“How do we really enter into a season like Advent when the world around us is already celebrating Christmas?” This is the question host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., sets before his guests, Scripture scholars Barbara Reid, O.P., and Victor Cancino, S.J., at the start of this episode, which breaks the usual mold of the podcast. Instead of the usual show where we hear a homily for a given Sunday and then talk to a guest preacher, we’ve invited Sister Reid and Father Cancino to share ways into the Script...
Nov 27, 2023•48 min
The Scripture readings for the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, invite us to interpret the Scriptures through a lens that is perhaps less common for this celebration. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J, tries to imagine ways in which the readings for the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar, “can be perceived less as a hierarchical, patriarchal or monarchical depiction of who God is in Christ through the Spirit, and more about how God relates to us; in humility, in care, in...
Nov 20, 2023•32 min
This November, as we remember our beloved dead and our liturgy begins to contemplate the end times, the stark reality of war is even more pronounced. In times, like these, “sometimes, the best thing you can do,” says Bruce Botha, S.J., “is acknowledge someone else’s pain and say, ‘I can’t imagine how you’re feeling.’” Father Botha, a priest of the Southern Africa province of the Jesuits, has been in parish ministry for the last 15 years. He serves as the pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church an...
Nov 20, 2023•28 min
Preachers face a delicate balancing act: while crafting homilies to draw young people to the pews, they must also engage the elders, who make up the majority of the congregation. The also deserve homilies that resonate with the particular joys and challenges of their lives. “I try to read the scriptures through their eyes,” says Jack Rathschmidt, an 80-year-old Capuchin friar. “Older people have this wisdom and these gifts, and so I just try to honor them.” Jack has been a friar for 62 years and...
Oct 30, 2023•37 min
As an undergrad at Boston College, Sarah Hansman was a self-described “retreat addict.” Today, she is a retreat leader in Boston College’s Kairos program and is often invited to preach in various settings. “When it comes to preaching, and when it comes to sharing my voice, one of my goals is to be a role model for those who either don’t feel like their voices are heard or don’t feel like their voices are worthy to be heard,” Sarah says, when asked about her vocation as a preacher. “Every time I’...
Oct 23, 2023•36 min
Until the early 20th century, the Catholic Church in the United States was “still young, growing and vulnerable,” and “the recipient of help from the church in other lands,” recalls Anthony Andreassi, C.O., in his homily for World Mission Sunday. “Now it is our turn to reach out to support others so that this important work of evangelization can continue as we continue to make our pilgrim way here on earth.” Anthony is a resident priest of the Brooklyn Oratory and serves its two parishes, but he...
Oct 16, 2023•33 min
Before the Rev. James Martin, S.J., set off for the Synod on Synodality currently underway at the Vatican, he shared some of his hopes for preaching the message of the Synod. “This idea of Jesus calling people from the outside in is very much something that the synod is doing,” he said. “I think it’s reminding people that these groups, whoever it is—refugees, migrants, the poor, disabled, divorced or remarried Catholics, women that might be disenchanted with the church, L.G.B.T.Q people—that the...
Oct 09, 2023•31 min
Brett Williams tries to connect his homilies from week to week. “Our discipleship isn’t limited to Sunday to Sunday,” he says; it needs to be seen “within the context of our ongoing journey.” He cautions that this path may include moments when “it seems dark, and there doesn’t seem to be any progress,” as well as times when it’s “fantastic, easy, wonderful to be a disciple of Jesus.” He believes that “when we create either a series or a linkage between Sundays, people start to see this journey m...
Oct 02, 2023•31 min
Synodality is not always an easy thing to describe. But for Iván Montelongo, “It is so concrete. It means walking together, but it means accompaniment. It means being there for somebody else, just as the Lord himself has decided to walk with us, has become a man and lived our same life with our struggles, with our issues.” Iván Montelongo is a priest and canon lawyer serving in the Diocese of El Paso, Texas. Ivan was raised in Mexico but completed high school in the U.S. Though he was ordained i...
Sep 25, 2023•27 min
“I had the great privilege of never having a man formally teach me preaching,” boasts Manuel Williams about his training for the priesthood. One of his teachers was Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, F.S.P.A.; the other was Joan Delaplane, an Adrian Dominican sister and the first Catholic woman president of the American Academy of Homiletics. “What both of these great women stressed,” he said, “is you have the privilege each and every Sunday of standing before the people of God. And they would m...
Sep 18, 2023•35 min
Preachers and those in ministry confront a common dilemma: “We never live up to what we want to be,” says Patricia Bruno, O.P. “However, I think the preaching helps direct our own lives,” she adds. “It’s hard to say something in public that you don’t really believe.” Patricia Bruno, is a Dominican sister of San Rafael in California. She is an experienced teacher and has served her congregation as both promoter of justice and preaching. She directs retreats at which she preaches often with fellow...
Sep 11, 2023•33 min
When Jude Siciliano, OP, sits down to write his homily, he always has a Venn diagram in mind. “It is one of the theories of preaching that there should be three stories,” Jude says, “The story of God, the story of the preacher, and the story of the listeners, the congregation.” And it is in the overlap of these three stories that Jude preaches. Jude Siciliano, OP, is a member of the Southern Dominican Province, USA. For fourteen years he taught Homiletics at the Graduate Theological Union in Ber...
