I grew up a very convicted atheist. I was angry and hostile against even the idea of faith. At university a friend brought me along with her to church, just to show me what it was like. I agreed to go along, just because it was important to her and I was curious. I imagined it was going to be like all the Remembrance Sunday or School Christmas Services I had been dragged along to as a Girl Guide, i.e. monotonous, stuffy, stuck in the past. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was the sermon that really caught me - for the first time, I felt like I was actually hearing the message, like the sermon was addressed to me personally, as if the Priest had looked inside my heart and saw all the pain I harboured there. I remember trying to hold back tears. Needless to say, I kept going back to that church, joined a Bible study group and eventually had an experience that just convinced me there had to be some truth in the matter and I ended up getting Confirmed a year later. A good sermon can change lives

the best homilies i've heard are ones where the officiant shows how to apply the gospel/readings to my daily life

Fr. Casey, my brother isn't that religious, but surprisingly he really enjoys watching your videos! May God reward you eternally!

When my daughter was a toddler she used to say loudly in church “is it over yet?”. Our father was wonderful. at the end of mass he started to say “It’s over now” to everyone with a big smile on his face. He also had times he would tell stories to the children and then explain to the congregation how it applied to the gospel readings. He was wonderful and our whole family, even my daughter and father and mother-in-law loved him. He is now retired and we miss him greatly. Everyone since has been boring. They don’t try to show their human side or care about the children.

My favorite chestnut from one of my favorite priests: "Jesus was preaching the Old Testament. He couldn't preach from the New Testament because it hadn't been written yet." I was in the choir, facing the congregation, and had to squelch my giggles.

Fr Jim at St Jude's in Westlake grew up on a farm 20 miles from his parish and liberally sprinkles his homilies with stories and lessons from his childhood. We thank God for him every day...

Now I feel less guilty when I may get bored during a homily. I really think more priests should be taking public speaking classes, lessons, or at least accepting feedback because it matter what they're saying but also HOW they say it, especially to capture the attention of young people in church.

Isn't curious that this video came to my feed exactly when I was stuck in the preparation of a sermon? Thank you, Father Casey, and may the blessing of God be upon you always!

The biggest problem with homilies in the Church is that it guides, but doesn’t teach or evangelize. Many Catholics, especially ex-Catholics, can’t/couldn’t explain the kerygma. Priests should remember that many don’t know the very basics of the Christian faith and it should be the goal of each priest to never let it be said that someone who went to Mass never was taught that God sent His Son, Jesus to die for their sins and rose again the third day in victory over sin and death and it is through faith and faithfully believing in and abiding in Christ that one may enter eternal life. That is my goal as a catechist, but it must also be the goal of the priests, lest the Church be not much more than a self-help group with a dash of Jesus. We cannot afford to offer this anymore. It is harvest time in the midst of war. We must not lose sight of this. More must be asked of the hearts and minds of those in the pews. We are sheep in need of a tender shepherd, but we are also warriors in need of a commander under the authority of the King.

As a former teacher, I can relate to a lot of this. Putting yourself in the shoes of a student who doesn't already know the material is one of the hardest things, and I think you touched on that when you talking about imagining the questions someone else might have about scripture. And exactly as you say, it's not realistic to teach everything about a topic in one lecture or even one semester, but if you can inspire the students to want to learn, they'll keep learning long after they leave your class.

My Priest is a passionate speaker and his homilies are relevant and holy. Our community is blessed.

I'm a licensed preacher in my tradition. I love preaching. I find that people often don't hear what I thought I was saying. I think that I say things and God uses it to speak to people. I do my best to prepare good sermons, and, I hope, God works through that.

As a priest, my best moment is sharing the Word. I look forward to preaching always. One thing which I have always done to help me in preaching is always to stay focused on the text and not ruminate over many ideas. Every good homily makes ONE point. Thanks for this Fr.

