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2
Preaching in the Roman Catholic Ecclesial Context
duncan macpherson
Preaching in the ecclesial context of the Roman Catholic Church falls into three broad categories already present in the early Church: proclamation, formation and instruction. In the modern context, preaching takes place most frequently within the context of the sacramental rites, including the Sunday Eucharist. Proclamation has become the primary aim of such preaching but formation and catechesis are also seen as important. Each of these three complements the others in the life of the Church and together all three seek to provide access to the truth by which the Christian can live and die.
Historical background
The sermons in the Acts of the Apostles provide examples of proclamation or kerygmatic preaching directed at the unbaptized but later directed sometimes at Church members needing to experience the conversion of life appropriate to their baptism. Formational or catechetical preaching in the early Church was concerned with preparing candidates for Baptism, Confirmation and first Holy Communion: the sacraments of initiation originally given together to mainly adult converts at the Easter liturgy. This formational preaching continued as ‘mystagogical preaching’ during the period after Easter when the newly baptized were instructed in the significance of the rites they had experienced. Overlapping with the third category of instructional preaching, mystagogical preaching included instruction on the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Commandments and the Sacraments.
From the fourth century onwards more and more Christians were baptized as infants with the result that mystagogical preaching largely disappeared. Meanwhile disputes about the nature of Christ necessitated a greater emphasis upon preaching as a safeguard for doctrinal orthodoxy. For this reason liturgical preaching became the prerogative of the bishop.1
During the early medieval period preaching largely fell into abeyance until it was revived in the eleventh century, first to promote the crusades and then to combat the Albigensian and other heretical movements. Preaching during Mass fell into decline and preaching outside of Mass became the business of the monastic orders and, more popularly, of itinerant preachers, often belonging to the new orders of Franciscan and Dominican friars. Some of this preaching took place not only outside the context of liturgy but also outside the church building itself, in the public square. In the first instance much of this preaching consisted in doctrinal and moral instruction, but it also involved evangelistic proclamation directed both at combating heresy and at bringing about a revival in religious commitment among the populace.
The Protestant Reformation proved the catalyst for a greater emphasis on preaching in the Catholic Church as part of the ‘Catholic Reformation’, sometimes called ‘the Counter Reformation’. From the sixteenth century onwards reforms associated with the Catholic Reformation included the education of the clergy, a new catechetical movement and the requirement that a sermon should be given at every Sunday Mass. Consequent upon new geographical discoveries, the Catholic Reformation also involved
