| In the typical Roman Catholic community today there is a dearth of preaching on the most controversial issues of our time in the Sunday Eucharistic celebration. Too seldom Roman Catholics are receiving the proper assistance from the pulpit in forming their minds and consciences on topics that are raging in and having a great impact on the culture. As a result, the mass media often plays more of a role in the formation of Catholic people than do Sunday preachers. This thesis seeks to provide preachers of the Sunday homily with some aids to help them in their mission of speaking to the most controversial issues of the day from the pulpit.;In Chapter 1 the thesis begins with a justification for preaching homilies on controversial topics in the context of the Sunday Eucharist. It addresses three specific concerns: that such preaching may lose its quality of 'homiletic' preaching, that the Sunday Eucharist does not provide enough time to deal with controversial questions adequately, and about preaching on morality in general. Chapter 2, presuming that the moment of preaching on a controversial topic is one of conflict, draws from the field of conflict management, searching for insights that are applicable to the preaching event. Chapter 3 asserts that fear is a major inhibiting factor to preaching on difficult topics. It explores the nature and effects of fear, and provides some methods, drawn from contemporary psychology, for coping with fear. Six preachers were invited to preach homilies on controversial topics, employing principles from chapter 2 and 3 of the thesis. Chapter 4 gathers together the results of their experience, as well as feedback from selected listeners. Chapter 5 contains the writer's evaluation of the process, as well as summary conclusions. |
