Don took this advice to heart - homilies are 3 - 5 minutes max!" said Margaret Bath, writing in the Martinborough Star.

"Although extra padding (topics which include family matters, Harry-the-dog visits to the vet, doctors, dentists visits, etc) are all covered before the final blessing." she added.

Morrison has spent of 34 of his 60 years of priesthood years living in Featherston, in the shadow of the Rimutaka Range, serving the people of South Wairarapa.

The whole community, Catholic and non-Catholic, honoured Morrison's 60th anniversary on July 22nd with a mass attended by local dignitaries, Cardinal John Dew and 14 other priests.

In all, about 200 people attended.

Bath said Morrison had done great work not only for the Catholic community but all.

"He mixes well, has a great sense of humour, has been a Rotarian, is great with the children who know that at special occasions there is always a treat, even a sibling baptism!

"He is a leading example of 'ecumenism at work'" she said.

Morrison celebrated his 85th birthday last December and takes his dog, Harry, for a daily walk around the streets of Featherston and talks to all he meets - young and old.

On Wednesdays, after the weekly Martinborough Mass, he can be found walking the aisles of local businesses Pain & Kershaw or Mitre 10 singing...la- la- la -la.

He also is often to be found at St Teresa's School in Featherston and uses his talents as an artist to illustrate God's teachings.

In the course of his priesthood, he has served in Kilbirnie, Opunake, Takaka, Featherston, 1976-80, Picton and Karori.

He returned to South Wairarapa in 1990.

Sources

• Martinborough Star
• WelCom
• Image: WelCom

That's the conclusion of a new Pew Research Center study, released Tuesday (Aug. 23), which asked 5,000 people about their search for a new church or other house of worship.

"This is what people value in a congregation — a good message, a good homily that resonates with them and gives them guidance," said Greg Smith, Pew's associate director for religion research.

More than 4 in 5 people (83 percent) put preaching at the top of their checklist. Preaching was followed by clergy and lay leaders who make them feel welcome (79 percent) and an appealing style of service (74 percent).

And for those pastors, imams and rabbis who are wondering how a snazzy website factors into potential congregants' searches, the survey reveals that in-person encounters carry much more weight.

"This may be because some of the factors people say they value the most in choosing a congregation — the quality of sermons, the style of services and a welcoming leadership — are difficult to assess over the phone or on a website," the researchers concluded.

Why do people look for a new house of worship?

The most common reason given (34 percent) is because a congregant has moved. Far less frequently did respondents cite a theological reason or dissatisfaction with the house of worship they used to attend, or the clergy who led it.

About half of those searching for a new congregation (48 percent) considered switching denominations. But for two groups in particular — Catholics and members of historically black churches — switching is uncommon, with only a third reporting such a change as a consideration.

"When searching for a new congregation, Americans value quality of sermons and feeling welcomed." Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center
The survey also found that:

— Half of American adults (51 percent) say they attend religious services regularly — at least once or twice a month. Continue reading

Sources

• Religion News Service, article by Lauren Markoe, a national reporter for RNS since 2011.
• Image: The Times of Israel

The Pope made this plea at the ordination of a Rome pastor as an auxiliary bishop.

Ordaining Bishop Angelo De Donatis in Rome on Tuesday, Pope Francis reminded the new bishop of something he had told him earlier.

"Let your words be simple so that everyone can understand. Don't give long homilies," the Pope said.

"Allow me to ask you to remember your dad and how very happy he was to have found another parish in a town nearby where the Mass was celebrated without a homily!"

"Homilies should be the transmission of God's grace. Simple, so that everyone can understand them and everyone will want to become a better person," Pope Francis told the new bishop.

The ordination took place at the Basilica of St John Lateran, on the feast of dedication of the basilica.

After anointing the new bishop with oil and giving him the Book of the Gospels, the pope was about to present him with his episcopal ring, a "sign of fidelity," but first Pope Francis told him, "Do not forget: Before this ring, there were the wedding bands of your parents. Defend the family!"

In his homily, the Pope asked the new bishop to be patient with priests, seminarians, the poor and laypeople who come to him looking for assistance and counsel.

"Many times you will need a lot of patience," the Pope said, "but the kingdom of God is built that way."

"And close to the beginning of the Year of Mercy, I ask you as a brother to be merciful," the Pope said.

"The Church and the world need so much mercy. Teach priests and seminarians the path of mercy with words, yes, but especially with your behaviour."

In his mercy, God always makes room for everyone in his heart, Pope Francis said, so priests and bishops should "never chase anyone away".

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Image: Breitbart

In a letter to priests and deacons, Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit stated: "Many people have been sacramentalised, but never evangelised."

Such people "knew about God, but they didn't know him".

Another group of people in the typical Mass congregation are the "practical atheists", Archbishop Vigneron wrote.

These people do not reject God outright, but compartmentalise their faith and spend most of their lives in a "secular, consumer world", living as if God did not exist or had no meaning in their lives.

