“The more words 
you use, 
the less you 
actually say.” 
Jefferson Fisher

It’s Sunday morning! I hope you have some exciting plans for your day. If, by chance, your Sunday schedule includes attending a church service, I hope you have the opportunity to experience a thoughtful, provocative, and inspiring homily.

I never take a good homily for granted. One reason for this is that good homilies are not the norm in Catholic churches. Every now and then, a well-prepared, well-delivered reflection on the Scriptures of the day leaves me wanting more. These tend to be homilies which do not exceed 8 to 10 minutes and which reflect awareness of the everyday lives of those attending the church service.

Sadly, on most Sundays when I attend Mass, the homilist drones on and on, often with no reference whatsoever to the Scripture readings. I’ve recognized a pattern to many of these homilies: In the first five minutes, the homilist tells the assembly what he’s going to tell them. In the second five minutes, he tells them what he told them he would tell them; and in the third five minutes, he tells them what he already told them — using the phrase “My dear brothers and sisters in Christ…” when transitioning from one part to the next. I increase my chances of hearing an excellent homily exponentially when I attend Mass at Mission Santa Clara. 

It’s been said that the less you speak, the more weight your words carry. This certainly seems to be true when it comes to homilies. By reducing repetition and unnecessary chatter, the homilist is better able to command greater respect and project more confidence.

Pope Francis recommended that priests should limit their homilies to ten minutes. “After eight minutes,” he said, “preaching gets dispersive and no one understands.”

In his 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelli Gaudium (which translates to “The Joy of the Gospel”), Francis wrote, “The homily is the touchstone for judging a pastor’s closeness and ability to communicate to his people. In fact, we know that the faithful attach a great importance to it, and that they often suffer… because the homily is boring, or because it lacks substance, or because it wanders off into generalities that have nothing to do with the people’s real lives.”

Having taught in Catholic schools for more than forty years, I am well aware of the importance of classroom observations and evaluations. Catholic educators are expected to teach clearly, facilitate effectively, motivate appropriately, and communicate with students in a way that acknowledges who and where the students are educationally, developmentally, morally, personally, and spiritually. Catholic school administrators observe, both formally and informally, evaluate, and make recommendations where needed. This type of oversight seems to be missing when it comes to clergy giving homilies at liturgical celebrations.

Poor homilies is just one of many contributing factors to the decline in church attendance in the new millennium. Perhaps it’s time for bishops to require formal, informal, and regular observation and evaluation of those preaching at Catholic liturgies.