Karl Keating's E-Letter of August 10, 2004

[Forum Admin]

Karl's Letter

Topics:

The Decline of Bogeyman Anti-Catholicism
Real Worship Requires Calvary

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http://www.catholic.com/newsletters/kke_040810.asp

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[Evan]

I can sympathize with the anonymous write complaining that the sermon is being lost in their churches. Our priest is just out of seminary and tries to set aside 4 hours on Saturday morning to prepare a homily. But I hear complaining around the parish that he needs to be at meetings with a hundred groups. And it is "so important that he come to this meeting he should cut some time from the homily preparation".

He found Saturday morning was the ONLY time in the week when he had no scheduled meeting.

A good homily is important to the mass. As is good music. It draws us closer to Christ in the Eucharist.

[lsburk]

Karl,

I grew up in the Baptist church. It was nice and "Christian". We talked about Jesus and for the most part the sermons were BORING. I married a girl at Mary, Star of the Sea in LaJolla. 11 years later I converted to Roman Catholicism. I had lots of prior years studying scripture. It wasn't until I married a catholic girl that I realized what I was missing. Eucharist. It was like coming home when I discovered it. I have been a Roman Catholic for 17 years now and will celebrate my 28th wedding anniversary this weekend. Thank goodness God led me to the Church.

Scott

[pnewton]

I had the pleasure of visiting this summer with a professor of homiletics at a seminary in Abuja. (Fr. Callistus Isara) He said that he requires all his students first homilies to be ten minutes or less. This is to emphasize substance over length. Even on Sunday Mass homilies, his were between 10-15 minutes.

The point is that his homilies were pithy and substantial. It was obvious that he put a lot of effort into both developing scripture and practicing delivery. The quality of what he had to say was more value than the length.

I still would not have minded a longer sermon, though.

[PKK]

I agree with pnewton. I don't mind the long sermons when they are informative, but even a short one can be. It is more important to me to participate in the Eucharist. While camping from time to time we have not been near a Catholic church, and have participated in the camps morning sunrise service (Baptist), while sometimes interesting, we always came away with the feeling of something missing (the Eucharist). I guess for us a service is just not a service with out the Eucharist. Oh yeah! That would be a Mass.

[Randell]

Good morning,
In your E-letter you add comments that Bart Brewer added about the Catholic pedophile priests. I found through research some things about Protestant pastors.
While it is difficult to find studies isolating “Protestant” pastors, it is well thought by social scientists that they have just as high an incidence of child molestation as priests and likely even higher (although the Catholic problem is one of ephebophelia as opposed to the classic problem of pedophelia that would be more likely the protestant situation). One thing is crystal clear: Protestant pastors have a much higher rate of divorce than the general population (statistics available for this). Adultery is a common problem for them. Also, step-fathers are by far the greatest perpetrators of pedophelia. Does the Catholic Church have problems? Absolutely. Is she facing her problems? Very publicly. Does the Protestant Church have problems? Absolutely. Are they facing their problems? The answer to that question is much more difficult to ascertain.

This is a hot button for me because we had this problem at our Church. I have since seen several of my friends leave and go elsewhere so I decided to get educated about this issue. I just wanted to share information you probably already know.

thanks for your e-letters.
Randy Kilbreath

[BethanyJane]

I just eloquently wrote a post and it was lost, so quickly here it is again: Thinking that singing is "fluff" is to be uninformed of it's importance in the church and to God. If you remember who Satan was--God's first angel who led the singing, praising and worshipping in heaven until he got a little too full of himself and was kicked out-- then you will look at singing in a new light. Many Protestant churches understand singing as spiritual warfare and a form of worship, as it is the most painful thing that Satan can hear. The Catholic Church has always had the most beautiful music in the world and supported many master composers. I doubt the Church would call it "fluff"! If you want someone to make an emotional connection, use music, even before visual cues or words. Churches are using music that is familiar to reach the "unsaved" because they can relate to it and understand it. It is something that the lay people in the Catholic Church have not been as much a part of until recent years, singing hymns in the services and it does tend to resemble "fluff". The Charismatic movement used it as their main "tool" but the real meat of the faith was not there and they saw their numbers dwindle. Now the "Apostolic" movement is taking over and in the biggest group (which surprisingly many people have never heard of) they are singing and worshipping for an hour, then the sermon lasts an hour. The teaching is actually very good. Why? Because it is historic Catholic teaching which they think is "new revelation". My husband and I were in this church before moving to a new city and we realized through some close Catholic friends that the real truth was found in the authority of the Catholic faith. We are ecstatic to find our way home to the Church and appreciate our faith journey to get here. It is by actively seeking that we found the truth. So before we write off all Protestant activity as fluff and ridiculous, we need to understand better what God wants us to know so that we can hold our own actions accountable! As for me, I will be happily making a "joyful noise" in my singing and praising to our Lord, and I'm sure Satan is hating every minute of it!!

