Here are my tips to improve preaching in the Catholic Church in America:
1) Put energy to the homily. As sad as it is, many folks nowadays see the homily as the central part of the Mass. That's not true in the least... but, the USA is not a Catholic country, never was, and most likely will never be so. For fallen-away Catholics or people who might be interested in the Catholic faith? What they take away from Mass is the homily. I've had some conversations about this in the past year or so--and realized that the conversation isn't at the point where I could say that the Mass is about the Eucharist. The big challenge is convincing them that it's worth it to even walk through the door of the church. Lament it, decry it, say whatever you want: it seems to me that a lot of people are in those shoes.
Priests, deacons, seminarians, lend me your PASSION. You don't have to shout but show us that you believe what you're saying! That it means the world to you! That you LIVE to be a priest and shepherd your flock in the Catholic faith! You don't have to shed your personality or become someone you're not. More than anything, what convinces many people is sincerity. It will help them connect not only to you but to the Mass as well. Let that shine through in the gifts you already have! You as a fully-actualized preacher could SAVE SOULS.
2) Never read your homily. If you have difficulty with this, give short homilies (your congregation won't complain). Do as much as you're capable. I know this is can be a steep learning curve for people preaching in their second language. But work at it! Make this a goal! You could write the finest homily of your life--and if the delivery is lacking, the congregation would never be able to tell.
3) Cut the stories. They can have their place in preaching, but I don't buy the bovine elimination that preachers need to tell a story to "connect" the people to the Scripture readings. So the Word of God is inaccessible? It has no power on its own to reach the hearts of the faithful? Give me your reflections on how the readings will help my spiritual life. Tell me how the readings reaffirm my Catholic faith while the secular world tries to drown it.
Enter one of my points of bias. True story from my seminary days: one guy gave a short reflection at evening prayer (they allowed the almost-deacons to do this for practice) that started with a story. One lizard got trapped in a wall, the other lizard brought it food; a construction worker saw this in action and vowed to be more charitable in his own life. Nice enough, but do you know the problem? He made up the story. Lazy preaching, sir; lazy preaching.
Don't repeat stories; don't tell them all about yourself; don't make them the focal point of your homily. If anything, tell us stories from the long tradition of the Church. There's a lot of material there...
4) Piss people off. I've concluded after my many years of being part of the Catholic Church: there's no guarantee that people will like you. Priests and deacons even more so, since they are the ones in the spotlight. For some folks, Fr. X is the best priest in the world, and others won't be able to stand him. It's human nature--something to be expected. If people don't like you, however, make sure it's for a good reason. Don't let your pride, scruples, or other defect of character (we all have them) drive people away. Preach the truth! Proclaim what the Catholic Church teaches! Don't shy away from abortion, contraception, gay marriage, shacking up, or any of the other hot-button issues. Don't be afraid to call sin by its name! Will people leave the parish? Absolutely!
John 15:18-20 "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, `A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
This element of preaching has been generally lost on the American church. The "I'm OK, You're OK" sentiment has neutered the Word of God. What the 70s generation of Catholics don't fully understand is that Jesus Himself was controversial. People stopped following Him because of the things He said (see John 6). Yes, Jesus loves and respects everyone. Does He glance over sin like it was nothing? To believe that is to completely misunderstand the cross. If everyone was okay and believed/did whatever they wanted, and God is fine with that, why did the human race have to be redeemed? It's useless to say that we're a "Resurrection people" if we can fashion religious and moral teaching according to our own desires.
Truly, I say to you, hard preaching can be done with love. Scathing rebukes of sin can be done gently. They're not mutually exclusive, as many have believed for so long. Jesus the Good Shepherd and Jesus the Judge aren't two people.
(whew) There. That is all.
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