Category: Catholicism

The View From The Pew

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The homily given by the priest during the Catholic liturgy is incredibly important. Unfortunately, the homily is often one of the primary topics about which Catholics (and particularly former Catholics) complain.

“The ministry of the Word…among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place…is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture” 

– Dei Verbum, 24

Unfortunately, it is often said that the homily is often unintelligible, boring, uninspiring and unrelated to real life.

asleep

Our priests certainly have a challenging task assigned to them. They should therefore receive our support and constant prayers. We should listen carefully to each homily, attentive to what God wishes to teach us, each one of us, through His minister. When I returned to the Church, I was often humbled by listening to a homily and being shocked by the gold that was there for the taking, if only I had ears to hear.

However, in today’s post I would like to do something a little brave and suggest some practical ways in which the typical liturgical homily could be enhanced. I know I’m in a bit over my head here. I am not a priest, nor have I been trained in homiletics, but as a Catholic layman, over the course of my life thus far, I have heard over 2,000 homilies. So, for what it is worth, drawing upon my experiences from my side of the pulpit, here are my top ten suggestions for the preachers of the Word…

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Power Rangers and Bikinis

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Power Rangers and bikinis?! Well, that has to be the most random title for a post in the history of this blog (and that’s saying something). Below is a video of Jessica Rey talking about the history of the bikini:

If Jessica looks familiar to you it’s quite possibly because she is a former Power Ranger, from Power Ranges: Wild Force. Although she no longer helps Zordon defend the earth from alien baddies, she helps make it a better place by designing modest swimwear. She is also a chastity and modesty speaker.

Thinking about liturgy

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If you’ve read this blog for any length of time it will be clear by now that I have a great love for the liturgies of Eastern Christianity. There is a reverence there and a beauty which I find extremely attractive. It feeds my soul.

A few days ago I came across this video of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, speaking about the liturgies of the Church and about the need for liturgical renewal, particularly in the Western Church:

While watching this video I was reminded of an article I read on the blog “Neal Obstat” where the author recounted a conversation he had with a member of the Coptic Church. Rather surprisingly, this Coptic Christian argued that the chief obstacle to reunion with the Catholic Church was not a matter of dogma, but the “banalization” of the liturgy in the West.

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Out there: Biblical prohibition of alcohol

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Out of all the “Out there” beliefs I’ve looked at so far, this one is by far the biggest head-scratcher.  It is the belief that the Bible prohibits the consumption of alcohol.

I was rather blind-sided when I first came across this belief, initially not knowing what to say because it is rather equivalent to hearing somebody say that the moon is made out of cheese.

Here is a statement I recently saw:

“The Bible says alcoholic drink is evil. It is not just the amount one drinks that makes drinking a sin. God condemns the drink itself: ‘Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise'”

– Proverbs 20:1

Huh.  Well, firstly, that passage doesn’t condemn alcohol outright, it just states that those who are “led astray” by it are not wise.  This is hardly shocking stuff – I’ve witnessed enough nonsense spoken through an excess of wine and enough pointless fights started through beer-induced stupidity to know this to be true.

However, aside from trying to make this passage say something it doesn’t, Scripture presents many other problems with such an assertion.  When Paul told Timothy to take wine for his stomach, was he telling him to ingest something morally evil (1 Timothy 5:23)? Should deacons only “moderately” indulge in this immorality (1 Timothy 3:8)? When Jesus transformed water into wine did he lead everyone at the wedding into sin (John 2:1-11)?

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Knowing when to walk away from an argument

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walk awayA while ago I saw an article on Facebook which reported that Fr. Bourgeois, a priest who for many years publicly opposed the Catholic teaching of a male-only priesthood, had been dismissed from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.

A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to the article with the comment “Those bastards in the vatican!!!!”.

My friend has links to the Catholic Church and we have Catholic friends in common, but when I saw the article on his Facebook Timeline I noticed that not a single person had offered a defense of the Church’s actions.

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