Vatican Wants 'Boring' Sermons Spiced Up

Vatican Wants 'Boring' Sermons Spiced Up

The Vatican's top cultural official on Friday hit out at sermons he said were too often dreary and bland and urged Catholic priests not to shy away from spicing up their preaching.

Speaking at a conference organised by a French institute, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi said preaching in churches "was so dull and vapid that it had become quite meaningless."

To yank drowsy church-goers to attention, the Italian cardinal urged priests to jazz up their vocabulary and not be afraid of letting the "scandal" contained in the Bible erupt from the pulpit.

Ravasi argued that priests needed to be in sync with their time and adapt to a high-paced, tech-savvy world.

"The advent of televised and computerised information requires us to be compelling and trenchant, to cut to the heart of the matter, resort to narratives and colour," he said. Link

tbswv
Easy fix for this dilema: as a homilist just start talking about death, judgement, heaven and hell and see how many feel-good Catholics get agitated. You may not be popular as a priest, but your homilies will certainly not be boring.
alinalotte
Growing up the Holy Mass was about reading the good news in it's purity,celebrating the Sacrifice of the Mass,worshipping the Real Presence,receiving Holy Communion worthily,taking time to reflect and pray in Thanksgiving;the reading of the Holy Scriptures was done by the priests,there was no need for additional translation,explaination,faith truly was comming by hearing;the sermons were preached …More
Growing up the Holy Mass was about reading the good news in it's purity,celebrating the Sacrifice of the Mass,worshipping the Real Presence,receiving Holy Communion worthily,taking time to reflect and pray in Thanksgiving;the reading of the Holy Scriptures was done by the priests,there was no need for additional translation,explaination,faith truly was comming by hearing;the sermons were preached by holy men in love with Christ and on fire with the Holy Spirit to share Him with others; nursery/children worship/activity kits/coloring books /snacks etc to "entertain the little ones" - to distract them from hearing the Word of God were non existant,conscious of Jesus Command :"Hinder not the little ones from coming unto Me" nobody would even dare to think of excluding the most impressionable young minds ;the services were 3-3 1/2 hours long yet nobody was bored,nobody was rushing to leave the church.The Holy Mass was about Worship and preaching His Word,not one's opinions and entertainment. ✍️
Holy Cannoli
A quote from the film Elmer Gantry:
...You think, uh, religion is for suckers and easy marks and molly-coddlers, eh? You think Jesus was some kind of a sissy, hey? Well, let me tell you, Jesus wouldn't be afraid to walk into this joint or any other speakeasy to preach the gospel. Jesus had guts. He wasn't afraid of the whole Roman army. (Pointing to a picture) Think that quarterback's hot stuff? …More
A quote from the film Elmer Gantry:

...You think, uh, religion is for suckers and easy marks and molly-coddlers, eh? You think Jesus was some kind of a sissy, hey? Well, let me tell you, Jesus wouldn't be afraid to walk into this joint or any other speakeasy to preach the gospel. Jesus had guts. He wasn't afraid of the whole Roman army. (Pointing to a picture) Think that quarterback's hot stuff? Well, let me tell you, Jesus would have made the best little All-American quarterback in the history of football. Jesus was a real fighter - the best little scrapper, pound for pound, you ever saw. And why, gentlemen? Love, gentlemen. Jesus had love in both fists! And what is love? Love is the mornin' and the evenin' star. It shines on the cradle of the Babe. Hear ye, sinners. Love is the inspiration of poets and philosophers. Love is the voice of music. I'm talkin' about divine love - not carnal love.

Provacative? Yes. But some great writing.

I liked the movie (bought it). Lancaster won an Oscar for his performance.
signofcontradiction
I would prefer a boring homily to the ranting of an Elmer Gantry.