Blessings Of The Reformation, Part I

Nihilist in Golf Pants is running for Pope [1]. More power to him; I'm a Presbyterian, and I'm likely to stay that way - partly because we had a Reformation for damned (oops) good reasons, and partly because I've heard a rumor of a conservative Presbyterian congregation organizing in Saint Paul.

Nihilist is, however, running on a platform calling for sweeping, commonsensical (mostly, I think - although not being Catholic, I wouldn't know, really) reforms for the Catholic Church.

Chad the Elder has some feedback, including some additional suggestions. This one caught my eye.:

Insist that priests learn how to write and deliver good homilies. As I've mentioned before, I believe that the homily is the most important part of the Mass. The priest has your attention for ten to fifteen minutes and he needs to make it count. Those rote, recycled homilies that bore you to tears while saying nothing have to be stopped. Parishioners should have a chance to grade their priests on a variety of subjects in yearly surveys. Those failing to live up to expectations on homilies could be given extra training and advice on how to do it right. I'm fortunate in that the priest at my church delivers the goods in this area. But I've sat through enough crappy homilies to know that he is the exception rather than the rule.

We've tripped on one of the big reasons I've remained a Presbyterian, whatever the problems in the denomination.

I've been to a few masses over the years - and maybe I've just gotten unlucky, but I think Chad should perhaps put some oomph in that recommendation; the homilies have been painful in nearly every case. Catholics aren't alone - my family attended a Lutheran church until I was about 11, and I remember those sermons being drainingly dull (as have been the vast majority of the Lutheran sermons I've listened to since then).

My dad was a speech teacher, and I joke occasionally that he must have moved us to the Presbyterian church because the speakers were better. It was a joke - but over the years, I've wondered if it wasn't true, as well, that the Presbyterians seem to put a premium on really good, engaging sermons delivered competently; Presbyterian pastors seem to win on speaker points as well as content [2], from what I've seen.

I mean, it couldn't hurt - and while the Presbyterian Church (at least at the national level) can be pretty wacky-left, it's no worse than most non-Saint-Agnes catholic parishes in the Twin Cities that I've seen...

[1] Please, please, no angry letters. I know that only Cardinals are elegible. I know John Paul II is still alive. I admire John Paul II as perhaps no previous pope, so I'm in no hurry for a new one, even as I observe that the Pope really has no theological affect on me, personally.

[2] Again, please, no angry emails. You have your beliefs, I have mine. Let's leave the kneecapping to our coreligionists overseas.

Posted by Mitch at March 14, 2005 05:02 AM | TrackBack