INTRODUCTION
Soporific homilies are a recipe for church decline. The primary duty of a priest is to teach, sanctify, and govern. The first one, “to teach,” includes delivering homilies at Mass. This is the area I want to share some views on after teaching homiletics in the Major Seminary for three years.
FOCUS
I always introduce the Homiletics course to the Theology three students by saying, ‘Of all the Philosophy, Sociology, Theology, and the other “gy’s” you have read, you become a compendium of the subjects and teachings of the Catholic Church. Therefore, you are charged as a disciple to “package and present” them to the people of God. You therefore need to spend time preparing your homilies so that you will make an impact on the hearts of the congregation. We are all confident in our task as preachers; however, we need to open up to those who are in the pews for their appraisals. Of course, many people are not comfortable pointing out our mistakes; they are very quick to give us positive feedback. Let us consider these as we refresh our memories on some communication skills:
*How well do you articulate your thoughts and ideas?
*Do you speak clearly and confidently?
*Do you use appropriate language and tone for different situations ?
A. To better articulate your thoughts and ideas, you will need to spend ample time going over and critically listening to yourself after you have prepared your homily. Excessive confidence leads us to think that what we have written down is perfect and ready for presentation. In their formation, Catholic priests are taken through many years of studies and so they accumulate a lot of knowledge. The danger of this mass knowledge acquisition is communicating beyond the minds of your listeners. It becomes worse when priests use theological terms without explication.
B. Some priests prepare excellent homilies, but the way they speak fails to resonate with the faithful. Special apologies to those with speech impairment. Public address system set-up of the Church is one thing that must also be looked at critically as we discuss this topic. Effective delivery is crucial to ensuring a message is received as intended. Many of us priests hardly find time to listen to our recorded homilies. This is a very important exercise that every priest must do from time to time. Some of us are naturally fast speakers, and some speak slowly. Both ways come with their strengths and weaknesses. Unless we avail ourselves humbly for those who listen to us to give us their honest feedback, we will not make a great impact.
C. In preaching, appropriate language is good for the speaker, audience, context, and the speech itself. We have to avoid jargon, slang, offensive terms, euphemisms, and the like. It is always good to expand your vocabulary. In our case, we have to explain the Latin, Greek and Hebrew words and terms. Some public speakers can use the same tone (monotone) throughout their presentation, and listeners will remain attentive. However, inability to emphasise key points in a homily with pitch variations can cause listeners to fall asleep or be less engaged. We are cautioned not to turn our pitch variation to screaming or speaking too loud into the microphone. This can distort the message or, worse still, discourage listeners.
CONCLUSION
In today’s distracted world, it is very difficult to sustain the attention of the congregation. Homilist is therefore challenged to find strategies to keep the congregation engaged and focused. I believe we can draw great ideas and fruitful corrections from those who listen to us. Continuous improvement through feedback leads to better presentation and a more engaged audience. With humility, let us open up to the congregation and request their views about our homily presentations.
By Fr. Charles Addai-Kankam, ThM.
Homiletics
St. Gregory the Great Provincial Seminary, Parkoso
