Whether you are a priest or a parishioner, if preaching is important to you, then you should browse the website for the Catholic Coalition on Preaching’s convocation scheduled in Louisville on September 24-27, 2008. The theme for the conference is New Evangelization: Spirituality of the Preacher and the Hearer.
Held every two years, this event seeks to promote and energize the quality of preaching in the United States. The coalition itself consists of many Catholic organizations including schools of theology, seminaries, Catholic professional associations, organizations of religious priests, and liturgical organizations.
The line-up of speakers is excellent. The structure of the conference will be highly interactive, with keynotes, focused dialogue, panel presentations, discussions with preachers and homiletics professors, and breakout sessions.
Often one will hear Catholics complain about the quality of preaching in their parish. Yet, one must ask how much we Catholics have invested in training our priests in homiletics. As one older priest (but not that old!) told a group recently, when he was in the seminary, there wasn’t a single class on preaching. Fortunately seminary training has improved in recent times.
In all fairness, parish budgets are so tight and there are so many demands on priests’ times these days that many would not even consider trying to carve out the funds and time to attend a preaching workshop.
This is where “active parishioners” can help. If you would like to help your pastor or associate pastor with his preaching skills, consider giving him the gift of sending him to this conference. Gather with fellow parishioners and raise the funds to cover this “investment” in your parish. It’s bound to be an excellent conference. And in the long run, both priests and parishioners will benefit.
Posted by APWeb 