Other people come to Mass "biased" by media, entertainment and academia, which tell them that faith is incompatible with reason.

Also present at Mass are the "seemingly dead", who arrive late and leave early, do not pay attention or participate, and do not seem to want to be there.

Then there are "the bored and the blasé", those who have seen only a "dumbed down and neutered" version of Christ and the Gospel.

But deep down, Archbishop Vigneron said, everyone at Mass wants the same thing - an encounter with Christ.

It is the priest's responsibility to help facilitate that through his preaching.

Sadly, Archbishop Vigneron noted, many people in the pews have heard the phrase "God loves you", but have not internalised it.

Without encountering the love of Christ, "the faith simply looks like rules and regulations".

Ultimately, priests and deacons foster an encounter with God when they preach Christ crucified, he wrote.

"The cross is the single greatest demonstration of love ever seen. Help them to understand it. Repeatedly call their attention to it. Help them to understand God doesn't simply tell us he loves us; He shows us."

Among other suggestions the archbishop offered were occasional series of themed homilies, preaching using examples from the preacher's own life and applying the readings to the "concrete situation" of the community.

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Catholic Vote

Detroit's Sacred Heart Major Seminary hired the actors to put seminarians through a three week acting and public speaking workshop.

The exercise has been nicknamed "Preaching Boot Camp", reported the Detroit Free Press.

Actors Arthur Beer and Mary Bremner-Beer have run the workshop at the seminary for the last few years.

The seminarians are taught how to project, how to control tempo, and how to master timing in order to deliver a Biblical truth or a laugh line.

The married couple's boot camp is a change-up from the typical seminary classes in Catholic theology and doctrine.

Boot camp classes begin with vocal exercises and seminarians also do breathing exercises.

One example of the latter is seminarians holding a lit candle in front of their mouths, while trying to exhale slowly enough to make the flame dance, rather than blowing it out.

To tap into the emotions, the seminarians are asked to write and deliver speeches about their mothers.

Then they have to deliver those speeches to their mothers.

When one of the seminarians said his mother started crying, Mrs Bremer-Beer, a college acting teacher, took it as a good sign: "Doesn't it make you feel good when they cry?" she asked.

Other exercises include memorising monologues about characters from plays and delivering these.

It is an admitted challenge for priests to break through to congregations, so the preparation is considered worthwhile.

"Priests today have to compete with a digital media culture where sound-bites, tweets and social media updates are the currency of communication. It's a real challenge for preachers to break through," said John Gehring, Catholic programme director at the Washington, DC-based advocacy group Faith in Public Life.

Sources

• Detroit Free Press
• Image: Creation.com

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has issued a new Homiletic Directory, which was launched on February 10.

Congregation head Cardinal Robert Sarah said for many Catholics, the homily, experienced as "beautiful or awful, interesting or boring", is their basis for judging an entire Mass.

While the homily is not the essential part of the Mass, he said, it does help to ensure (or discourage) the participation of the congregation.

The homily, he said, "makes demands of he who pronounces it", and the new document should help priests to make proper preparation for preaching.

Congregation secretary Bishop Arthur Roche agreed that it is important that a homily not be boring.

If one looks at the homilies of Pope Francis, he said, "there is nothing boring. There is always something that challenges people. This is the point".

"The responsibility of the [preacher] is to bring the reality of God's life into a practical application with the reality of people's lives," Bishop Roche said.

The directory referred to Pope Francis's exhortation in Evangelii Gaudium that homilies should be brief.

Pope Benedict XVI had previously asked the congregation to produce the directory after requests from two previous synods.

The directory reaffirms that only ordained ministers - bishops, priests or deacons - are to deliver the homily at Mass.

"Well-trained lay leaders can also give solid instruction and moving exhortation, and opportunities for such presentations should be provided in other contexts", but not at the moment after the readings and before the liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass, it says.

The 156-paragraph directory has two main sections - on the homily in its liturgical setting and on the art of preaching - as well as two appendices.

It offers suggestions for how to tie readings to Church teaching on a variety of theological and moral topics.

But it emphasises that the homily is not a catechetical instruction, even if catechesis is an important dimension of the homily.

And, while the preacher's personal experience can help illustrate a point, "the homily should express the faith of the Church and not simply the priest's own story".

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Catholic World News
• Vatican Radio
• Image: 200 Churches

A YouGov survey covered more than 1500 clergy from the Church of England, the Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church.

As many as 16 per cent were "unclear" about God and two per cent thought God is merely a human construct.

The YouGov poll found that three per cent believe there is some sort of spirit or life force.

Clergy were significantly more likely to hold unorthodox beliefs the older they were and the longer they had been in ministry.

Rev. David Paterson, a retired Church of England priest, said there was no conflict in preaching while being unable to believe in God.

"I preach using God's terminology, but never with the suggestion that God actually exists.

