Returning from Bishop Robert Barron’s conference held this week on preaching, several priests said the experience was a grace-filled time to focus on one of the most important roles with which they are tasked.
The inaugural Word on Fire National Conference for Priests was held Aug. 20-22 in Huntington Beach, Calif., fewer than 20 miles southwest of Orange. Sponsored by the Napa Institute and led by Bishop Barron, an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles, the gathering of more than 300 priests focused on homiletics.
“It was very helpful,” Fr. Matthew Magee of the Archdiocese of Denver said, to hear Bishop Barron “talk about [how] the first office, the primary office we have as priests, is to preach.”
Fr. Magee told CNA it was wonderful to have re-instilled the “importance of the gift of preaching … and to open up our hearts to experience what that is from a different perspective, and then to be able to collaborate with other priests about what that means for our ministry.”
The conference was meant to help priests guide parishioners through the Bible, to preach Christ-centered homilies, to present the gospel as a yes to life and to love, and to use beauty in preaching.
Along with Bishop Barron, another presenter was Dana Gioia, the California Poet Laureate and a former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Fr. Joe McLagan, also of the Denver archdiocese, said Gioia “gave a talk on beauty which was quite good … he used several, about five, different pieces of literature to coalesce into the fact that beauty needs to be brought back into the world,” and how the words of preaching can do that.”
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
In this day and age, the “delivery” of the Mass needs to be “hitting on all cylinders.” This includes the priest, liturgical music, lectors, Eucharistic ministers, and ushers. It truly needs to be maximized from a human standpoint.
I’m glad to see this article about priests trying to improve their homiletics.
I watched the video of Bishop Barron’s first speech. It was really good!
Eucharistic ministers are not a boon, they are detrimental to the Eucharistic proceedings. Their proper name is “Extraordinary Ministers of the Holy Eucharist” and now they are anything but “extra ordinary.” Their real role is to take communion to the sick, not ‘hand it out’ at Mass. Lazy priests is what we have, that is their duty and office.
I have to agree with you with the, what seems to be, overuse of “extraordinary ministers” which is the more apt title. Is it because the priests are lazy? I doubt it. I think they may be a tad uninspired at times because of how the world and the church neither one seems to be getting better, and so they do not think their being the prime minister of the host is going to change much. And the bishops could do something but they aren’t very inspiring either, on some levels.
I have to give these human priests and men some measure for “small failures” (vs. grave sinful acts). What the Catholic Church is gravelly lacking, imo, is the teaching of the mystical. They are simply missing the boat lulling their congregation…
“It was very helpful,” Fr. Matthew Magee of the Archdiocese of Denver said, to hear Bishop Barron “talk about [how] the first office, the primary office we have as priests, is to preach.”
Wha huh? No its not. It is to offer the sacrifice of the Mass. Then administer the Sacraments, especially reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Sick. Preach after that. Heck, deacons preach.
Chardin, bless you! — of course, the main focus of a priest’s life, is the Eucharist, and to daily offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! Vatican II focuses a lot on ecumenical concerns– and the focus of Protestant ministers, is the Bible and sermon at their services. Well, it is helpful, for priests to improve their preaching skills!
God Bless Fr. Illo for always speaking the truth. He is to be included in our daily prayers for strength and courage. Fr. Illo is a blessing to have in our Archdiocese. We need more priests such as he is.. As my friend would say, he is the real deal.
I think part of the Dioceses evaluation of a priest is hearing him preach at a Sunday Mass or two. Require the really bad preachers [and there are more than a few of those] to attend additional training. Really poor preaching is fatal for a congregation.
When I was young, it was common for priests to give homilies loaded with Catholic teaching! Well-educated priests would also uplift us with lovely and appropriate literary references. There was a lot of respect for the Church, and the overall literacy and education of everyone in society, regardless of intellectual ability, was much higher! And the lovely old Latin Mass was supurb, close to God!
I believe that the school children first should be taught in Catholic schools or CCD , what transpires during the Holy Mass! And also have some classes for adults, some of whom were never taught even though they might have gone to ‘Catholic’ schools for 12 years or more…..there is a generation or two that only heard that everything is love, love, love and nothing about the Mass and also what we believe as Catholics!!
I think one can be grateful for any improvement in our priests’ homiletical skills. But they need be honed by a love of Scripture and Tradition. That said, thank you Bishop Barron.