Priests urged to brush up on 'homiletic skills'

MANILA, Philippines - There is a need for priests to brush up on their “homiletic” skills.

Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) secretary general Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo yesterday admitted that one of the problems facing the Catholic Church nowadays is the failure of some of their priests to give insightful and well-delivered homilies that would stir the interest of the devotees.

“It is a big issue that priests do not prepare their homilies very well… and (it is during homilies) when they can really encourage people to live through their faith, to put their faith into practice…sayang lang (it is such a waste),” said Archbishop Quevedo.

 “The way the priest celebrates the mass sometimes lack devotion. It does not encourage people to go to mass.”

This has prompted some parishioners to be selective about their priests.

Some parishioners inquire about the schedule of masses and who would be the celebrants because they want a priest who would deliver enlightening, inspirational homilies. 

But Quevedo said this problem could still be resolved by teaching would-be priests how to deliver their homilies during their formation years or when they are still in the seminary.

They need to be taught the appreciation of the word of God and his role to explain the word of God in the mass.

They could also be educated on the different styles of giving homilies or homiletic skills.

“It is like training someone to give an oratorical speech.”

He recalled that in the Synod of Bishops in Rome last October this was considered as a “big topic.”

There was even one comment that “sometimes homilies are like the sword of Constantine – long and flat.”

Quevedo was one of the archbishops who attended the six-day 9th FABC Plenary Assembly held at the Pius XII Center along United Nations Avenue in Manila on the theme “Living the Eucharist in Asia.”

Today, the seven cardinals, 70 archbishops and bishops from 22 countries would culminate the assembly and would issue two results.

They would release a short message to the Christian people in Asia and the final document on the assembly that would contain recommendations from the different bishops’ conferences and how living the Eucharist would make a difference in the social, political, ecology situation in Asia.