Is it me or MOST Churches in America will preach about how Men & kids should honor God specifically but no sermons about how Women should act ?

[Valletta]

Catholic homilies are usually relatively brief and, in my experience, quite focused on exhorting the congregation to contribute more generously.

An educated guess, based on your failure to answer my questions, is that you've been to one or zero masses this century. Am I right? Please try to not make judgments, especially public judgments, about Catholics based on gossip or scant data.

 

[bèlla]

Pastor Stephen Darby frequently tackled the subject in his sermons before he passed. He expounded on the church's unwillingness to address women with the same candor and the reason many are tight lipped. He acknowledged the reasons were largely financial. Women attend and fund most events, give frequently and are usually more involved. Stepping on their toes may impact their bottom line.

He dove into the downsides of unevenness and the sisterhood that forms and its detriments. While I haven't attended a church that embodied the blatant disregard he spoke of. I've encountered incidents that support his perspective which compelled me to make unwise compromises to remain untouched. Time and maturity have enabled me to develop beneficial alternatives.

When a person has something to prove they'll evoke a different spirit than the one who is certain in his course. A similar temperament may exist when shouldering too much responsibility on your own or without the necessary support. One of the greatest lessons the fairer sex must recognize is that she needn't know it all, do it all, be it all and so on.

The sooner she dismisses the everywoman moniker and accepts her limitations and frailties. The sooner she'll appreciate the things God put in place to compensate. Although society says otherwise a yielded spirit will reach that place as the old is sloughed away and the surrendered soul comes forth.

~bella

 

[Valletta]

Thanks for the great article. Although it is quite lengthy it was otherwise very perceptive. It has been my observation that Catholic homilies play a much smaller role in the mass than the sermons do in Protestant services.

V. SACRED SCRIPTURE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

131 "And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it can serve the Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life."109 Hence "access to Sacred Scripture ought to be open wide to the Christian faithful."110

132 "Therefore, the study of the sacred page should be the very soul of sacred theology. The ministry of the Word, too - pastoral preaching, catechetics and all forms of Christian instruction, among which the liturgical homily should hold pride of place - is healthily nourished and thrives in holiness through the Word of Scripture."111

133 The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.112

Catechism of the Catholic Church - PART 1 SECTION 1 CHAPTER 2 ARTICLE 3

As you can see in the Catholic Catechism, and again I urge you to quote the Catechism when you are telling one of your stories about Catholics, it is Catholic teaching that the homily "should hold pride of place." A person familiar with Holy Scripture should certainly recognize so much of the Catholic mass itself is drawn from Holy Scripture.

 

[zippy2006]

As you can see in the Catholic Catechism, and again I urge you to quote the Catechism when you are telling one of your stories about Catholics, it is Catholic teaching that the homily "should hold pride of place."

What he said is correct. "It has been my observation that Catholic homilies play a much smaller role in the mass than the sermons do in Protestant services."

 

[The Liturgist]

What he said is correct. "It has been my observation that Catholic homilies play a much smaller role in the mass than the sermons do in Protestant services."

That depends on the Protestant service. There are Anglican services that often, perhaps even most of the time, have no sermon, for example, Mattins* or Choral Evensong. Indeed Divine Office sermons even in other denominations such as Lutheran churches will usually only have a sermon if they are the primary Sunday service.

*If Choral Mattins is the main Sunday service and not the Eucharist, then it will have a sermon. Actually I would prefer Anglican churches do this, then do a Litany and then have a simpler, more meditative Eucharist without a homily.

 

[zippy2006]

That depends on the Protestant service. There are Anglican services that often, perhaps even most of the time, have no sermon, for example, Mattins* or Choral Evensong. Indeed Divine Office sermons even in other denominations such as Lutheran churches will usually only have a sermon if they are the primary Sunday service.

It seems that when he spoke of "Protestant services" he was speaking of the sort of service that parallels the Catholic Mass. For low-church or non-liturgical Protestantism the claim will be especially true. Catholic Matins or Vespers also generally have no sermon.

 

[Valletta]

It seems that when he spoke of "Protestant services" he was speaking of the sort of service that parallels the Catholic Mass. For low-church or non-liturgical Protestantism the claim will be especially true. Catholic Matins or Vespers also generally have no sermon.

He also claimed that "Catholic homilies are usually relatively brief and, in my experience, quite focused on exhorting the congregation to contribute more generously." It is quite possible he has been to one or zero Catholic masses this century, he won't say.

 

[The Liturgist]

It seems that when he spoke of "Protestant services" he was speaking of the sort of service that parallels the Catholic Mass. For low-church or non-liturgical Protestantism the claim will be especially true. Catholic Matins or Vespers also generally have no sermon.

In my view the remarks were an over-generalization and also if accepted unchallenged would contribute to the false Protestant vs. Catholic dichotomy that I oppose with such vigor.