[Writer]

My family and I are on the way to converting to the Catholic Church, and, although it is causing some havoc among friends and family, we never have doubted that we're on the right track. While I agree with Karl's e-letter, I would caution him on tone. It seems disrespectful at points with regards to our brothers and sisters within the Evangelical tradition--e.g. "southern drawl". The implied message conveyed is that they are less than inteligent, since they are not Catholic. I just finished a great book entitled C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church by a wonderful Catholic writer by the name of Joseph Pierce. He makes the comment, or quotes from someone else who made the comment, that the Catholics and Evangelicals of the world are about the only ones out there standing up for the faith and getting their hands dirty doing the work that needs to be done. As more Christians make the mistaken move to follow the siren calls of modernism, we should do our best not to alienate our allies in this fight for Christ.

Best regards, Karl...


From, Karl E.

[larryo]

Originally Posted by pnewton

I had the pleasure of visiting this summer with a professor of homiletics at a seminary in Abuja. (Fr. Callistus Isara) He said that he requires all his students first homilies to be ten minutes or less. This is to emphasize substance over length. Even on Sunday Mass homilies, his were between 10-15 minutes.

The point is that his homilies were pithy and substantial. It was obvious that he put a lot of effort into both developing scripture and practicing delivery. The quality of what he had to say was more value than the length.

I still would not have minded a longer sermon, though.

I totally agree. Unfortunately, in my experience, it seems the longer the priest speaks, the less of substance he has to say.

[bcoger]

Karl,

re: Bart Brewer

Is it not time to deal with some serious protestant apologetics? If you already have somewhere else, please forgive these sources.

Holy Scripture, The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith, 3 Vols.
David T. King & William Webster, Editors
Christian Resources, 2001

Sola Scriptura! The Protestant Position on the Bible
Don Kistler, General Editor
Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1995

The Roman Catholic Controversy, James R. White
Bethany House Publishers, 1996

Have you read these and what are your comments?

[Joe Kelley]

[quote=pnewton]. . .The point is that his homilies were pithy and substantial. It was obvious that he put a lot of effort into both developing scripture and practicing delivery. The quality of what he had to say was more value than the length.
. . . QUOTE] It was once said of the U.S. Supreme court - They write long opinions because they won't take the time to write short ones. I think the same is true of homilies.

[pnewton]

Originally Posted by Joe Kelley

U.S. Supreme court - They write long opinions because they won't take the time to write short ones.

This was my first true laugh out loud in several days on these forums. I guess we get what we deserve in politics, always voting lawyers in office.

[JGC]

A Greek bishop once said 'A sermon should have three points. No more. No less.'

As a teacher, and that's what the sermon is there to do, teach, the good one's I have heard follow the same rules I use for my lessons (I'm not taking any credit for these, I learned by watching good teachers)

1 Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you just told them - i.e. set the scene at the beginning and recap at the end.

2 Try and make it relevant to the listener - if they can relate to it it will mean more and stick

3 Less is more - Keep it pithy - no rambling

4 Pitch to your audiences level - difficult with a large group of people, I know.

5 Ask questions - obviously you can't answer out loud in mass but just talking to people for any length of time - there going to switch off.

6 Be, or at least seem, to be interested in the lesson yourself!, If delivering it you appear to be bored, people will pick this up.

My local priest is brilliant. Consistently 'there are three lessons here... think have you... etc. He can fall down on keeping it pithy, but that's cause he's passionate!

A bad sermon does fufil a purpose, makes you appreciate the good ones!

[OriginalJS]

I have heard some pretty good Catholic evangelists, mostly at evenings in churches, but why is it there seem to be no really powerful Catholic evangelists like Billy Graham or, more recently, Luis Palau, who seem to attract all types of people?

[cklockner]

Karl:

I was interested to see you mention Bart Brewer. In reading Catholicism and Fundamentalism for the second time, (I love that book!!) I've been wondering what those professional anti-Catholics are up to and who the biggest threats are out there these days. Have you ever considered publishing an updated version?