Best Online Homilies?
When and if I find myself with more time, Vox Nova readers may discover my growing appreciation for Father Robert Barron. Many know Father Barron as the Youtube priest who engages issues cultural, theological, political, economic etc. from a Catholic perspective in short 5 to 8 minute clips. Most theologians cringe when someone tries to do a 5-minute spot on the Trinity, but Father Barron knows the tradition inside-out, never (in my experience) falls into theological oversimplification or caricature, and communicates well. I breathe easy knowing people get their catechesis from Father Barron. (Incidentally, part of my motivation for promoting Father Barron here is the disturbing news that RealCatholicTV, featuring Michael Voris, is the most watched Catholic source on Youtube. The sooner Voris loses that distinction, the better for the Church.)
Beyond his Youtube apostolate, Father Barron is a busy man. He is a professor of theology at Mundelein, is in the midst of a huge production known as the Catholicism project (check out the trailer) and is the author of several first-rate books. His short work Eucharist is the single best resource I’ve encountered for adult catechesis in that area, and I’ve spent the last three years reading in that area. I would also recommend The Priority of Christ, his most academic work, for those looking for something meatier.
Of course, as a priest, Father Barron also gives the occasional homily. It is my preference to get my homilies at my parish. St. Basil’s in Toronto features solid preaching, so I have no concerns in that area. But even if I did, I get nervous about the kind of tribalism that can emerge when people feel that they must replace aspects proper to parish life with e-substitutes. As such, I was never one for listening to homilies online. Nevertheless, as a father of two small boys, the quality of preaching at my home parish is, in many instances, quite immaterial. I am so busy trying to herd cats during Mass, that many a homily goes by unheard. On such days I have taken to tuning in to Father Barron’s homilies over at www.wordonfire.org.
And this got me thinking: what are the best homilies available online? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Brett Salkeld is a doctoral student in theology at Regis College in Toronto. He is a father of two (so far) and husband of one.
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yes, Father Barron is very good! an excellent teacher.
Michael Voris does raise many good points, can you explain specifically what your beef is with him? thanks.
http://blog.adw.org/
Msgr. Charles Pope
Hi Jasper,
I’ll start with a caveat. I don’t want to go into Voris too much here, because I don’t have time and I don’t want the thread to turn into a debate about Voris. Those have the tendency to get ugly. Nevertheless I think I owe you an answer given my original parenthetical comment.
If Father Barron knows the tradition, never makes theological caricatures and communicates well, Voris does none of this. In my experience he is constantly misrepresenting the Catholic position. Here are 3 examples:
1. His claims about the Jews and post-temple Judaism being a “man-made” religion have been rejected even by uber-conservatives like Steve Kellmeyer.
2. He has a video where he talks about Hell in which he totally ignores the Catholic tradition’s serious reflections about the relationship between justice and mercy, presenting them in such a way as to totally caricature the Christian understanding of God.
3. His suggestion that only “faithful” Catholics should have the vote is simply outrageous.
On top of misrepresenting the Church in this way, Voris’ strident tone is the very opposite of Father Barron’s inviting and charitable approach. I just don’t see how Voris mode of communicating is likely to convince anyone who does not already agree with him. And his self-representation as the spokesman for “real” Catholics puts the rest of us in a bit of a bind when we try to tell others that what Voris says (about the Jews, Hell, the franchise etc.) often isn’t what the Church teaches. The atheists would much rather take Voris at his word. If he is our genuine representative, we must really be delusional.
In short, I find Voris’ content full of error and his style basically unchristian.
I hope this helps.
Barron’s short piece on Clint Eastwood’s Gran Turino is really quite good. He is the smartest and most subtle of the orthodox non-Americanist priests doing popular work, imho.
Mine too.
Could someone do a rough estimate of how many homilies a year there are? Wikipedia tells us, “The Church has over 41,406 diocesan and religious-order priests in the United States.” I think it can be assumed that just about every diocesan priest would present a homily on Sunday. Would this be true of priests in religious orders? If 41,406 priests give homilies once a week, that amounts to 2,153,112 homilies a year. At 10 to 15 minutes each (average 12.5 minutes), that would be 26,913,900 minutes, or 448,565 hours, or 18,690 days, or 51 years of homilies. Hopefully in all of that there is something brilliant to be found, but of course the question would be how.
I listened to Sermon 505 : Logic of Justice; Logic of Grace, and while I found Fr. Barron very personable and easy to listen to, I found G. B. Caird’s analysis of Luke 15:1-32 in St. Luke (The Pelican New Testament Commentaries) much more compelling and informative. Fr. Barron reduced justice to “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” When I think of justice, one of the first things that comes to mind is Martin Luther King quoting or paraphrasing Amos 5:24: “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” And the next thing is Michael J. Sandel’s book Justice, which is on my shelf and which I hope to get around to reading some day.
I admit I am hypercritical, though, especially when it comes to religion.
I just don’t see how Voris mode of communicating is likely to convince anyone who does not already agree with him.
I agree completely, but I think his videos are small masterpieces of their kind, and his presentation is very professional (which is not all that surprising, given his very solid background in broadcasting).
Thanks Brett
Neither of these are online, and so violate the parameters of the question, but I want to recommend them anyway. Herbert McCabe, O.P. has two posthumously published collections of homilies that are really excellent, both in their spiritual depth and intellectual rigor. Also, Ratzinger’s homilies on Creation and the Fall (published by Eerdmans’) are the best single introduction to the theology of creation I know.
McCabe and Ratzinger are two of my favourites. Both very gifted communicators with a profound grasp of theology. Night and day in terms of personality, but the Church needs all kinds.
Jasper,
You’re welcome.
I enjoy reading Fr. Phil Bloom’s homilies http://stmaryvalleybloom.org/homilies.html
Bishop Tom Gumbleton and Fr. John Dear.
Hi David,
I’m sorry your first homily of Father Barron’s was not a smashing success. Did you like any of his Youtube stuff? Will you help me push him past Voris? Only 3,000,000 views behind!
I love Father Barron.