A MORE MISSIONARY ORIENTED
PREACHING NEEDED IN HOMILIES

Bishop Mark Coleridge, bishop of Melbourne, was one of the bishops at the Vatican Synod looking at the Word of God last October (2009). Below is his address to the synod in which he calls on priests to find new ways of communicating the salvation message in their Sunday homilies.

The Second Vatican Council called for a renewal of Catholic preaching of the kind that has usually accompanied and inspired times of genuine renewal in the Church. The Council’s call implied a shift from the sermon understood as an exposition of Catholic doctrine, devotion and discipline to the homily understood as an exposition of Scripture. As Dei Verbum says “… all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture.” (21)

Has this shift been accomplished in the meantime? Not completely if the Instrumentum Laboris is right. There we read: “The faithful’s hunger for the Word of God is not always receiving an adequate response in the preaching of the Church’s pastors.” (21); or again and more bluntly: “Homilies could clearly stand improvement” (33). I ask then: Why does Catholic preaching often fail to evoke the faith that saves, which is surely the goal of any proclamation of the Word of God? One reason, I think is that we take the kergyma for granted at a time when that is precisely what we cannot do. We have reached a point – at least in cultures like Australia – where the kergyma in its conventional formulation remains puzzling to many people, even the devout. To say that human beings are saved from sin (whatever that may be) by the death of a man two thousand years ago is baffling to many; to speak of resurrection seems fantasy.

Pope Benedict has made the challenge clear in words he spoke to the US Bishops: “It is becoming more and more difficult in our Western societies to speak in a meaningful way of “salvation”. Yet salvation – deliverance from the reality of evil and the gift of new life and freedom in Christ – is at the heart of the Gospel. We need to discover new and engaging ways of proclaiming this message and awakening a thirst for the fulfilment which only Christ can bring” (Question and Answer, 16th April 2008).

Without kergyma, danger of preaching becoming just moralising

If we take the kergyma for granted, then inevitably our preaching will be moralising. It may evoke interest or admiration, but it will not evoke the faith that saves. It will not lead to that encounter with the Lord crucified and risen which is the Christian life. It will imply instead that the Christian life is a matter of strenuous moral effort to improve ourselves, even to make ourselves worthy of eternal life. On this account, Christianity is a moralism, not an event; and at that point we may have the wisdom of this world, but we do not have the wisdom of God which is in Christ crucified (cf 1 Cor 1:18-25).

Central to the task of the new evangelisation is a new formulation and proclamation of the kerygma, without which the call for a new evangelisation runs the risk of becoming a vapid mantra. At a time when the whole Church is called to become more missionary, we need a more missionary preaching.

Need to prepare General Homiletic Directory to help homilists

What therefore might be done to promote a contemporary, kerygmatic and missionary proclamation of the Word of God which evokes the faith that saves? One practical thing I would suggest is the preparation of a General Homiletic Directory, along the lines of the General Catechetical Directory and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. Such a Directory would take stock of Catholic preaching as it now is and would do so with an eye to the history of Catholic preaching. It would draw upon the experience and wisdom of the universal Church without stifling the genius of local churches or individual preachers. Its purpose would be to focus on the core of preaching, by which I mean the kergyma, and thus ward off a moralistic reduction of preaching. It would draw upon the theology and hermeneutics of Catholic preaching, indicating among other things how the Bible and the Catechism can and must work together. It could also deal with the practicalities of preaching in a variety of contexts.

The Directory could be produced collaboratively by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for Divine Worship, the Congregation for Clergy and the Congregation for Catholic Education. The hard pressed dicasteries would not be expected to do all the work themselves, they would draw upon and co-ordinate the personnel and resources of the universal Church.

Sunday Eucharist for many is the sole encounter with the Word of God

The Instrumentum Laboris says that “a well planned approach needs to be taken to the forming of preachers of the Word (45). I think we need to be significantly more systematic in teaching the ars predicandi at this time and a General Directory could be a substantial help in this regard, especially in seminaries and houses of formation.

All agree that preaching is vital since, as the Instrumentum Laboris notes, “for a majority of Christians the world over, the celebration of the Eucharist on Sundays is the sole encounter with the Word of God” (33). That is why the stakes are high and why we need at this time a comprehensive account of the state of Catholic preaching and concrete strategies to ensure that we move more purposefully towards the renewed preaching proposed by the Second Vatican Council.