The most memorable homilies I remember are the ones that truly make a connection to people. The more personal the topics are, the more united I feel with the church if that makes sense. Father Casey, I started reading your book and I hear your voice narrating in my mind from watching so many of your videos! I love it so far and I've learned a lot from only a few chapters in!

We've encountered priests who give great, energizing, and interactive homilies, but don't seem to care about the Eucharist. The cult of personality should never overshadow the true realities of the Mass. Blessed are the parishes that have both great preaching and a priest that believes in the True Presence in their words and actions.

I would just be happy if somebody would teach a certain priest that I know that ending every sentence with okay is not exactly the best way to give a sermon.

This is not easy for any priest in any community. What can grab a teenager's attention may be different from a grandparent's. The points you mentioned are very helpful --- especially the strong concise phrase or sentence that can easily be remembered (and repeat it a few times throughout the homily.) One thing that may also help is improving audio in church as it's hard to understand the priest in certain churches where one can clearly hear an echo or if the fan or air conditioning nearby is so overpowering it's hard to hear the priest.

For three years in my ministry and as a young ordained, preparing my homily is the most difficult part. I really feel the pressure. There are some times that my homily seems to be ok but there are some times that I don't even understand what I am really saying or I have a fear that people might not understand it. But what keeps me to continue in preaching is because the Word of God never runs of words. It continue to inspire us, it continue to give as life. And now, I started my Facebook page in order to continue to preach even in social media. Thank you for this video.

Will be praying for all priests. May the Holy Spirit guide them in their homilies. 🙏🏻

As a kid, our pastor was known for his “fun socks” collection. He said he had a few plain black socks for serious events like funerals, but otherwise I don’t remember ever seeing the same socks twice. For “regular” Sundays, he’d step out from behind the pulpit to show off and describe his socks. But once a month, we had Children’s Mass, and he’d bring the kids up to sit in front of the altar, and link his socks to the message he would preach. I don’t know how much adults necessarily enjoyed it, but it certainly got this kid to pay attention each week!

I sometimes feel guilty for getting distracted during the sermon, though I guess it's not always my fault haha

This video was so on point! My husband and I will now start going back to in-person mass again as we are fully vaccinated. But we were enamored by virtual Sunday masses that we watched during the pandemic that were from a parish that is in a different state. Watching mass was very enjoyable and enlightening at this particular parish. Whereas, I fear my mind will wander during masses at the church by our house because I feel that the homilies are usually disjointed and rarely have any relationship to my own experiences or the world as I know it. I will try to make an effort to get the most out of mass as I can. I think preaching is a gift that unfortunately not everyone has, but maybe the art of preaching can be taught better in seminaries.

Perhaps some priests aren’t meant to preach, but only teach! I thank you, Fr. Casey, for spreading your net along these KZfaq lines so I can have a conversation with another person about my faith by listening to your videos. Shalom

Here's the thing, Fr. Casey - if the priest is a good homilist, he will keep the congregation enraptured even if his homily is half an hour long (Pope St. John Paul II was famous for hour-long homilies; another example is our recently passed Fr. Graham Golden, O. Praem., who often had homilies that were 20-30 minutes long, but never seemed that way). If he isn't a good homilist, even a 5 minute homily feels like forever.

Let us pray for all our priests who dedicate themselves to their people with generosity and unknown sacrifices

A good homily really prepares you to lovingly accept the body and blood. I have been blessed to have had several pastors who had a knack to really digging into the reading and finding a way to make us THINK about what the word really means to us as people as faith... (One of them was a Franciscan, but several were Jesuits)

I once attended a church where the priest was a huge fan of The Soporanos and would try to relate what he was talking about to an episode to explain it better. His love for The Sopranos was hilarious and made what he had to say very interesting and relatable in today’s terms.

I take notes during de homily and review them during the week.

