In recent weeks I have been attending Mass in various churches in different places. Sitting down listening to sermons I have been confirmed in my belief that the most important task/charism/role of a priest is to be gentle and understanding towards people.
The arrogance and nonsense of so many sermons is really breathtaking. It is actually difficult to fathom. Silly material dressed up with some sort of pseudo importance/superiority. I keep asking myself to these men actually believe this piffle themselves.
And then I have seen cases of men mentioning they have been so many years ordained and thanking God for the gift. Is all this stuff not sensational arrogance?
Maybe I belong to the 'wrong generation' but it is the certainty that is so difficult to take or understand.
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5 comments:
Would it be possible to give us a few examples of the 'arrogance', 'nonsense' and 'silly material' that you are talking about? It might help come to terms with the sweeping statements that you make. Based on what you write - we have only your word to take for what you are saying!
Secondly, 'Direct line to God has to be a fraud' is kind of misleading as a title isn't it?
I don't expect this comment to be published - though I would love to hear your response.
Thank you for your comment.
On Sunday I attended Mass where the priest preached a wonderful sermon. It was gentle and meaningful, at least for me.
It would be inappropriate to mention here individual sermons of specific priests.
Why do some people remain anonymous?
On 'mature reflection'.....
I did hear a priest in Kerry tell people in his sermon that they should not listen to experts. Some days later the man was in hospital receiving treatment from experts.
He was a Dominican and it was in the Dominican church in Tralee.
Again in Kerry, not in the Dominican church on this occasion, I heard a man tell the congregation that when a couple marry, they are married for ever, even after the death of a spouse.
I heard a man talk about a 'holy kiss' what on earth is that?
Looking at things more generally, I think the Church has been faced with developing problems here in the past decades. Ireland has moved from considerably from the old world in which the only people in the congregation who could compete with the level of education of the priest were the schoolmaster and the village doctor.
Preachers are faced today with congregations in which many are both more educated and intelligent than those preaching. Put more colloquially, peoples' detection levels for bull**** have become a lot more sensitive and their tolerance for it a lot less - something various clerics preparing their sermons should take much more to heart.
Francis
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