Every Sunday, millions hear homilies. But what separates the forgettable from the inspiring? Preach, from America Media, goes behind the pulpit to reveal the art and craft of great Catholic preaching. Host Ricardo da Silva, S.J.—Jesuit priest and associate editor at America Media in NYC—features weekly homilies from outstanding preachers, followed by intimate conversations. From Scripture interpretation to delivery, discover what makes today’s most compelling Catholic voices so transformative.
Read featured homilies and daily Scripture reflections at americamagazine.org/subscribe
Preach is supported by a generous grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., as part of its Compelling Preaching Initiative.
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Every year we take out the nativity. We arrange it carefully. Mary. Joseph. A baby in a manger. It feels sacred—one of the last spaces in our world left untouched. But contemporary retellings challenge that calm. This year in Dedham, the Holy Family was removed and kept in the sanctuary for protection from ICE. In Evanston, the baby Jesus wrapped in emergency thermal blankets, his hands bound with zip ties. A few years ago in Bethlehem, a Lutheran pastor placed the Christ child on bomb rubble. W...
“I really appreciate it when the truth is spoken very plainly,” says Tsh Oxenreider. Homilies that cut to the chase—and call us to conversion now. Host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., speaks with writer and podcaster Tsh Oxenreider about what active waiting means during Advent; sitting with discomfort, resisting the rush to Christmas. They explore the traditional meanings of the liturgical weeks—joy in week three, love in week four—what penance looks like in this season, and the O Antiphons. Tsh speaks ...
This week on Preach, we’re offering an Advent treat. Host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., sits down with fellow producer Maggi Van Dorn for a rare on-mic conversation about the spiritual power of Christmas carols. Drawing on their work as producers of another America podcast, “Hark! The Stories Behind Our Favorite Christmas Carols,” they reflect on what these songs can teach preachers: that the liturgy is more than the homily. that beauty itself does theological work: it’s not just what is said, but how...
“I’m thinking about the end of time in another way,” says Ann Garrido. “Because end can mean the conclusion, the finish, but it can also mean the purpose.” For 25 years, Ann has taught homiletics, pastoral theology and catechetics at Aquinas Institute of Theology, written 10 books and spoken at more than 350 gatherings. A longtime catechist in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd movement, Ann offers her reflection for a planned Advent reconciliation service at St. Thomas More Parish in Decatur, ...
The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome—a feast about a building —can intimidate preachers. The temptation? Mention it briefly and move on to the readings. But Sylvester Tan, S.J. says this feast is worth the work of preaching well. In this episode of “ Preach ,” Sylvester, a Jesuit theologian and local superior in Dallas shares his homily for one of the few feasts that actually replaces the regular Sunday liturgy when it falls on a Sunday. Then he joins host Ricardo da Silva...
Auxiliary Bishop Adam Parker of Baltimore has confirmed more than 10,000 young people—and he wants his brother bishops to know what a gift the sacrament can be. In this episode of “Preach,” he shares his confirmation homily built around Jesus’ question to Peter: “Who do you say that I am?” Then host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., asks him for a fervorino: If he were standing before his brother bishops, what brief, heartfelt exhortation would he offer about preaching for confirmation? His answer: Rememb...
“You are loved, warts and all.” Bishop Emeritus Patrick J. McGrath of San Jose said it at every confirmation—and liturgist Diana Macalintal never tired of hearing it. In this episode of “Preach,” she recalls a bishop’s confirmation homily that “quickly devolved into an exploration of sin and evil,” complete with exorcisms and damnation. Like composing music, this preacher “did not emphasize the right notes—the right message,” she says. “Confirmation is all about strengthening the goodness that i...
The parable of the persistent widow. Again. Scholar, poet, and preacher Cameron Bellm has heard it a hundred times—so she turned to Russian literature for help. Drawing on Viktor Shklovsky’s ostranenie , the art of making the familiar strange, she reveals how to jolt ancient parables back to life. “It is the goal of art to make the stone stony again,” she says. She also urges preachers to learn from Russian Masters Tolstoy—”a master of the narration of human consciousness”—and Dostoevsky, who “t...
“What does it mean to receive Jesus in Holy Communion? It’s like Jesus is giving us a big hug, saying, ‘I love you so much. I want you to be close to me always,’” says Russell Pollitt, S.J., pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Johannesburg and chaplain to Catholic elementary and middle schools, to the children preparing for their First Communion. Russell uses vivid, everyday examples—birthdays, friends, hugs and gifts—to help children grasp God’s particular love for them. His First Communi...