HUGE ISSUE! Glad to hear you address this because I truly feel it directly correlates to people leaving the Church. You are an excellent communicator. I look forward to your videos/homilies. Personally, from attending mass through the years, I can recite almost every gospel by memory. Nothing new- or so I thought. It was only after connecting with Bishop Barron that I listened to the Word and it became the Word on Fire. His ability to explain, to bring us into the times, mentality, and culture of the times when the gospel was written has drawn me many times to think “so that is what that gospel meant!” He picks up on every nuance in those readings. The gospel becomes alive. I found a priest at a local parish who had the ability to move us this way. Last week we were told he is being transferred to another parish in a different city. Back to square one…

The priests style is really important in my opinion. I've seen lecture style, casual storytime style, and at protestant churches I've seen fire and brimstone emotional style. Unfortunately I've also seen dry monotone style as well and I've also seen some who always manage to guilt and blame the listener. I know we arent supposed to go church shopping to find the priest who we like best (and some actually look for the prettiest church instead) and we are supposed to go to the church that serves our area, but here in Alabama I have noticed that so many people will drive an hour to fill up a church with a priest who can give a good homily, while the church five minutes from their home has barely 20 people there. How common is church shopping and what do you think about it?

The same thing happened in the congregation I attended and in many others on the Sunday after 9/11. Despite a steady stream of people dropping by the church all week, so incredibly troubled, the sermon that was already written prior to the 11th was what we heard on Sunday morning. It happened on a Tuesday! There was ample time to write a new one!

I totally agree! I’ve been through homilies that nearly put me to sleep. Also. Please don’t just regurgitate the scripture to me, tell me something of relevance that brings the gospel to life.

Growing up in an old school Italian parish, our priest said the mass in Latin. His homilies might as well have been in Latin too, incredibly dry and had absolutely no relevance to me or my brothers and sisters. Today, our priest is a guy I’ve known since he was a teen, he grew up here. Absolutely terrific. His homilies are funny, relevant, on point and best of all, non-political.

Oh, boy, a series of extremely bad homilies has punched me in the gut in the past. Right now, 3/4 parishes in my area, a Latin American diocese, are suffering this problem right now, and it can be downright depressing to the faithful. This needs to be addressed ASAP, as I see it is a common problem across all Catholicism. Good video, blessings in Christ Jesus.

Br Casey, I go to Mass every weekend (as I’ve done all my life) but it’s your homilies that I eagerly look forward to every Monday morning for consolation, guidance and inspiration. Thank you and please keep up the great work.

Sometimes the problem is not in the sermon, some people do not give a chance and go straight to the cell phone. As for the clergy, I think it is important for the preacher to pay attention to the time, the longer the homily the less people will hear, I think the ideal time is 10 to 15 minutes depending on the speed of speech.

Many thanks Fr. Casey! I grew up in the deep south as a Baptist. The impression that I got as a kid was that we are all going to hell and unless we followed some undefined path to "salvation". Sermons went on for an hour, harping on a passage from the old Testament, often never connecting with the Gospels or even mentioning Jesus Christ. Then, 20 years ago I came home. As a Catholic, I feel like a 'real Christian'. I listen to every homily with interest, trying to tie the Gospels into life. Most of the homilies that I have heard and read have shown real effort and are inspirational in their own way. However, the most memorable and moving homilies all came from priests belonging to a congregation known as the 'Passionists'. Don't get me wrong, because I love your homilies, as well as those from Bishop Robert Baron and Fr. Mike Schmitz on KZfaq. Keep the Faith!

I believe there is no boring Homilies!When you go with an open heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ is always present. Therefore, rejoice and blessed His Holy name for granting you the opportunity to listen the Holy Gospel!!! Amen ✝️🙏✝️

I grew up in a retirement community, and most of the parishioners were seniors. Other than CCD and the annual carnival, there wasn't anything else offered for the kids. The homilies were totally written/spoken with the senior community in mind. One day, at a crowded Mass, I was around 9 or 10, and whispered to my dad "Church is boring". Right after I said that, the priest said "kids tell me all the time that church is boring...what do they think this is, Disneyland?!". My dad never forgot the look on my face--there was no way the priest could have heard me from where we were sitting.

