Posted on 09/18/2018 8:36:53 AM PDT by Salvation
During a recent day trip to Sicily, Pope Francis said that homilies should not last more than 8 minutes and that the entire Mass should be completed within 40 (although he may have been exaggerating on this second point). He has said similar things before.
He is entitled to his opinion, of course, but I disagree. No sweeping generalization about sermon length is necessary. There are cultural and even local differences that come into play. In my own parish I offer two rather brief masses, on Saturday and Sunday evenings, that are about 45 minutes long; our Sunday morning liturgies are a good bit longer. Our choir Mass lasts 90 minutes and those that come seem to enjoy it immensely. They say they are enriched in the extended worship of God and appreciate a longer sermon that explores the proclaimed word more thoroughly. It is a tradition here. In many parts of Africa liturgies can last upwards of three hours!
I will grant that no one wants to hear a long homily that contains only 5 minutes of content, but there are forms of preaching that teach out of the sacred text and delve deeply into its meaning and application to our lives—and this takes more than 8 minutes! There are some Catholics in this country who admire Protestant preaching because it typically features a rich message and makes it relevant to everyday life. For the record, though, most Protestant sermons are about 30 minutes long.
At some point, Catholics need to decide what they want in a homily: a short “thought for the day” reflection or something more substantial, which takes more time. Maybe we should offer them such options.
My deeper concern in the demand for briefer sermons and shorter Masses is that today we are in desperate need of liturgies that are more than perfunctory. In a world as secular and hostile as ours we need more prayer and instruction than ever! There are 168 hours in a week; removing time for sleep, that leaves more than 100 waking hours. How does 8 minutes of instruction and less than an hour of worship in total stack up against all those other hours, many of them filled with things that are downright poisonous to the faith?
Rather than simply focusing on length, perhaps it would be better to speak to effective and compelling liturgy and preaching. There are many fine preachers, Catholic and Protestant. It is well within the realm of human ability to preach powerfully, and it is my experience that God’s people will gladly listen to a good sermon even if it is considerably longer than 8 minutes.
In my mind, an 8 minutes ceiling is just too limiting. (There are times when brevity is required for good reason; for example, I have given 3-minute sermons as part of 30-minute televised Masses for shut-ins.) One might hope that the Pope, who sits atop a worldwide Church, would recognize the diverse situations and preferences that exist rather than suggest such a general, restrictive notion.
For the record, the homily Pope Francis gave following his remarks about brief sermons was 17 minutes long—not a bad length for a Sunday homily!
Monsignor Pope Ping!
It depends ... Weekday Mass at noon, the congregation have mostly taken off work to have lunch with The Lamb. A very brief, very much to-the-point sermon is an act of charity to them. Sundays allow more time for depth and detail.
It depends, in part, on what’s happening next. If you have to get the people from 9:00 a.m. Mass out, so the people for 11:00 a.m. Mass can get in, then there’s an obvious constraint on homily length.
At my church on Sunday afternoons, we have Mass at 1:30 and 4:30, so there’s a little more “give” in the schedule.
I believe that Monsignor was hinting at that.
The length is less important than the content.
Does he tell people that Jesus died for them more than NOT telling people that Jesus died for them?
Glad to see you. Are you affected by the flooding after Florence?
The speediest Mass I have ever been to was 45 min. long.
Where did he come up with 40?
For the record, the Pope's Mass was offered on September 15th, a Saturday.
I think it was the Apostle John who when he spoke to the gathering later in life would just say “Love one another”. That would work today.
No, we’re fine. We had a lot of rain on Saturday and Sunday, and our subdivision was cut off by flooded roads, but once the rain stopped on Sunday night, the water went down quickly. Stores were open yesterday, colleges and municipal services reopened today.
The public schools will be closed until the last downed tree is cleared from the furthest back road, but that doesn’t affect me ;-).
When I was an altar boy, sermons during weekday Masses were non-existent. The daily Mass schedule would begin with a 6:30 am Mass, followed by a 7:00 am Mass followed by three more Masses during the day. Never a sermon on weekdays.
Length bothers me less than the constant trite social justice, white guilt, TAKE DOWN WALLS, theme of just about EVERY SINGLE HOMILY! It really ruins the mass for me way too often. Also mic volume!!!
Getting the remaining rain of Florence.
I belong to a parish which has 4 Sunday masses because of parish mergers.
Years ago, when I was an alter boy, one priest, in his sermon, said that in Saint Charles seminary they were told that if the homily is more than 3 minutes long, you have lost most of your audience. That stuck with me until today. It seems that a lot of priests leave the seminary and little by little, get more long winded. The 3 minute time was right.
I am one of the lectors at my church. I have a theater and speech/debate background, so I am passionate about making sure the initial reading of the Scripture was clearly heard and understood to begin with.
Good luck! Reports on the flooding around here indicate the some people in my parish might have been affected. We’ll find out on Sunday, and the Knights of Columbus and the Hispanic Assistance Committee will let us know what needs to be done.
I'm endowed with a smoky-contralto voice, and when I read the OT or Epistle Readings I am very conscious that that is WHY God gave it to me: it's the very best use I will ever make of it in this life.
I consciously address the hearing-impaired gentleman at the back: I bounce my voice off the back wall. Not *loud*, but mindful of looking up, articulating the words and reading slowly enough. People often tell me they appreciate that.
When I had acute hearing myself, I was not so mindful. I was too fast and light, jibberty-jab. But God has also endowed me now with a hearing impairment, so I am more empathetic towards grey-hairs who have to lean forward to hear.
Well done. I'm sure they do. So nice to have a fellow lector on here :)!
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