Have you ever heard a bad homily?  No clear connection to the readings, it rambled on and on, and didn’t in any way apply to your everyday life. While this may not be the case at every Mass, bad preaching happens more often than it should.  In my conversation with Fr. Joshua Whitfiled, we discuss where this crisis come from, and what can Priests and lay people can do about it, and among many other things - what role might the Liturgy of the Hours, yes the official prayer of the Church, might play in bringing about renewal of preaching in the Church. 

Fr. Joshua J. Whitfield currently serves as the Pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in Dallas. A former Episcopal priest trained for ministry in England, after his conversion to Catholicism, he was ordained a Catholic priest through the Pastoral Provision of Pope Saint John Paul II in 2012. He and his wife Alli live in Dallas with their five children Originally from Glen Rose, Texas—the son of a football coach—he’s an alumnus of Texas Tech University, the University of Leeds, and Duke University. He is the author of several books including The Crisis of Bad Preaching: Redeeming the Heart and Way of the Catholic Preacher which is the subject of our conversation today. 

Book Recommendations: 

The Crisis of Bad Preaching by Fr. Joshua Whitfield 

Rhetoric by Aristotle

De Doctrina Christiana by St Augustine

The Book of Pastoral Rule by St Gregory the Great

The Joy of Preaching by Phillips Brooks

Connect with Fr. Joshua at his website. 

And on Twitter @frjoshtx

Links

For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach

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