The Future of Preaching. Geoffrey Stevenson
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The future of preaching in the Roman Catholic Church will always involve seeking to find a balance between the three elements of proclamation, instruction and formation, with varying emphasis on each according to the changing circumstances of the times. Setting the direction for the immediate future Pope Benedict, like his predecessor, follows a path of recommending all three of the elements in the role of the preacher but restores emphasis on the need for doctrinal instruction. Before becoming pope, Cardinal Ratzinger spoke eloquently that the aim of preaching was ‘to tell man who he is and what he must do to be himself. Its intention is to disclose to him the truth about himself, that is, what he can base his life on and what he can die for’ (Ratzinger, 1995, pp. 62–3). It would be hard to think of a better aim for preaching in any ecclesial context!
Notes
1. In 529, Saint Caesarius of Arles persuaded the Council of Vaison to allow priests to preach at Mass and, in their absence, to allow deacons to read the homilies of the Fathers. Hendrie, 2005, p. 45. Today canon law restricts preaching to bishops, priests and deacons (Code of Canon Law 767). Suitably qualified laypersons can be asked to preach at Word services, at services of Holy Communion from the reserved Sacrament outside of Mass and at funeral services where there is no ordained minister to officiate. Pastors sometimes get around the restriction by inviting laypeople to offer ‘reflections’ rather than homilies, often after Communion.
2. From the sixteenth century onwards the Gospel (and sometimes the Epistle) texts were read in the vernacular after they had been read in Latin. This practice became widespread during the years leading up to the Second Vatican Council (1962–5).
3. Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, at the 2008 synod of bishops, ‘Ideas for Better Sermons Emerge at Synod: Guidelines and Year of the Homily Proposed’ http://www.zenit.org/article-23849?l=english.
4. Mystagogy, or teaching about Christian sacraments and liturgical rites, comes from the Greek mystagogia, or ‘interpreting of mystery’, literally ‘the leading of the initiated’.
References and further reading
Church documents with abbreviations used in this chapter
CCC | The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd edn, English translation includes corrections promulgated by Pope John Paul II on 8 September 1997. http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm |
CT | Apostolic Exhortation, Catechesi Tradendae of Pope John Paul II on ‘Catechesis in Our Time’ at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_16101979_catechesi-tradendae_en.html, para. 48. |
EN | Evangelii Nuntiandi, ‘On Evangelization in the Modern World’, Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Paul VI promulgated on 8 December 1975. http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Paul06/p6evan.htm |
FIYH | Bishops Committee on Priestly Life and Ministry, Fulfilled in Your Hearing: The Homily in the Sunday Assembly, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington DC, 1982. |
GI | General Instruction on the Roman Missal, http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/current/revmissalisromanien.shtml |
LM | Lectionary for Mass, London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1981. |
SAC | Sacramentum Caritatis, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GFRD_enGB212GB214&q=sacramentum+caritatis |
SC | Sacrosanctum Concilium (Vatican II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy) http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/v2litur.htm |
Other texts referred to in this chapter
Hendrie, Robert, 2005, Go Tell Them: Towards a Theology of Preaching, London: Saint Paul’s.
Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal, 1995, The Nature and Mission of Theology, trans. Adrian Walker, San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Further reading
De Bona, Guerric, OSB, 2007, Fulfilled in Our Hearing: History and Method in Christian Preaching, Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.
Hilkert, M. C., 1997, Naming Grace: Preaching and the Sacramental Imagination, New York: Continuum.
Janowiak, Paul, SJ, 2000, The Holy Preaching: The Sacramentality of the Word in the Liturgical Assembly, Collegeville, MN: Pueblo.
Waznak, Robert P., 1988, An Introduction to the Homily, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
3
Preaching and Liturgy
An Anglican Perspective
roger spiller
The primary ecclesial context of preaching in the Church of England is that of public worship, and ‘a sermon should normally be preached at every liturgical celebration’.1 Thus the pattern of worship influences and conditions the character and practice of preaching itself. In the last three decades or so the largely uniform and ‘common’ pattern of worship that could be found in every Anglican parish church, with minor variations, has been replaced by a wide diversity of worship and preaching styles. Cultural and aesthetic, as well as theological and liturgical, pressures in the 1960s ushered in a period of great liturgical creativity and experimentation that culminated in Common Worship, published in 2000. This prayer book authorizes alternative worship material and discretion in the use of local practice. Common Worship does not in practice, however, circumscribe the increasingly diverse patterns of worship that seek to match changing lifestyle patterns and especially the new initiatives that attempt to connect with the unchurched. It may be the destiny of liturgists to be latecomers, offering shape and coherence to local liturgical innovativeness that tries to respond to the fast-changing local missional landscape.
Since the 1960s, in the wake of the Parish Communion movement, the Eucharist has become the main Sunday act of worship in most churches, replacing the Prayer Book service of Matins. This has usually meant the reduction in the sermon time or, conversely in some churches, reducing the ministry of the sacrament to an addendum to the service. When, however, the dramatic character of the Eucharist is recognized and brought to life it reinforces the preaching through song and sign and action offering what Calvin called the visible preaching alongside the audible Eucharist. Typically the preaching is addressed to the Confirmed member and reflects the lectionary readings and church seasons. However, to provide greater accessibility for those who are unchurched, many churches now provide a Service