Archbishop Wilton Gregory, the former head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told a meeting of the world's bishops that Catholics increasingly expect better homilies from priests at Sunday Mass.
The article goes on to say that to hear better preaching, many Catholics are visiting other churches or watching televised services in addition attending Sunday Mass. Some are doing so instead of attending Sunday Mass.
"Ritual precision alone will not bring back those who do not attend Sunday Mass," he said.
He appears to be saying that ritual precision is necessary but not sufficient and he implies that Catholics have been experiencing ritual precision at Mass over the last few decades. The fact is that liturgy is a mess, and partly because bishops try to suppress discussion of this fact.
I'm sure that Bp. Gregory wants priests to preach against abortion, against support of abortion by politicians, against the use of artificial birth control, against casual sex, and so forth.
ReplyDeleteThat must be the meaning of his intervention, no?
If those subjects are part of the explication of the assigned Scriptures for the day, of course!
ReplyDeleteIf there's a special need and it isn't related to the passages Mother Church has assigned, then in addition to the homily explicating the readings, there might be a second teaching, a sermon, after the post-communion prayer about it, or preaching during Solemn Vespers or in a parish mission/revival service.
karen marie
I was housesitting for my sister in Greendale last weekend and had absolutely no desire either to go to St. Al's or drive back to the East Side for Mass at the Cathedral.
ReplyDeleteI remembered that one of the commenters here had mentioned 10 a.m. Mass at St. Josaphat's and so I drove there.
Thank you, whoever who you are! I really liked going there, not because the pastor's homily was terrific (it contained no joke-cracking or heresy, but the man is no great orator) or (just) because St. J's is such Catholic eye candy, but because the liturgy was done with a precision I haven't seen since I came back to the Church.
Tridentine diehards wouldn't have liked it because it was in English, there was an altar girl (and an altar boy), Eucharistic servers, no kneeling at the altar rail and so on. But I was impressed with the fact that bells rung during the Consecration, that everyone was kneeling during the liturgy of the Eucharist, that no cel phones went off, and most of all, that the pews were full. I haven't seen a more well-attended Mass since I came back to the Church. And it was an ordinary Sunday, not one during Lent or Advent.
St. J's is proof that a N.O. mass done with precision and reverence does draw people in, even if the homily isn't a humdinger.
What I fear id that priests might conclude from that article is the idea that they need to develop a better stand-up routine.
Donna
Karen Marie:
ReplyDeleteSomething like this, perhaps?
"This was no ordinary evening Mass. It was the annual liturgical celebration held by the archdiocese's anti-abortion group. ...
That night at St. Jude's in Wauwatosa, [Archbishop] Weakland's gestures during his homily were more expansive and nervous than usual, but his words were carefully chosen. ... The word 'abortion' never passed his lips."
--Paul Wilkes, The Education of an Archbishop (1992) pp. 46, 48