Though the homily is supposed to be based on the readings. Some times, there’s an opportunity for truth bombs, but often there’s not.
In my experience, the Catholic faithful wants to hear (during the homily) the priest clobber Catholics who vote for pro-abortion candidates or Catholics who believe there is nothing wrong with same sex unions. In my particular parish, I’m only aware of one Catholic who votes/thinks this way. Imo, the vast majority of faithful Catholics in the pews suffer from spiritual pride. If the priest clobbered them from the pulpit by denouncing spiritual pride and spelling out the different forms of this sin, they would erupt in fury.
Yes, the truth must be spoken by the Church at the local level. But that cuts both ways.
Thanks for a great comment. In my experience Catholics are largely looking for clarity of Truth in the homily. What that means to them may vary. Some want the "faithless" to be clobbered, I agree with you. Others want reinforcement of the principals and lessons of the Gospel. Then there are those who just want catechesis. What they all have in common is they're all looking for the Truth (some may be looking for it wrongly, but that's another story).
The homily is the last of three pillars of Catholic catechesis still standing. The other two were Catholic schools, and the Catholic family. Those latter two are in miserable shape, by and large. That leaves only the homily....a 10 minute slot in the entire week, within which to teach, or catechize, or reenforce. Realistically that's not enough time, so we should temper our expectations and not place so much responsibility on the homilist.
However, those 10 minutes are precious and they shouldn't be squandered. I think the homilist should take that to heart and plan and deliver a homily accordingly. People need truth, and they need clarity. They'll either get it from the Church (homily), from secular moralists (politicians, social justice warriors) or from their own imaginations. The Church really needs to win that tug of war.
By the way expect an email from me later today with an update on my publishing. I think you paid for a subscription (and I'm SO grateful!) but I am no longer publishing to Substack, as of 2 weeks ago. I'm only publishing to my own website now, and I have a $5/month subscription offering there, too. I'll email you the details. The transition won't be a pain, I promise.
Both you and Fr. L made good points.
Though the homily is supposed to be based on the readings. Some times, there’s an opportunity for truth bombs, but often there’s not.
In my experience, the Catholic faithful wants to hear (during the homily) the priest clobber Catholics who vote for pro-abortion candidates or Catholics who believe there is nothing wrong with same sex unions. In my particular parish, I’m only aware of one Catholic who votes/thinks this way. Imo, the vast majority of faithful Catholics in the pews suffer from spiritual pride. If the priest clobbered them from the pulpit by denouncing spiritual pride and spelling out the different forms of this sin, they would erupt in fury.
Yes, the truth must be spoken by the Church at the local level. But that cuts both ways.
Thanks for a great comment. In my experience Catholics are largely looking for clarity of Truth in the homily. What that means to them may vary. Some want the "faithless" to be clobbered, I agree with you. Others want reinforcement of the principals and lessons of the Gospel. Then there are those who just want catechesis. What they all have in common is they're all looking for the Truth (some may be looking for it wrongly, but that's another story).
The homily is the last of three pillars of Catholic catechesis still standing. The other two were Catholic schools, and the Catholic family. Those latter two are in miserable shape, by and large. That leaves only the homily....a 10 minute slot in the entire week, within which to teach, or catechize, or reenforce. Realistically that's not enough time, so we should temper our expectations and not place so much responsibility on the homilist.
However, those 10 minutes are precious and they shouldn't be squandered. I think the homilist should take that to heart and plan and deliver a homily accordingly. People need truth, and they need clarity. They'll either get it from the Church (homily), from secular moralists (politicians, social justice warriors) or from their own imaginations. The Church really needs to win that tug of war.
By the way expect an email from me later today with an update on my publishing. I think you paid for a subscription (and I'm SO grateful!) but I am no longer publishing to Substack, as of 2 weeks ago. I'm only publishing to my own website now, and I have a $5/month subscription offering there, too. I'll email you the details. The transition won't be a pain, I promise.