Making it relevant: My preacher once related this story (which I'm abridging)... in old logging communities it was standard practice when a tree was sawed down to brand the end of the log before floating it downstream. Unscrupulous loggers downstream sometimes cut off the ends of logs and re-branded them. So the preacher of that community preached a homily about the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal". Everyone praised the sermon, yet went home to continue re-branding logs. So the next week he re-phrased the commandment: "Thou shalt not cut the ends off thy neighbors' logs". The point for US, of course, was that we ourselves must understand the spirit of God's Laws, and not fool ourselves into believing that we are somehow clever enough to circumvent them. From creative tax returns, to abusing free samples, to walking into a store to ask about a product that we intend to buy on-line... we find more ways to "justify" sin than there are sins.

The best Homilies I’ve heard and remember to this day are short homilies and relatable. Other Homilies are forgotten the second the Priest ends his Homily. Most folks are already day dreaming at minute 7 or 8. 💯

My pastor's homilies are 20 minutes long! And we all sit & listen to them. They are as you stated, relevant, scripture-based. Oh, yes, they incorporate a PowerPoint, too, as not everyone is capable of just sitting and listening for 20 minutes. As a result, I remember quite a bit about what he talks about! Thanks, Father Casey, for your thoughtful words.

Here in Brazil what most makes homilies hard to go through for me is that they are more often than not very bland unchallenging platitudes. A lot of "good-feeliness", very little "you need to straighten up your deeply broken life". Granted I actually like to hear homilies that directly (or as directly as possible) touch on my personal flaws and inspire me to better myself. My wife is different and she is very turned off by that type of homily (she also dislikes vague feel goody homilies too though), so I think a priest will never satisfy everyone all the time (but varying in the amount of hellfire throwing might help balance things out to help the most amount of people). But one thing is certain: no one I know likes a priest that only speaks platitudes and feel goody nonsense that doesn't seem to affect him personally. Be it giving a rough "get your life together" homily or a homily full of hope and wonder at the glory of God, a priest needs to make sure it comes from the heart. If he is doctrinally sound, going from the heart rarely fails I believe.

We’re blessed at Holy Spirit with Fr Pat and Fr Steve, and I really enjoyed your homilies when you were there as well.

I am fortunate to have two priests at my parish who give fine homilies. I attend Mass on late Saturday afternoons. Sometime during the following week, I ALWAYS make it a point to listen to the homily of Fr. James Meeks and a wonderful Lutheran Pastor (or two) that video their homilies. I have done this for the past year, and have never felt so spiritually ALIVE and AT PEACE.

Dear Father Casey, you are an incredible preacher, and you are homilies are great! Keep doing this! God bless you!

Fr Mark Goring delivers great little homilies on his KZfaq channel 🙏🏼 I think to deliver a good homily a prerequisite is to lead a faithful, holy and virtuous life. Only such a life can truly inspire their homilies.

I still remember during my high school the priest asking us to jot down important points...now I understand why......I really miss those days

Very nice Father thank you. I love your homilies. Father Casey has a soundtrack? I heard it. When are you going to release it for purchase? I Have my tickets for Cruella Saturday. Have a wonderful Memorial day!

Father Casey! You rock! I'm gonna be binging these videos today while I am at work. God is good and thanks for putting in the effort! These videos matter so much!

You mention Eucharist. i am an Evensong fan! To be close to God in the Evensong Service , an end to the day and a quietening of the body and Soul for the night. It is really special in the Winter when the Cathedral is bathed in soft light and it is dark outside and so cosy inside. The wonderful Collect "Lighten our Darkness" is so beautiful.