“This isn’t just about the baby, this isn’t just about the parents and godparents. This is about all of us and it is about our faith.” This is the realization that came to Con O’Mahony, Vicar for Education in the Diocese of Hamilton, Ontario, and pastor at St. Margaret Mary Parish, while attending a Baptism at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Standing in a filled cathedral before John Nava’s magnificent tapestries depicting the communion of saints, he suddenly understood: ...
That question, quietly planted at the start of the rite, can be the seed the homily helps take root and flourish in the hearts of the faithful. In this episode of "Preach," Christina Mines and Ricardo da Silva, S.J., explore how preaching at baptisms offers a unique opportunity—and challenge—to engage millennial parents, practice radical hospitality, and invite families into the full life of the parish and an experience of God's love that is inclusive and without judgment. 0:00 - “What Do You As...
This week on Preach, we launch a new series: Preaching for the Sacraments —how homilists can bring depth and imagination to their preaching during some of the Catholic Church’s most meaningful rites. To set the stage, host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., speaks with Anthony Ruff, O.S.B., Benedictine monk and professor of liturgy at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Minnesota. Together they unpack what sacraments truly are—and how to preach them with both depth and imagination. “A sacrament...
The third season of “Preach” begins with a fundamental reminder: What is preaching, and what is it for? To explore that question, host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., invites the Rev. Lynn Barger Elliott—a preacher who has inspired him to think about this question in recent months. As a fourth-generation Presbyterian pastor and consultant for the Compelling Preaching Initiative—the Lilly Endowment project that supports this podcast—Lynn brings the wisdom of that legacy to remind us that preaching takes ...
Season two of “Preach” has wrapped. Before we pause until fall, please share what moved you this season, what you’d like more or less of, and any ideas for future episodes to shape next season's lineup. In this bonus episode, Ricardo and Maggi Van Dorn – his co-producer on “Preach” and producer of America Media’s newest podcast – introduce “The Spiritual Life with Father James Martin, S.J.” They discuss what preachers can gain from the show and share the first episode featuring Cardinal Timothy ...
“We become like the things we contemplate,” the Rev. Hank Hilton says. In this homily for Corpus Christi, Year C, Hank draws on ancient philosophy, childhood boat rides on the Jersey Shore, and his mother’s wisdom to reflect on the transforming power of Christ’s kindness—to friends, enemies and strangers. In this episode of “Preach,” Hank shares the three-step preaching method he’s used for decades: concept, exegesis, application. He explains why he usually starts with a story instead of a quote...
Most people hear “Holy Trinity” and think “mystery”—something abstract and hard to explain. But for Dianne Bergant, C.S.A., the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year C, is a chance to root the doctrine in daily life. She invites us to see it instead as “the relationship that human beings have to the Creator.” God, she says, “literally serves us”—through creation, Christ, and the Spirit, who “does not go alone” but “works through us.” In this episode of Preach , Dianne reflects on preaching as...
Say “Holy Spirit” and most picture a dove or gentle fire. But Anthony SooHoo, S.J., turns to a wilder Celtic image: a honking goose in flight—untamed and impossible to ignore. It’s how he preaches Pentecost: the Spirit who startles us into new life and calls the church to fly together—rather than just waddle along. For the Solemnity of Pentecost, Year C, Anthony draws on the physics of flight and a Kierkegaardian parable about ducks. In conversation with host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., he explores ...
Seventeen years ago, Ricardo da Silva, the host of this podcast, heard a homily that has stayed with him ever since. It was preached by his novice master, British Jesuit priest Paul Nicholson, and began with a simple but unforgettable image drawn from medieval art: Jesus’ feet dangling in the air, his body swallowed by clouds. Preaching for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Year A, Paul returns to that homily, reflecting on how visual art and imagination can lead those who receive a ho...
Shortly after Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV, Bill Gabriel, O.S.A., received an unexpected email from a student at Malvern Prep in Pennsylvania. The student asked, “Is this your boy?” alongside a photo of the new pope. Bill replied, “I wouldn’t say he’s my boy, but he is our brother,” referencing their shared Augustinian bond. The student responded, “Well, I guess that makes him my brother too.” Preaching for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C, Bill finds resonance in his homil...
