August 19, 2007
Focus: Teaching Homiletics
Dear Friend,
It is the final week of preparation for the Homiletics Course that I will be teaching 3rd year theologians at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park, Baltimore beginning September. I was offered the position last spring by the Rector, Bob Leavitt, because they wanted more of a practitioner than a theoretician teaching the soon-to-be priests. Needless to say I was flattered.
As I was analyzing what went into the preparation of a Sunday homily, I was also reading source books of noted homiletics professors. What I have came to realize is that what they were suggesting where ideas I had come to by a hit-and-miss method over my almost 40 years of preaching. Talk about someone putting words to your feelings and intuitions!
Just to let you know, the homily for me begins in personal reflection on the sacred text the Sunday before, then moves into exegesis or study of the text, then into seeing what other preachers have done by way of commentary. This phase ends with the clarification of a “focus” statement. Once I know my focus, I can then state what the “function” of the homily will be, that is, what I hope to have happen in the heart of the hearer. With these three steps, I then begin to outline, which is called the form. So there you have it: focus, function, and form.
Tomorrow we have an all-day faculty in-service at the Seminary. This will be a new experience in my own life as a preacher/teacher. I have enjoyed working with seminarians over the years. Now I get to do it more intensely as their teacher two classes a week.
Enjoy these closing weeks of summer.
Fondly,
Father Nick Amato
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