Do Priests Preach Sound Teachings?

by Michael Shackleton · June 19, 2012

In your column of May 2, 2012, you say that authority to preach the Word of God was given by Christ to his apostles and their successors, the bishops, who mandate this authority to priests and deacons. What is understood by preaching? I have heard homilies that contradict the dogmas of the Church. How can we, the flock, take the word of these and others who also write about the our faith? MR Kolbeck

“…a responsibility resides with the congregation to first listen attentively to the readings, and then to allow the homilist to speak to them.”

“You can be pretty sure that the preachers in your diocese and elsewhere stick religiously to orthodox doctrine. They have regular meetings with their bishop and in their deaneries where they discuss the state of the diocese and the events of the day.”

When the bishop gives his authority to priests and deacons to proclaim the word of God publicly, he does so knowing that these are men of great faith and theological knowledge. They are deeply conscious of their responsibility to encourage their hearers to become increasingly alert to the divine life given them in baptism and to conduct their lives accordingly.

Preaching therefore must accord with the Church’s clear understanding of God’s word in the person of Christ, in the scriptures and in the Church’s Christ-given mandate to teach all nations. The preacher has to reflect his own enthusiastic acceptance of this by sticking to orthodox doctrines when addressing his hearers.

However the hearers in the congregation are not ignorant of the faith, even if they lack the preacher’s refined knowledge and experience. As you indicate, you know when a preacher contradicts a point of doctrine held jealously by the Church.

Sometimes this is due to a slip of the tongue. For example, when a priest in his homily repeated the phrase ‘the human person of Jesus Christ’, I reminded him a while later when we met that Christ is not a human person but a divine person in human nature. He took it well, admitting that his concentration had lapsed a little bit, and joked that I must not think him a heretic.

You can be pretty sure that the preachers in your diocese and elsewhere stick religiously to orthodox doctrine. They have regular meetings with their bishop and in their deaneries where they discuss the state of the diocese and the events of the day.

Preachers explain the mysteries of our faith practice in their own individual ways. Some may have strong emotions that can overflow into personal opinions that might be interpreted as contradicting Church teaching or authority. This, in my experience is rare, but if there is a clear case of a homily expressing open disobedience to this authority, the preacher must be challenged with it.