Thank you brother. You made me to reflect upon this important ministry. I will follow your suggestions. God bless

One of the reason I loved and love "The God Squad" with Rabbi Gelman is he would tell stories or parables about our religion or his and make it so interesting and thought provoking. It can stay with you for weeks or longer if good. It is a gift but most can improve. I felt that way about India recently and the lack of mention as that woman did about 911. Some churches took up collections, ours didn't. I didn't stop going, but i understand what she means. You need to feel fed, feel part of a large group of believers.

I would love to hear you and Fr Patrick explain EVERYTHING that happens in the mass. Don't skip over anything; go over all of it in its entirety.

I agree Fr. Casey, well said. My trifecta of great weekend homilists are Bishop Barron, Fr. Mike Schmitz, & Fr. Rich Pagano. You have any others to recommend?

I was a Baptist deacon prior to coming into full communion with the church. There are only two things I miss about the Baptist church: the music and the preaching. Catholics… we have the fullness of the faith that was once and for all time delivered so preach it proudly and loudly.

Fr. Casey: I am 2 1/2 years into a 6 year discernment/formation process leading, God willing, to being ordained as a permanent deacon. I found this video to be very helpful. In particular, I appreciate the idea of connecting the readings to people's lives.

Fr. Casey, Thank you for your sermons they always Connect with me. God bless you Fr. Casey. Amen 🙏

You had a great Homily this past Sunday Father Casey.

Glad to know I am not alone in this. I almost never get more than one lesson to meditate on from any homily, no matter how long it is.

I have to say that you are quite correct. I knew two priests that always used the homily to teach the congregation about scriptural exegesis. Excruciatingly boring.

This is such a great and important message, and is something that I think we really need to embrace in our Masses. When I was in middle school/ high school, I went from a kid who would take ANY opportunity to skip mass (so I could watch anime and play video games) to one who really looked forward to going and learning in Mass because my family moved to a Church that had a Priest who knew how to make that week's lessons in the Readings relevant to my modern life in a ways that were relatable and easy to understand, even for a teenager. Even today, I will still travel to that Priest's parish (which is over an hour's drive away) to listen to him speak and I still respect him as one of the wisest men I know of.

Thank you for your great inspiration on the importance of relevant homily which most priests ignored or refused to change. I hope that this will reach out to all the priests and bishops that poor homily will leave the faithful goes astray. Poor homily in a mass leave the faithful faithless.

Thanks Father Casey for the tips that I will use when I become a Priest.

I wish the priests were told to preach CATHOLIC teachings rather than the amorphous stuff we get dished up every week. No wonder people who leave the church to go to some "relevant" protestant church down the road seem to think that it doesn't matter, that it "all the same" when clearly it is not. It is just that they haven't been told what the points of difference really are. I get the feeling that the Church authorities seem to think that people somehow absorb it - but from where? Certainly not in Catholic schools any more. And they are no longer being taught it in Church either.

Pray for your priest as often as you hope to receive.

Thank you for sharing. I am giving a talk about my faith at a woman's tea. Not really a sermon. But, I still wanted to be able to reach my audience for Christ. I haven't really spoken in front of a group since my baptism 20 years ago, except for bible studies. I don't really count those since it wasn't just me sharing. Your tips are very helpful. Thanks again.

As a young Pastor looking to better his craft, this is helpful. Thanks for putting out this video.

Fr. James Mallon in his book Divine Renovation Guidebook, p.138 provides this very helpful "Sunday Homily Content Check" Scriptural Theme (from the Readings) What do I want them to know? What do I want them to do? Why does it make difference? Hook (good homily starter) Humor point Personal element Kerygma Does it feel like Good News?

Nowayds we can't go out, we miss out father church, but the curfew is still going on. But u used to satisfy us, Thank u father Casey May the lord always bless u and give u peace and watch over u🙏

This is so applicable for everyone trying to preach the Word of God! ..also did he just start a Fr. Caseyverse in the thumbnail...?

Exactly… when ii was a kid… in the homily but when an english speaking priest making the homily …. I can’t understand a bit… but as my father says the important thing is we go to church every Sunday…

I sometimes feel uncomfortable to go to church bc. I often shed some tears bc. of "too much" faith. I'm so moved over Gods power.