"Once you have accepted that religion is a human creation, then it is like art and literature and things like that.

"They are an extremely valuable way to understand yourself."

Continue reading

Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester diocese in New York state is drafting guidelines to clarify that homilies at Mass are reserved for the ordained.

Bishop Matano said he is trying to help the faithful in his diocese understand the universal law of the Church.

He has been confronting the issue on a case-by-case basis since his installation in January.

Under his predecessor, Bishop Matthew Clark, Rochester was regarded as one of the most liberal dioceses in the US.

Lay people had preached the homily before Bishop Clark's time in charge in Rochester from 1979 to 2012.

But during his time leading the diocese, it was a regular occurrence in multiple churches.

Bishop Matano called the widespread nature of the practice "a bit perplexing" and attributed it to a misinterpretation of canon law.

He said he has addressed the matter in response to complaints from parishioners.

An estimated 20 women, most of them pastoral administrators or associates in the diocese with divinity and theology degrees, comprised the bulk of lay homilists.

Many described their preaching as a reflection on the Scriptures, not a homily.

Supporters of lay homilies described them as often being more attuned to modern families than those delivered by priests.

"It was a way to have a woman's voice and a woman's experience reflect on the readings for the day," said Gloria Ulterino, an author and religious scholar who gave reflections in various churches for 30 years.

Bishop Matano acknowledged that many women share pastoral responsibilities with priests and work in many ministries across the diocese.

He said he encourages women and laypeople to preach at prayer groups and other parish functions outside the homily.

The changes in Rochester come as Pope Francis is calling for broader opportunities "for a more incisive female presence in the Church" and for priests to spice up their homilies.

Last year, Francis lamented that clergy and laypeople suffer through homilies: "The laity from having to listen to them, and the clergy from having to preach them!"

Sources

• Democrat and Chronicle
• Patheos
• Catholic.com (GIRM and Redemptionis Sacramentum)
• Brisbane Liturgy
• Image: US Catholic

I can't call to mind ever leaving mass with a zeal and fiery passion to go make a difference that was so hot I wanted to jump in the Baptismal font just to cool off.

I don't mean to be facetious.

Let me state first off that it is my deepest desire to go to heaven.

However, I am human, a sinner, and in desperate need of unabridged, pure, uncensored truth.

• As such I long to be inspired, motivated, incriminated, and called to redemption.
• I need the gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, guidance of the shepherd's staff to direct and keep me on the narrow path.
• I hunger for Scripture to be opened up and made relevant, as well as doctrine and dogma to enlighten my mind and direct my footsteps.

Father Barron says that "too often the dogmas and doctrines of the Church are presented in such an abstract and disembodied way that their transformative power is largely overlooked."

I have sat in talks and been preached at in pews, as the speaker danced and side stepped around any word or phrase that has the potential to offend me in some unintended way. I once heard a Deacon preach on Ephesians 5:22, literally apologizing his way through the entire sermon, leaving the whole congregation totally befuddled and perplexed.

Why are so many fearful to save our souls, but doing back flips not to offend our puny egos?

I want to learn, to grow, to be provoked to change my habitual tendency to sin. I want the leadership in our Church to be the shepherds God appointed them to be and to do whatever it takes to bring their congregations to heaven. Teach us, arouse our curiosity about all things God, wake us out of our long slumber and lethargy. Continue reading

Image: Fox News

At approximately the same time the Opening Mass for the Synod on the New Evangelisation was being celebrated in St. Peter's in Rome and the doctorates on Hildegard and John of Avila were being promulgated.

Apart from being only the 4^th woman in the history of the church to receive this honour Hildegard was an extraordinary woman. Her life spanned much of the 12^th century being born in Germany in 1098 and dying in 1179. She wrote extensively, composed music which subverted the principles of liturgical music of the time, was a philosopher, ecologist, mystic, Benedictine abbess and visionary.

She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, as well as letters to people such as Bernard of Clairvaux, founder of the reformist Cistercian monastic order. He sent the text of some of her work to Pope Eugenius 111 who endorsed her works and visions, giving her approval to document her visions as revelations from the Holy Spirit.

Her world at that time was in some ways not unlike our own time. There was an atmosphere of fear. New ideas were condemned as heresy. What helped Hildegard navigate through this minefield?

She was a prophet in that she lived immediately before Francis of Assisi, Dominic, Thomas Aquinas and the great Mechtilde of Magdeburg. Perhaps it is providential that she has remained hidden until now so that her impact on our time may be more beneficial, in releasing the spring of new discoveries into exploring God in the Gospel as revealed by Jesus, the Word.

Amazingly at sixty she did the unthinkable for her time. She travelled to cathedrals, churches, abbeys and monasteries preaching. This was at a time when only men preached and women were safely enclosed within monastic walls. What an inspiration for us today!

A Doctor of the Church who can speak the Word of God to all who listen. Catherine Hannan.

• Sister Catherine Hannan is a Home of Compassion sister.