Dear Parishioners and Visitors,
NCR: Pope Francis: Keep your homilies short or ‘people will fall asleep’
Pope Francis has once again appealed to Catholic priests to keep their homilies short, this time warning that homilies should be no longer than eight minutes or “people will fall asleep.” Speaking in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday catechesis on June 12, the pope explained that the goal of a homily is to “help move the Word of God from the book to life.”
“But the homily for this must be short: an image, a thought, a feeling. The homily should not go beyond eight minutes because after that time you lose attention and people fall asleep!” he said.
After reading this article a couple of weeks ago, I remembered a conversation with my parents shortly after my ordination day. When I told them I was preparing the sermon for my first Mass, my mother said, “You’ll need a good beginning,” to which I added, “And a good ending.” Then, my father commented, “And the closer together the better!”
With prayerful best wishes,
Fr. John Mahoney