Aug 28, 2023•27 min
How does a preacher best connect with college students? “I think the challenge for me is just being authentic, right?” says Brian Ching, C.S.C. “They know that your experiences and their experiences are not the same. And when we try to make our experiences relatable to their experiences it can often come off as gimmicky or trite. So just acknowledge the fact that, look, this didn't hit me the same way it hits you.” A native of New York City, Father Ching now serves as Rector of the Basilica of t...
Aug 07, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 10
“What's happening today in American society is the label of Christian is being applied to forces that are really deeply unchristian and certainly within the Catholic community, are very much in violation of our Catholic social teaching,” says Walter Modrys, S.J., reflecting on the challenge that preachers face today when their homilies touch on neuralgic political issues. “You don't have a right to label it Christian unless it really meets a very high standard that is reflective of the gospels.”...
Jul 31, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Preachers can be tempted to ask themselves the wrong question when starting to prepare a homily. “The question is not ‘What do I want to say,’” but ‘God, what do people need to hear?’”, says Kayla August. “When we start there, the thing that’s ruminating in our hearts, I think, brings out a really good sermon.” Kayla is a Black Catholic preacher. Born and raised in New Orleans, she is presently pursuing doctoral studies, with a focus on preaching as a form of education, at the School of Theology...
Jul 24, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 8
”We will never solve the crisis of preaching in the Catholic Church, unless we emphasize that the preacher needs to be someone who is constantly learning about the Scriptures and what they mean in their context, but also that the preacher needs to be a person of prayer.” says Bryan Massingale. “Someone who stands in the pulpit as an authentic faith witness who wrestles with who God is.” Bryan is a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and presently lives and works in New York City as a profess...
Jul 10, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 7
When Isaac-el Fernandes, S.J., delivers a homily he “won’t necessarily remember to say everything that I've written,” he says. “But what I will remember is the stuff that is closest to my heart. It is much more about the conviction that I say a homily with than about the clever ideas that one might have.” Isaac is a Jesuit of the Southern Africa Province. He was born and raised in Zimbabwe but currently lives and works in Lusaka, Zambia. Listen to Isaac’s homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary T...
Jul 03, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 6
“I like what Pope Francis said in ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ when he talked about preaching and likened it to family conversation; I try and imagine that I’m at a coffee shop talking to someone and I just have a conversation with them,” Josh Whitfield says. “If I were to sit down with you and just talk about important stuff—share the Gospel with you—I would not lecture you. The homily is family talk.” Father Whitfield serves as the pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in Dallas. A former Episcopal pri...
Jun 26, 2023•26 min•Season 1Ep. 5
“I’m not trying to convey concepts. What I’m trying to convey is my own reliance on God and my own hope in God,” Sam Sawyer, S.J., says when asked to describe his approach to delivering a homily. “The best thing I have to offer someone else is the invitation to deeper love and trust in God.” Sam is a Jesuit of the U.S.A. East province of the Jesuits and the 15th editor in chief of America Media. In his conversation with host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., after the homily, Sam shares how ancient monast...
Jun 19, 2023•30 min•Season 1Ep. 4
“I have discovered over the years that if you save your big point for the end, people have often tuned you out,” Deacon Fritz Bauerschmidt says, “You really have to give them something in that first minute.” Fritz is a permanent deacon in the Archdiocese of Baltimore assigned to the Cathedral of Mary, Our Queen. He is also a professor of theology at Loyola Maryland University, the Jesuit university in Baltimore, an author, a husband and a father of three. After the homily, Fritz explains to host...
Jun 12, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 3
“The most important thing for me when I enter into preparing a homily is just being able to authentically give witness to who I am and where I am in my relationship with Christ,” says John Gribowich. “If I can’t do that, then not only is it inauthentic, but it also just doesn’t really grab anyone.” John Gribowich is a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn. Today, he lives in San Francisco, Calif., where he serves as the religious studies teacher at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory High School. Alo...
Jun 05, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 2
The best advice Greg Chisholm, S.J., received about preaching a homily was not taught in the seminary. “I was helped as a young priest by a woman in a church that I served in Detroit, Michigan,” he said. “She came to me and she said, ‘When I go to church, I want to hear about Jesus, and you didn’t have a lot about Jesus in that sermon.’ I have never forgotten that.” Greg Chisholm, S.J., the superior of the Jesuit community in Maryland and a former pastor of St. Charles Borromeo in Harlem, is the...
May 28, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 1
What makes a great Catholic homily? And what goes into the art of delivering it well? “Preach” is a new weekly podcast from America Media that features a diverse cast of the finest Catholic preachers. Each week, preachers open up their hearts and minds, sharing their spiritual lives, approaches to interpreting scripture and techniques for preparing the best homilies. Launching on the Solemnity of Pentecost May 28, 2023, “Preach” follows the liturgical calendar. On each episode, listeners will fi...
May 18, 2023•3 min
