I recently read an article in First Things entitled "Fear of the Word." In this piece, Hans Boersma, who is a professor of theology, says that many of his students are afraid to preach, and the part of the reason for this is because they have become so steeped in what is today known as the historical-critical method of Scripture Scholarship that they are afraid of preaching texts the "wrong way." The Church has teachings which we are duty-bound to uphold, and that is especially true for those of us who are ordained. A huge part of these teachings revolve around Scripture, and there are many texts of Sacred Scripture about which the Church has traditional teachings, many of which are not at all very popular today.
One reason why Boersma says that many of his students are afraid to preach is because they see the Word of God as something historically distant from them. I find that a lot of Catholic priests and deacons are caught up in trying to do historical exegesis of the text, and as a result of this they don't want to even tackle the theological and doctrinal meaning of a text, and the Church teaches that the Scriptures have a theological and doctrinal meaning. Boersma rightly points out that the best thing we can do is follow the Tradition of the Church when it comes to the hermeneutics and exegesis of Sacred Scripture, and that means that the first thing we should look for is Christ in the Scriptures.
Sacred Scripture often presents us with surprisingly clear doctrinal and theological exegesis right in the text. Those of us who are charged with preaching the Word of God should not be afraid to proclaim it when the Scriptures present us with plain meaning. Often, we become so concerned with "applying the Scriptures to daily life" when we preach that we forget to apply the Scriptures with clarity to explain what we believe. Failure to do this adequately leads to people in the pew who say "I've been going to Mass all my life and I've never heard anyone say that the Church believed that." I have lost count of the number of times that I have heard that statement or something like it from well-meaning people who were stunned to learn some aspect of Church teaching which is a bread-and-butter part of our faith.
If you don't believe this is a widespread problem, consider the most recent studies on the matter of whether or not Catholics believe in the Church's basic teaching on the Eucharist. Depending upon which of these surveys you believe, somewhere between 1/2 or as many as 2/3rds of Catholics surveyed do not believe in the Church's teaching on the Eucharist, that when the bread and wine are consecrated during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that they become the Body and Blood of Christ, really, truly, and substantially, retaining only the outward appearance (or accidents) of bread and wine. This is bedrock Catholic teaching, yet so many professed Catholics don't believe it or (as much, or more likely) can't explain it.
All Christians are called to spread the Gospel, but the People of God can't do that effectively if they can't explain the Gospel. The reason that many of them cannot effectively explain the Gospel is because many of those in charge of preaching the Gospel have not done so with effectiveness.
The statistics I cited above are such that all of us who are charged with preaching and teaching in any way must treat ourselves as though we are at least partially responsible for the problem.
A number of years ago, Father Bill Casey of the Fathers of Mercy hit on the real source of the difficulty we face in a talk that he gave to priests.
When Father Casey speaks so strongly against superficial preaching, he is hitting at the heart of the problem, I believe. I've heard many people, many of them very good people, actually make the argument that the homily is not the time for catechesis or teaching, or even worse, that the homily is not the time for controversial topics. The real problem with both of those suppositions should be painfully obvious.
First, while it is vitally important for there to be multiple opportunities presented at the parish level for continuing education in the Faith (and certainly in our parish we try to make those available, including FORMED, which I cannot recommend enough) not everyone is going to avail themselves of the opportunities made available. Yes, there are always going to be some who are spiritually lazy, but very often what happens is that even the very best Catholics get caught up in the business of daily life.
I can speak to this personally, as someone who is both a deacon and a husband and Father, it is only by God's grace (and a supportive wife and pastor, both gifts from the Lord) that I am able to fulfill both of these rolls. There are many days that I do not know how it is that I have managed to maintain a prayer life, but I manage to do so. I would write much more on this blog and in other outlets because I know that this ability is part of the gifts that I have been given, but I do not have the time to do as much as I would wish. This reality has given me new empathy for those who have very little time to themselves for time with God. For many of those people, that means they are going to have very little time for the frequent opportunities of parish life.
That makes the Sunday homily extremely important for a lot of people, because for a great many of them, that homily is going to be the only teaching they get all week, it should be preached well and with clarity, presenting the truth of Church teaching, hopefully in a way that the People of God can understand and take home with them.
The notion that we should not present controversial topics in a homily seems rather silly when we consider the reality that we are conformed to Christ both as believers and (for those of us who are ordained) in ordained Ministry, and Jesus hardly avoided controversy. The Gospel, when properly preached and understood, is going to be controversial, especially in today's culture. There are going to be some people who do not like it when the truth of the message is fully presented. Does this mean we should aim for controversy every time? No, but we should also not avoid dealing with difficult texts of Scripture and the difficult issues those texts often present.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.The primary purpose for the Church in this world is the salvation of souls. It is critical, then, that the Gospel be preached with love and charity, but also with clarity, and without fear.
