The Diocese of Victoria has had several priests participate in the Institute for Homiletics’ Preaching for Encounter cohort that completed their program in 2024, and more are invited to begin in 2026. Because of the Institute for Homiletics, with its mission to renew Catholic preachers and their preaching, priests and deacons are realizing that homilies matter more than they knew. Preaching for Encounter gives them the help of homiletics coaches, a group of peers, and input from a trained group of laity. With all this, preachers can go deeply into the Word and their own prayer life, allowing the Holy Spirit to help them create more encounters with Christ for their flock. “Father Gabriel Bentil, our pastor at Holy Family, asked me to lead a group to partner with him during his Preaching for Encounter program,” said Heather Kallus, the parish’s Director of Faith Formation.

 

See full article here: Parishioner and peer input…  

Dr. Karla Bellinger (DMin ’12) will be the first person in the lecture series for the Doctor of Ministry in Preaching (DMin) program, which begins on November 20 at 7 p.m. The title of Dr. Bellinger’s presentation is: “Who says? Why Research Matters in the Field of Homiletics.”

Dr. Bellinger is a seminal figure in the world of preaching. A founding executive director of the Institute for Homiletics at the University of Dallas, she had previously served as the associate director of the John S. Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics at the University of Notre Dame.

A past president of the Catholic Association of Teachers of Homiletics (CATH), Dr. Bellinger was featured on America magazine’s “Preach” podcast, its preface titled “Meet a woman who teaches priests to preach.”  

Regarding the lecture series, Dr. Bellinger discusses the impetus for it, stating, “Catholic preaching needs to be improved.” The popes say it. The people in the pew say it. Preachers themselves say it. But what does “improved” mean? What does effectiveness look like? Everyone, from the learned to the unlearned, seems to have an opinion – make homilies shorter, tell a joke, give more doctrine/catechetics, eliminate the homily, move away from the ambo, structure it better… But… Who says? Anecdotes abound. Solid research does not. It is an exciting thing to part of the beginnings of any field, when there is so much to learn and so much is yet unknown. The field of Catholic homiletics research is still in its infancy. We need curious and eager minds to join in this adventure.

This webinar will give a brief introduction to what we know and what we do not know about Catholic preaching, probing, “what questions do we need to be asking?” For example, why does God touch this person and not that one through this particular homily? How can a homilist grow more compelling in speaking to the lives of his/her congregation? What does an encounter with God through the Sunday homily look like? Come and join in the conversation; set your feet onto a path of vital homiletics inquiry. The kingdom of God is at stake!”

Deacon Victor Puscas is the director of diaconate formation for the Diocese of Joliet in Illinois. He holds a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degree from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Albert King was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. Nicknamed “The Velvet Bulldozer,” King once wrote a song called “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven (But Nobody Wants to Die).” Now you may be thinking, “This is mildly interesting, but why is he telling me this?”

Here’s why: It dawned on me that every clergyman wants to be a better preacher, but (almost) nobody wants to put in the work that’s required. I admit that’s a tortured analogy, but the fact remains that getting better at anything requires work. Where does one even begin to become a better preacher?

Well, here’s a thought: Consider the two-year formation program offered by the Institute for Homiletics at the University of Dallas, which has been strengthening the preaching of bishops, priests and deacons since it opened in 2021.

The Institute was established after a 2018 survey found that more than 85% of parishioners in the Diocese of Dallas viewed quality preaching from the pulpit as either very or extremely important — and the collective grade they gave to the preaching they received was a C+.

Those findings spurred a collaboration among the diocese, the University of Dallas and the Catholic Foundation to help priests and deacons “enhance their preaching in ways that will positively transform lives and create deep-rooted encounters with God,” as Bishop Edward J. Burns explained in the Texas Catholic in 2022.

Dr. Karla Bellinger, formerly of the John S. Marten Program for Homiletics and Liturgics at the University of Notre Dame, was hired as the institute’s founding executive director. “The purpose of the program is to renew the preachers in order to renew preaching,” Bellinger told Texas Catholic.

“The purpose of preaching is to encounter God; preaching that raises their hearts, minds and souls to God.”

An OSV publication: Click for full article

Mary and Hector Garcia, Saint Joseph group leaders at St. Ann’s Parish.

Hearing a homily is no longer passive for people in the pews.

… How can they hear without someone to preach? – Romans 10:14

Hector and Mary Garcia of St. Ann’s Church have been walking closely with Deacon Jim Wainer as he participates in a Preaching for Encounter program. “Deacon Jim has always had charisma and a natural way of connecting with people,” Hector Garcia explained. “But since he has been learning through the Institute for Homiletics in this Preaching program, he now connects us deeply with the Word in a way that feels personal to each of us.”

Mary has witnessed the impact firsthand. “I record deacon’s homilies, and when we watch them later, we notice people’s faces — how they listen, how they respond in the moment. You can see the difference his preaching makes.” In addition to the preaching for clergy, the Institute for Homiletics at the University of Dallas also provides learning and formation for groups laity called Saint Joseph’s Preachers.

Each of these groups meets monthly to pray for their priest or deacon. They also study how to pray the Mass and listen carefully to the homily. Together, Hector and Mary lead a team of 12 parishioners who have been learning to provide ongoing feedback to help Deacon Jim grow as a preacher.

If you want to read the full article. Link here and go to page 15.

On this feast day of the newly canonized saint Carlo Acutis, another young saint-in-the-making named Logan Edwards, 24, asks the Church, how does Catholic preaching connect with young people? His three-part series, “Young People on the Road,” arises from his summer of research at the Institute for Homiletics, working with a thousand transcribed pages of Lilly Endowed young adult conversations.

Using the metaphor of the road to Emmaus, Edwards offers three masterful reflections to aid the Church in its preaching with young adults:

Part One:    Questioning and Listening

Part Two:     Exploration and Accompaniment

Part Three:  Identification and Proclamation

As we focus on youth on this feast day, Pope Leo describes Acutis’ life as an invitation to all of us, especially young people, “not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces”.  This series of articles offers concrete advice to help that to happen.