“Every time I proclaim one of Francis’ homilies, my heart is filled with joy,” says Greg Heille, O.P. “It’s heart speaking to heart.” Recorded just hours before Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV—while the cardinals were still in conclave—Greg joins “Preach” host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., to reflect on the homiletic legacy of Pope Francis: always on message, spoken from the heart, simple without losing depth. He proclaims a homily by Francis for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C, in...
At 3 a.m. in the lambing shed on his farm in the Irish midlands, John Connell speaks gently to a ewe in labor. “The wave of willful force doesn’t work,” he says. “It’s about calm and serene and speaking gently, and that’s generally how the thing gets accomplished, certainly on our farm.” An award-winning author, investigative journalist, and organic farmer, John has spent over a decade working with sheep. “They’re very caring, look after each other, and are more intelligent than we think,” he sa...
When fishermen set sail, Deacon Marlowe Sabater says, they place one foot on the deck—and the other, unknowingly, “in the watery grave, because you just won’t know what’s gonna happen out there.” Born and raised in Metro Manila, Marlowe now ministers to seafarers and port workers—many of them migrant workers from his native Philippines—through the Diocese of Honolulu’s Apostleship of the Sea ministry. Facing unpredictable storms and countless dangers at sea, every safe return to shore, he says, ...
The emboldened disciples in Acts 5:12-16 perform signs and wonders of the risen Christ to a crowd gathered at Solomon’s portico in Jerusalem. Witnessing the good news of the Resurrection for the first time, astonished onlookers bring the sick and wounded for the apostles to heal through the power of God. “I just hope people feel some desire to get together with other people in their community and do a little Bible study on the Acts of the Apostles,” says Casey Stanton, co-director of Discerning ...
In John’s account of the Resurrection, “the other disciple” enters the empty tomb, sees, and believes. Why is this detail included? “I think the hope here is that we not focus on some historical moment that happened, but rather an understanding of what the risen life is here and now,” says Greg, founder and president of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and reentry program in the world.“ The risen life is meaningful now, or it’s not meaningful at all.” In this Eas...
Luke’s account of Jesus’ Passion offers a distinctive perspective: “The ordinary people are not only not complicit in the death of Jesus, but they repent of what has been done to him,” says Luke Timothy Johnson, a leading scholar of Luke-Acts and Woodruff Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Christian Origins at Emory University. Unlike the other Gospels, Luke paints a vivid image of repentance in Jesus’ final moments: a great crowd of people turning their backs on the city after his death, b...
“This passage is about sin, but I want to ask about whose sin, right?” asks Amirah Orozco, a doctoral student in systematic theology at the University of Notre Dame. Raised on the U.S.-Mexico border between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Chihuahua, Amirah reflects on the woman caught in adultery(Jn 8:1-11), whom Jesus stops from being stoned to death by a group of men who want to punish her, and test Jesus. “The woman is concerned about her sin,” Amirah reflects. “What if we made it also about the ...
Stephen Tully discusses the parable of the prodigal son, offering fresh perspectives shaped by his ministry to marginalized communities. He explores themes of shame, redemption, and the often-overlooked pain of the older brother, highlighting family dynamics and the unconditional love of God. Tully also shares insights from his work at the Napier Center for Healing, drawing parallels between the parable and the journeys of those overcoming addiction.
“I learn a lot about the character of my men by how they pick fruit,” says Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Diocese of Yakima, explaining that his “Calluses to Chalices” formation program requires seminarians to live and work alongside migrant farmworkers picking fruit in the summer. He recalls a moment when he discovered that some seminarians had taken a break apart from the workers. Noticing this, the migrant workers invited them to join in the shade and share their food. “When you're ordained a pri...
“This may not be my best day, but I know One who makes tomorrows better,” says the Rev. Daniel Kingsley, explaining how he hopes parishioners should leave the pews after hearing the homily on Sunday. “Sometimes, it's hope that gives people the motivation to see tomorrow.” Daniel, the pastor of Saint Clare Church and the administrator of Saint Pius X Church in Rosedale, Queens, NY, is our featured guest on “Preach” for the Second Sunday in Lent, Year C. After preaching on the Transfiguration of C...
“What does it mean to be a prophet?” This is the challenge preachers must wrestle with and present to their congregations over and over, says Luke Timothy Johnson, a renowned Scripture scholar, particularly in Luke-Acts, and Woodruff Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Christian prophetic witness lies at the heart of Luke’s Gospel. “The prophet is led by the Spirit of God; speaks God’s word; embodies God’s word; enacts Go...
