www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Length of homilies

I think it should be as you say. About 15 minutes. The parish that I go to tends to be a lot shorter than that about 5-7. I am wondering if it appropriate to say something to the priest if you aren't getting a lot out of the homilies, especially if they seem rather rushed. I don't want to sound rude, but I find that I need all the instruction I can get.

With 3 deacons, 2 priests, and the bishop in residence, I usually preach at least once a month. With 3 Sunday Divine Liturgies which includes the Vesperal Divine Liturgy, the scheduled homilist preaches at all 3.

Personally, I think the 12-15 minute goal is ideal, and this is the usual length of my homilies. Prior to returning to the Catholic Church, I had been in an Assembly of God ministerial formation program. The homiletics professor, a Charismatic Prebyterian minister, pointed to the discourses of Christ found in the Gospels, which if read aloud continuously, lasted about 25 minutes. Now I've never verified this, but this professor pegged 25 minutes as the minimum.

As an aside, I do find it funny, though, that former Catholics, who would complain about a 10 minute homily and then find their way into evangelical Christian communities, have no problem sitting through hour long sermons.

Growing up, one of our parish priests was sent to to the Diocesan homiletics program. He had been a run of the mill homilist before that, and he came back very good.

He told us that the single most important thing he had been taught there was "seven minutes."

In college, Fr. Felt expected as much "meat" in the papers he assigned to be 1-2 pages as was generally expected in a 3-5 page paper. That did wonders for my writing[1], probably more than anything other than Fr. McFadden's A or F grading in high school . . .

Take the full content, but deliver it concisely. Elaboration doesn't tend to make it clearer or stick any better.

Yes, there are individuals who can preach with effect for half an hour, but they are the rare exception--and typically, this happens with highly developed materials, such as missions that they give again and again.

[1] But it did nothing for my dishomophotypsia, the typing of the wrong homophone, which only affects my typing and not my handwriting. I can usually feel in my fingers when this has happened. And yes, it did happen when typing "writing" in the main body of this . . .

Hi Ryan,

I beg to differ.

The lack of knowledge is so great, that the homily by itself is an insufficient venue to fill the gap.

What we need is better Faith Formation programs, especially Adult Faith Formation programs, because if our grown ups are well formed in the faith, they will do a better job in forming their own children (and then the children-oriented programs might be what they should, a mere supplement to what our children receive at home).

Yes, we are far from that goal, but there's hope.

Shalom,
Memo

I stand by my assertion. If you read the sermon of St. Peter in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, as well as numerous sermons of various Church Fathers, you will see that they serve both to inform and to persuade.

Peace,

Ryan

Well, my opinion is that whatever information is given at the homily is a means to persuade, not an end it itself.

Shalom,
Memo

I was told by many a priest that if you can't say what you need to say in 10 minutes don't say it at all.

After 10 minutes you've lost your audience.

I find this to be good advice.

10-15 minutes tops.

Metrpolitan Ilarion in his How to Serve the Divine Liturgy states the sermon should be 15-20 minutes.

I'd love to read that Deacon, do you happen to have a link?

Some of the best homilies I have heard have been super short. The homily is more about quality verse quantity. For example at this latin shrine the homilies are truly amazing... http://stclementshrine.org/podcast/

The English translation is one of the best I have ever seen for clergy guidelines regarding the Divine Liturgy, not only in the Ukrainian/Kyivan tradition, but anywhere regarding the Divine Liturgy.
http://www.uocc.ca/pdf/publications/How%20to%20serve%20the%20Divine%20Liturgy%20UKR.PDF for Ukrainian and
http://www.uocc.ca/pdf/publications/How%20to%20Serve%20the%20Divine%20Liturgy%20ENG.pdf for English.

DIAK:

Dovetails nicely with what I taught my speech students. Those who are sitting will not absorb any more of your speech after about 20 to 22 minutes.

To limit homilies you could have someone indicate time's up. One man I know says his grandfather used to sit in the back corner of the church and give the priest a wave of his hand when it was time to cut it short and move on. I wonder how that would go over.

BOB

Two pithy reminders from my past speech instructors may help in fitting the homily into the 20-minute framework:

"Tell them what you're going to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you've told them."

"Stand up! Speak up! Shut up!"

Our homiletics instructor had an egg timer set to 20 minutes. When it went off with a single "ding", he would ask the person speaking to stop at that point and sit down, finished or not.

"Our homiletics instructor had an egg timer set to 20 minutes. When it went off with a single "ding", he would ask the person speaking to stop at that point and sit down, finished or not."

So much for the homilies of St. John Chrysostom. You try reading some of them aloud, with an egg timer set for 20 minutes.