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Priests urged to pump up their pulpit preaching by Vatican’s new media champion

Catholic priests have been urged to pump up their sermons

By
CATHAL DERVAN,
IrishCentral Staff Writer
Published Monday, November 7, 2011, 8:17 AM
Updated Monday, November 7, 2011, 8:17 AM

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St. Gabriel’s Church in Clontarf, DublinCatholic priests have been urged to pump up their sermons and make them more exciting – by a Vatican Cardinal
Catholic priests have been urged to pump up their sermons and make them more exciting – by a Vatican Cardinal
Photo by Google Images


Catholic priests have been urged to pump up their sermons and make them more exciting – by a Vatican Cardinal who advocates the use of Twitter and social media.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi has claimed that pulpit preaching has become so boring it is almost ‘irrelevant’ in the internet age.

The Vatican based Cardinal has urged priests to jazz up their ‘formulaic and boring’ sermons in a bid to move with the times.

The Holy See’s unofficial Minister for Culture, Cardinal Ravasi told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that priests need to smarten up their act.

“The advent of televised and computerised information requires us to be compelling and trenchant, to cut to the heart of the matter, resort to narratives and colour,” said Cardinal Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, at a seminar in Rome.

“Too many priests employ theological language that is grey, dull and flavourless. Instead they should spice up their sermons with graphic stories contained in the Bible which use much more forceful imagery.

“The Bible is crowded with stories, symbols and images.”

The outspoken Cardinal also advocates the use of Twitter and social networking sites by Catholic priests.

He added: “We need to remember that communicating faith doesn’t just take place through sermons. It can be achieved through the 140 characters of a Twitter message.

“Whether they like it or not, priests in the pulpit should be aware that their congregations are the children of television and the internet.”

​
See more: News from Ireland , Irish Catholic Church , Irish Catholic Church
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10 Comments

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warlocks | Nov 08, 2011, 02:05 AM EST
TWITTERING A GOSPEL ? lol Hellooooo . The Vatican still doesn't get it ? The Ship is Sinking and you Guys are Twittering lol You Guys sound like Nero. playing his fiddle as Rome Burnt. any one have a cup so we can save a sinking Ship ----The Roman Catholic Church !

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Collette2 | Nov 08, 2011, 01:58 AM EST
..boxed ear.

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Collette2 | Nov 08, 2011, 01:57 AM EST
You naughty person, hybernia, hopefully they wouldn't know what they were, I'd never heard of them until I was in my 60's. I hope your mother doesn't read or recognise you in your comment, knowing Irish mothers, you'd be in for a boxed year.

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thesavageirish | Nov 07, 2011, 04:20 PM EST
As god is my twitness! 140 character sermons. Waiting for him to suggest a strobe light and fog machine. When the rabbits out of the hat........ As the late great Tommy Cooper would say..., jus like that!...... I think not.

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norinalundy | Nov 07, 2011, 01:19 PM EST
After decades of not going to church because of a religious decision by my parents, I have decided to return in order to have God in my life. I guess I did not have to return to a building in order to do this, but I counted on a spiritual connection/feeling and it is working. Granted the homilies could be a bit more invigorating and up to date, and the ritual could involve more of the children and families that would appeal to more.

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hybernia | Nov 07, 2011, 01:13 PM EST
I don't think it would help, most of the old dears who attend church are deaf anyway. Better idea would to supply the clergy with blow up dolls, then they might leave the children alone.

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Portia777 | Nov 07, 2011, 10:55 AM EST
Why break the habits of a lifetime? With all the untruths this cult has told to its sheeple, it has no chance of survival.There is no place for a patriarchal, hierarchial power pyramid in 2011 Eire.The men of "god" are no more.

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FGreggMeagher | Nov 07, 2011, 09:54 AM EST
Maybe the priests, like the Vatican, could start preaching the Truth about Spiritual and Physical Being: the Structure and Natures.

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joan1954 | Nov 07, 2011, 09:29 AM EST
Amen to CitizenWhy.

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CitizenWhy | Nov 07, 2011, 09:23 AM EST
I'd suggest that that priests get more spiritually meaningful in their sermons. How often do you hear anything like the sermon of Fr. Patrick Peyton that followed the film "Hill Number 1"? What has happened to sermons that deal with the Gospels and spiritual charity instead of social commentary?

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