MOMENT OF OPPORTUNITY

Kristina Cooper reports on the spiritual mood in the Isles

From various meetings I have attended recently and from people I have been speaking too it seems there is a sense of new purpose and commitment among leaders and people throughout the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in the UK and Ireland. Maybe it is because of the seriousness of the times we are living in, that there is a sense that we need to be preparing spiritually and practically for the times ahead, and there is a new appreciation of the brotherhood and sisterhood of believers, particularly those we already know through the Renewal.

About 70 people, including members of the English NSC, gathered together for 24 hours for a leaders’ meeting under the banner of “A Moment of Opportunity” at High Leigh Conference Centre 27th-28th January 2009. The speakers were Fr Pat Collins CM, Damian Stayne and the Anglican evangelist J John. The meeting was a time of encouragement, challenge.

Dark and difficult times

There was a sense both from the prophetic words received and the formal inputs that we as a society were heading into dark and difficult times but that God would use these and as a result many people would be more open to the gospel. We thus needed to be prepared both with effective structures and resources and as individuals for this new harvest. (Some of the Scriptures received from the intercessory group were 1 Peter 4:8-11, Isaiah 54: 2-5 and Isaiah 40:27-31).

The day before at the meeting of the English NSC, Michelle Moran shared her sense from talking to people and groups round the world, that the CCR was in a new place, and that, like Joshua, we were being called to cross the Jordan and take the Promised Land, drawing on the experience of the past 40 years. Key to this, she felt, was the promotion and equipping of small groups who would intercede for our country, would be mutually supportive and offer some form of service to those in need. It was also felt important to join in the world wide move, this year, to celebrate Pentecost in a special way through novenas and other activities.The proposed “Easter to Pentecost” prayer guide to be produced by Goodnews was seen as an important resource to help promote this in parishes.

Marie Beirne the chairwoman of the National Service Committee in Ireland, also feels we are living at a critical time. She comments, “For a long time I have sensed the Lord telling me about the importance of prayer and praise and intercession and of spiritual warfare.”

The other key she feels is the promotion of the Life in the Spirit Seminars, one of the great gifts that the Lord has given to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. She comments, “We need to find new ways of bringing the seminars to people.” Marie sees the “Easter to Pentecost” prayer guide as an ideal tool for the NSCs of the Isles to use to bring people together spiritually, praying the same prayers together each day in spiritual unity, preparing for Pentecost.

Spiro Sueref, a member of the Welsh NSC, said they had a historic meeting at the end of January (31st January -1st February) bringing together for the first time, members of the Welsh National Service Committee and other leaders from the Diocesan Service Committees. He comments “the aim originally was simply to get to know each other and discuss the roles of the NSC and the DSTs, and discuss how to work together and what kind of relationships needed to be built for this to happen.”

During the meeting, however, the Holy Spirit fell on the group and took it in a different direction. Key to this was when a special ceramic crucifix that they had used was inadvertently broken. This became a symbol of the broken body of Christ and broken relationships and when it was laid on the altar later it caused a spontaneous outpouring of repentance among the group. Following the weekend it was decided that the key priorities should be training and prayer. (For a full report of this and the prophecies received see the Welsh web site www.ccrw.org.uk).

Retreat centres

The Franciscan Friary and Retreat Centre at Pantasaph in North Wales over recent years has been putting on more and more retreats with charismatic speakers. Fr Keith the new retreat director comments, “A key part of this is more openness to the charisms and the gifts of the Holy Spirit so much needed in the life of the Church today.” Likewise the Craig Lodge Community in the Highlands of Scotland, in recent years has opened itself up to the charismatic dimension in the Church. This too is reflected in the themes dealt with in the retreats they organise.

This summer, the Indian Jesus Youth will be organising a large European gathering of their members at a Christian camp in North Wales. This growth in the last few years of immigration from India, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe has brought to Britain many devout Catholics, many of them from a Charismatic background. The English NSC have been having occasional meetings with some of the leaders of these groups and hearing about what they doing.

Ken Brown, a reader from Crawley says “Due to our proximity to Gatwick, we have a very large immigrant population, and quite frankly they are blessing, rather than a problem for the Church. They bring us a depth of spirituality and faith that often puts us natives to shame. Those from the Far East and Africa are especially keen and committed, and always ready to take on ministries and jobs in our church communities. Gradually our Church life is becoming more prayerful and more vibrant. It’s wonderful how God uses economic migration to bring blessings from the poor to the rich!”