Archdiocese of Mumbai 'strongly discourages' sermons that are more than 20 mins and wants them to be relevant
Archdiocese of Mumbai 'strongly discourages' sermons that are more than 20 mins and wants them to be relevant
The Catholic church in a recent circular has instructed the clergy to keep their sermons short.
The archdiocese of Mumbai, Bishop Bosco Penha, stated that priests who preach for more than 20 minutes during mass should be "strongly discouraged".
"The homily is an important part of the liturgy and is always given by an ordained minister.
It should be well-prepared and to the point," said the missive that contained a host of other instructions for priests on how to enrich the service to draw more Catholics back to the church.
The memo was printed in the recent edition of the Catholic newsletter, The Examiner.
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The instructions also discourage the use of PowerPoint presentations and skits to liven up the homily.
"The homily is meant to be a one-on-one between the priest and his parish. A PowerPoint presentation can supplement the sermon, but not replace it.
The Pope has strongly encouraged us to use technology to reach out to the masses, but it cannot be the end of all our interaction with the faithful," said Charanghat.
Not surprisingly, the parishioners we spoke to unanimously thought that this was a good idea.
Jennifer Pinto (52), a parishioner at the Our Lady of Victory church in Mahim, said, "People are so busy that the sermon really needs to be relevant to everyday life.
The preaching should pertain to things that concern them," said Pinto.
Shalini Sequeira, Santacruz resident and co-founder of the Forum against Christian Exploitation, said that mass needed to be more interactive.
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"It would draw many more people in. Parishioners are always distracted when homilies are long and not pertinent."
Melanie Fernandes (24), who works in a publishing business, said, "I lose interest sometimes in as little as
30 seconds.
You switch off, you're distracted and it's hardly relevant at times. A shorter sermon is certainly a good idea."
Not Too Short
However, Charanghat cautions against too short a sermon.
"Some people want a Speedy Gonsalez affair, that is, they choose to attend the mass with the priest who delivers the shortest sermon and sometimes in the rush, the relevance is lost.
Homilies, if anything, need to be to the point it's not a competition as to whose is the shortest," said Charanghat.
What is a Homily?
During mass, following the readings from the Bible, the priest delivers a short sermon to the people that covers a theme from the readings coupled with instructions on how to lead a holy life.
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