When The Sinner wrote yesterday that he had never heard a homily on adultery, it got me thinking.
I have been Catholic for almost 13 full years. In that time I have heard nearly 700 Sunday homilies and quite a few Daily Mass homilies – probably 1,000 homilies in all. And I’ve heard these homilies literally all over the world, as I travel quite a bit. So I have here a solid sample.
I have NEVER heard a homily on the following sins, which are all very common sins among Catholics, and which all can potentially send us to hell …
- Adultery
- Fornication
- Sodomy
- Masturbation
- Defrauding the laborer of his wages
- Receiving communion not in a state of grace
- Envy
- Pride
- Stubborn resistance to any Catholic teaching
- Sloth
- Unbelief
- Greed
… this is very strange, for these sins are not only common, but, it seems, rife within the Catholic Church.
Likewise, I have heard mentioned only very rarely (less than six times each) such issues as …
- Pornography
- Contraception
And, really, the evil of abortion is mentioned perhaps three or four times a year, and almost as nothing more than a shibboleth.
And, even if we look at areas other than sin, there are quite a few major truths of the Catholic Faith that are hardly ever mentioned or are simply ignored, such as …
- The redemptive grace of suffering
- Inner transformation
- Mortification
- The power of Christ’s sacrifice as anything more than a model or a natural work to emulate
- Hell
- Heaven (except as a vague place of comfort where we all end up, like the air conditioned shopping mall)
What do we hear instead? Help the poor, give to the parish fundraiser, Jesus was nice you be nice too, forgive others, don’t judge, try to stand out from the crowd, gosh I’m glad you’re here it shows that you care.
I think, after 13 years and 1000 homilies, something is wrong.
How does my experience compare with yours? Answer in the comment section below.
Meanwhile, you might want to take a look at one of my early blog posts, A Guide to Bad Homilies, which takes a shot at a humorous look at this same subject.
Kevin–
Although you have put your finger on a breathtakingly scandalous situation in the “teaching Church”, unprecedented in history, as I understand it priests worldwide are actually forbidden by Vatican edict from giving their sermons on any theme other than one closely connected with the day’s gospel.
I was told this by a priest, now a bishop, decades ago, and told that the reason was to stop crooked priests from using their homilies to attack the Church’s teachings, especially its teachings re sexual morality, as was common in the wake of Vatican II.
Even if this was genuinely the original reason, it is no excuse for the continuation of the rule. As I see it, a dualistic policy applies in the Church, at the centre of which is an unspoken belief within the “teaching Church” of “universal salvation no matter what” — everyone gets to Heaven regardless of what they do or believe; and if there’s a Purgatory or Hell they’re empty except perhaps for Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin, and those guilty of politically incorrect sins such as racism or littering. The chief pain of Hell for these few is boredom because there’s hardly anyone else there to talk to.
This operative policy requires that orthodox Catholic teaching be kept “on the books”, and that discreet disciplinary action be taken against theologians or bishops who publicly attack it (although not, of course, against high-profile professedly Catholic politicians who do); but that no uncomfortable Church teachings be promulgated any more, from pulpits or by any other means, because of the supreme importance of the Church’s authorities everywhere being “non-divisive”, “non-confrontational” and “pastorally sensitive”.
Since everyone’s saved, it doesn’t matter what the “simple faithless” are taught or not taught, believe or don’t believe, do or don’t do.