The Future of Preaching. Geoffrey Stevenson

The Future of Preaching

mystagogy.4 Reflecting the wish to provide instruction for the adult convert within the framework of the Christian community, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) was revived in 1962. This was done both in response to the large numbers of adult converts in Africa and elsewhere and partly because of the need for a new evangelization in de-christianized parts of Europe where growing numbers of people had not been baptized as children. During a series of brief ceremonies candidates first express their desire to become Christians, are enrolled as catechumens and begin their instruction, usually coinciding with Lent. Baptism, Confirmation and first Holy Communion take place at Easter, followed by a period of mystagogy taking place between Easter and Pentecost. This provides the opportunity for the developing formation of new Christians, enabling them to learn more about the sacraments that they have received within the framework of the eucharistic community. Mystagogical preaching accompanies these rites and can also serve to refer other members of the congregation back to their own Christian initiation.

Instruction – catechetical fruits

The usefulness of such reference back is evident from the fact that, for the majority of Catholics, involvement in the Church is limited to weekly – or sometimes less frequent – attendance at Mass. For these Catholics the Sunday homily becomes the only channel for adult religious education. This has led to demands that the teaching objective of preaching should come more to the fore. Pope John Paul II stressed the importance of the homily not only as liturgical and biblical and tailored to the needs of the congregation (the description favoured by Pope Paul VI) (EN 43) but also as bringing ‘catechetical fruits’ (CT 48). The Catechism, too, stresses the instructional value of the homily (1074), while at the same time defining the homily as an exhortation to accept the Word ‘as what it truly is, the Word of God as put into practice’ (CCC 1349).

In 2007, Pope Benedict emphasized the need for an improvement in the quality of preaching, stressing that the homily is ‘part of the liturgical action’. It is meant to foster a deeper understanding of the word of God, so that it can bear fruit in the lives of the faithful and should be preached in such a way that it ‘closely relates the proclamation of the word of God to the sacramental celebration and the life of the community, so that the word of God truly becomes the Church’s vital nourishment and support’. He then goes on to urge that ‘the catechetical and paraenetic aim of the homily should not be forgotten. During the course of the liturgical year it is appropriate to offer the faithful, prudently and on the basis of the three-year lectionary, “thematic” homilies treating the great themes of the Christian faith, on the basis of what has been authoritatively proposed by the Magisterium in the Catechism . . . four pillars namely the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ and Christian prayer’ (SAC 138–42).

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.