What a great message that this has today. I haven’t been going to church for almost 2 years now because of that very reason that the homily just have nothing to do with what is going on in either myself or the congregation. It’s sad and I wonder sometimes that if the preacher stays as this one has for 12 years or so that he gets a little same old thing with the crowd and just gives them the nuts and bolts of the message and that’s it

The best homilies I have ever heard was from Father Foley. A Redemptorist priest who was a friend of the family. He was in a bilingual parish in Montreal. I could listen to him all day long. He had travelled a lot during his life and he would take the teaching of the scripture and transpose it in modern day life. His adventures were great and he has a way to bring the teaching into it. I miss him a lot. He touched me greatly with his humanity and his empathy specially when I lost my parents to cancer. I still pray for his guidance today.

THANK YOU! This could possibly be the best and most important video you've ever posted. From your mouth to every homilist's ear...

As a catechism teacher, the video is really meaningful nd informative to me. From now on, I will adjust my teaching so that my lessons will be to be relevant to my students.

Bless you Fr Cassey. I truly agree with you.100%

What a GREAT video!!! I ABSOLUTELY agree !!! I am so thankful that Priest like you talk in Media, so more people can be reached.

Wow! That speaks so much to me. Thankyou for helping me know I'm not crazy. You are really awesome. Thankyou.

I don't know who the intended audience of this video is, but as a recently ordained deacon, the impact of a good or bad homily is terrifying. While I have received more positive than negative feedback, I try to listen to what the congregation is wanting - and needing - to hear. Thank you so much for your ministry and may God continue to bless you!

That was really true! I remember some priests who enjoy preaching to themselves. I mean that their voices sometimes too soft I can barely hear. But, I keep going to the church because I remember the point is I worship God, try hard to be focused even the priests homilies not good enough to support my faith.

Perfect example of great preaching (this gets a bit long): When my Grandma passed away a few years ago, we attended her funeral at her church; a very small one that honestly was practically no bigger than my living room and dining room (I don't think it even had a speaker system and just had to rely on the priest for his voice to carry, which shows you how small it was). Virtually all of us had never been to her church before. She was also Orthodox, so we were unfamiliar with the typical ceremonies there. The priest, bless him, knew that our family was entering unfamiliar territory, and having to mourn the loss of a loved one that had been our family rock for 98 years wasn't helping. So not long into Mass, he kind of stopped everything for a moment to address the rest of the congregation/regular church-goers there and (I'm paraphrasing here) basically said, "Hey everyone. We're here to mourn the loss of this woman who was a staple in the community, and celebrate her life, and obviously, her family is here. But most of her family is Catholic, and obviously don't frequent here, so they don't know that we conduct things a little differently here. So every so often, I'm going to have to pause to explain certain things to them, so this Mass might go on for just a bit longer than usual. But for those of you who have been coming here week-to-week for years, we can use this opportunity as a refresher for why we conduct Mass the way we do, what all these hand movements mean and why, because often we can get so used to our routines that we forget what it all meant to begin with. So please be patient with the family, okay?" What followed was one of the nicest, engaging Masses I've been to in a long time, in which the priest ticked off all the various volunteer work and other stuff my Grandma did over the years, sang songs in Polish (and we were given pamphlets with English translations so we could roughly follow along), and intermixed the Bible readings with examples of how we could take the lessons of the stories and apply them to our modern lives. It's been years now, and obviously, all the specific things he said that day have been forgotten, but the thing I'll never forget is the warm feeling I had (oddly enough, considering this was a funeral). The priest knew full well we were most likely only going to be there that one time, and yet, he went out of his way to make us feel welcome, feel included, and took the time to explain all the customs. He could've easily just conducted business as usual and expected us to catch up, but instead, he turned Grandma's funeral into a Mass I'll not soon forget. That church was tiny, but the hearts in it were large.

