VIDEO: The Joy and Challenge of Preaching
St. Augustine’s Seminary has been offering a series of annual preaching conferences, seminars, and workshops since 2014 all dedicated to answering a question from His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins: how do we improve the state of Catholic preaching?
On June 4th, over 100 participants from across Canada and the United States attended our online seminar on the topic of “The Joy and Challenge of Preaching” with our guest speaker Fr. Joshua J. Whitfield. Attendees included Catholic priests and deacons, clergy from various denominations, and lay people with an interest in preaching.
In his opening address, His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Collins profiled his favourite seven preachers drawing lessons from them for preachers today. The Eucharistic Homily is central, we need to ensure we have good preachers and good content”, said Cardinal Collins. Deacon Peter Lovrick reminded us of three key points often mentioned by Cardinal Collins: “greet your people at the door, spend money on the music, and put time into preaching.”
Our presentation speaker, Fr. Whitfield, is a Roman Catholic priest currently serving as the Pastor in Dallas. Connect with him on Twitter https://twitter.com/frjoshTX. He is the author of Pilgrim Holiness: Martyrdom as Descriptive Witness (Cascade, 2009), The Crisis of Bad Preaching: Redeeming the Heart and Way of the Catholic Preacher (Ave Maria Press, 2019), and Eucharist, Bread of Life (Liturgical Press, 2021).
Fr. Joshua gave three talks: crisis of heart and mind, crisis of attention, and crisis of prayer. An engaging Q and A session followed the talks.
Only registered guests were given an opportunity to watch the recording.
If you missed the event, take a moment to watch Deacon Lovrick interview Fr. Whitfield one-on-one for his YouTube channel Better Catholic preaching:
Recommended reading from the webinar is The Joy of Preaching by Phillips Brooks. Fr. Josh tells us why this book is so important in the video above.
Special thanks to all that registered and participated in the event. Please contact us with ideas for future seminars and questions on preaching.
Testimonials from past participants:
“I have been fortunate to attend all the St. Augustine Preaching series. Each one of these events has given me new insight into proclaiming the Gospel and preaching the mission of salvation. During each of these preaching series, new techniques and strategies learned, have assisted me in preparing and delivering my message and more than ever, to rely on the Holy Spirit for strength and conviction in what I preach.”
~Deacon J. David Quail
“The caliber of the speakers is always top-notch! They present their material at an understandable level. It is not over my head nor beyond my skills, provided I practice integrating it into my preaching. The presenter's expectations are reasonable; they want us to become better preachers without the expectation of being another Bishop Sheen. Also, the information is usable right away.
Most of the presenters make practical suggestions. They help us to write the homily, giving lots of ideas on generating ideas and how to organize them. They make the Church's exceptions clear.
What I enjoy most is hearing the priest present his material and then preach at mass. It makes the information come alive. I haven't missed one seminar yet!
I am Grateful to Dcn Peter for organizing and hosting the event.”
~Deacon James
Feedback from attendees of this seminar:
“Fr. Whitfield is an amazing speaker and gave many takeaway points that we can use”.
“The choice of an author with practical homiletic advice is good.”
“Well-organized presentation and thoughtful summary by Deacon Peter in between sessions.”