Go here to read the story. When the Pope is right, he is right.
PopeWatch: Ten Minutes
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
What would impatient pew sitters do today with two hour sermons by St. John Chrysostom, or all nighters with St. Paul (Acts 20:7-12)? The problem is that we don’t have priests who can preach well and can intelligently explain the Scriptures. And most times 10 minutes isn’t sufficient to do justice to the liturgical readings and how they invariably relate to each other. Feeding the flock must include the Lord in both the Eucharist and the written Word.
What would impatient pew sitters do today with two hour sermons by St. John Chrysostom, or all nighters with St. Paul (Acts 20:7-12)?
Golden Throat died in exile, and Saint Paul had to briefly interrupt his preaching to bring a boy back to life who had nodded off and fallen from a second story window. In any case most priests, in my experience. have neither the eloquence nor the mental intensity of those two saints, just as most members of my profession have not the fraction of the eloquence of Abe Lincoln, nor the penetrating legal mind of Saint Thomas More. The Mass is not a seminar, but a vehicle for worship for God and traditionally for Catholics the homily has not been the center of the worship, but the Eucharist, unlike our Protestant brethren who have nothing but words to attend to. Keep the homilies short, to the point, and usually echoing the message of Scripture for that Sunday. Make it a good jumping off point for the core of the sacrifice of the Mass.
If the priest is a good preacher and truly opens up the readings, then the time doesn’t really have an effect, at least in my experience. We had an associate pastor when I was a kid whose homilies I looked forward to whenever he celebrated Mass.
On the other hand, if he is simply dusting off 1960’s “seminary lessons” and repeating modern shibboleths (as my current priest is wont to do), make it PDQ. Especially as our esteemed host just said – the Eucharist is the center of our worship. Everything else is merely meant to point in that direction.
Agreed Donald: “….most priests, in my experience. have neither the eloquence nor the mental intensity of those two saints….”
But I still think that if a priest cannot feed the flock in Word and Sacrament, then he shouldn’t be a priest. Just my opinion; been wrong before, may be wrong again.
I think it would depend on the priest and what is being said. If it is good and profound, I don’t think we can have too much of it in a society that actively teaches our children 24/7 that we believe in a scientifically debunked lie and fairy tale that should be tossed out the window with everything our faith has stood for.
There is saying I heard once (I think it was from Toastmasters Group I attended years ago) that went “The mind will only absorb what the butt can withstand.” I always thought that was a good rule of thumb.
I disagree.
This is the ONLY teaching that most in the parish will receive. Make it good, make it count.
Besides, the priest needs at least ten minutes to counteract the “homily” of the music director. If you add up the song time in Mass it will easily exceed ten minutes, and what is “taught” in those ten minutes ranges from insipid to heretical.
Once upon a time, poor homilists would read the homily of a saint. I’ve never seen this in practice, but I think it would be beneficial for some. Especially the priest who thinks it’s not a homily until he gets a chuckle from the crowd…
In any case most priests, in my experience. have neither the eloquence nor the mental intensity of those two saints, just as most members of my profession have not the fraction of the eloquence of Abe Lincoln, nor the penetrating legal mind of Saint Thomas More.
Absolutely true. The 60s and 70s era priests were basically looking for an easy job and a male Centric environment. Most of them were bad homilists preaching the gospel similar to what the pope open often preaches which sadly often doesn’t include Christ. For those not good homilists 10 minutes is too long. There are exceptions. We have a millennial pastor, and his homilies are regularly 20 minutes and I have rarely been aware of how long the homily was. He has a gift many don’t have though.
And to bruised optimists comments, the pastor’s job should be to reign in the music director. Way too often the focus becomes what they’re doing because many of them are frustrated want to be rock stars. If we’re conscious of what you’re doing like the song is going on too long when the priest is ready, something’s wrong. Of course following the rubrics and insisting on that helps. I changed my Parish once because I got tired of the hootenanny Mass.
Would that our Pope constrain himself to 10 words or less. Preferably less.
A good homilist is a joy to listen to. A bad homilist is penance.
Saying ‘always’ is always a bad idea. 😀
A Nigerian priest told me he can run into problems when he goes home and comes back because in Nigeria, 10 minutes is just getting started, so if he gives a Nigerian homily in America, people get upset.
Our modern attention spans are short. The lower you go down the age group, the shorter they become. A side effect of modern technology.
A lot depends on the participants and occasion, and even on the particular message. Tuesday noon is different from Holy Thursday. A college campus is different from a shrine. My only complaints are: please don’t have children answering questions even at a children’s Mass, and I demand 20 minutes on Trinity Sunday. You studied years for this.
“when the Pope is right, he is right.” Unfortunately, the same may be said of other evil people throughout history.
Priests do need to preach good homilies.
They need to reign in off-the-wall music directors too.
…They also need bishops who will back them up.
I had first moved to my former parish because I’d heard they provided Gregorian Chant in Mass. For several years, I attended a pretty reverent Mass in the Novuss Ordo. Then that pastor moved to another assignment; I heard that donors at that parish provoked the bishop to require him to change things.
Well, last summer, I attended a Mass offered by that same former pastor at yet another assignment. Sadly, the Mass had become basically the usual Mass. Afterward, speaking with a few people, I learned how that church had consolidated parishes about seven years prior and was also now one church of two in a parish “family”.
…I don’t think demographic changes are the only culprit in failing Mass attendance.
I do agree with the comments above concerning how homilies may literally be the only catechesis the flock receives.
However, the other side of that issue I have seen often is a borderline idolatry of “The Liturgy of the Word” at the expense of the Source and Summit of Christian Life. I’ve seen priests who will elevate the Book of the Gospels for an elongated period of time but then will race through the Consecration very casually and administer Holy Communion as if from a Halloween bowl.