Father are you alright you do good works. You really try to get in-depth with the material that you present. I'm Roman Catholic and I must admit I had not attend mass for many many years period but this does not represent giving up desire to become a better Christian and do good works. I definitely do try to be sincerely serious within my belief. As far as the homily I understand no matter where you are in the world everyone is going to be receiving this a message on the same day. In my thoughts perhaps with this rigid scheduling messages at mass. Anyhow I'll try to make my thoughts short. My thoughts are the Messi being offered on a certain time at a certain parish from certain church's maybe out-of-step for what is needed and that location more than perhaps in another location and other parish or Church the local community basically maybe I was stuck for what the congregation the community is in more need of at this time then perhaps another Community church. I hope my message came through clearly I find myself at the end of my days multiple health issues meany drugs and I do have chemo, leukemia. so my brain isn't always functioning right. Anyway thank you. ,great message. carry-on and God be with you.

Very good! All priests should heed this.Why the isn't this taught to trainees priests. For years I have witnessed the tragedy of people gazing at the priest, week after week year after year (the ones who have stayed) l listening to the most awful sermons. A good sermon is a rarity; what the hell is going on?

Thanks, Fr. Can you talk about what to do when suffering through an awful homily? Is the mass still life-giving?

I've heard homilies that made me regret coming to church at all. the priest who almost botched my grandma's funeral was one of those, unfortunately.

God bless u more father Casey... u really inspires us all with all ur vlog..We love u...

Thank you for bringing and talking about this problem.

Only thing that keeps me consistently going to every week's Mass are the Bible readings and the Homily. Pointless for someone like me attempting to engage my focus in the rituals, the singing, the rote chants, blah, blah, etc., etc. Regardless of how my faith has waxed and waned, as an adult, I've always loved the Bible. Its all about how The Bible is relevant in the here and now.

This is it. Spot on, bro, spot on. Thank you. Combine this with the Sunday obligation, and you have a church saying: "unless you come listen to boring homilies every week, you lose your salvation". Good news or spiritual violence and torture? I have been so grateful for the pandemic and getting a year off Mass. Not that I've missed Mass - I've enjoyed good preaching from another country over KZfaq, and even attended liturgies of other churches. Now I have empirical proof that they can compensate for Sunday Mass and even more - contrary to what some cardinals and bishops try to say. Haven't lost faith, hope or love, on the contrary.

The sermon structure in the Catholic Church really speaks to me. We use a passage from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, and then apply those lessons to today's happenings. And it totally makes sense.

I am very thankful to have a Priest that delivers wonderful Homilies. One of my goals each Mass is to take away one big thing from the Homily. It helps me to stay engaged and to keep from daydreaming. I have only heard one poor Homily from a visiting Priest. There was nothing wrong with the message, only the delivery. It’s very difficult to listen when someone speaks in monotone😅 God Bless everyone!

basically the same issue as in academia: knowing lots about a subject doesn't necessarily mean u can teach it (or keep listeners' attentions, for that matter). makes me thank God I had v engaging Catechism teachers growing up!

I grew up as a Catholic but left the church after the aftermath of Vatican II did all it's damage. It was the Traditional Latin Mass that drew me back, but in the interim I attended a few different Protestant churches. I learned that in most Protestant denominations, their seminaries TEACH how to RESERCH and how to PREACH. I myself was in the Catholic seminary for several years and never was the art of preaching every mentioned or taught. The art of preaching was suppose to be a grace you automatically received upon ordination. (I believe that to be a false belief). Bottom line, the Protestants do it better. Even most of the Traditional Latin Mass priests can't preach worth a crap.

Just heard the news on 215 child remains found in canda under a catholic school. I hope you guys stay safe and remain strong in God's spirit.

Thank you very much, Father. A very good reminder for me.

I love the thumbnail!

Fr. Casey, awesome video. Thank you

Another helpful resource is Waznak's, "An Introduction to the Homily."