Events continue ‘Prepare and Proclaim: Enriching Our Mass Experience’ initiative
By Corbin Hubbell
Social Media Coordinator
Speakers from the McGrath Institute for Church Life visited the Diocese of Lincoln Nov. 18-19 as part of the “Prepare and Proclaim: Enriching our Mass experience” program.
The initiative aims to “make good homilies better,” and to encourage Catholics in the pews to prepare to better receive homilies.
The Code of Canon Law, says this about the homily: “C. 767 §1. Among the forms of preaching, the homily, which is part of the liturgy itself and is reserved to a priest or deacon, is preeminent; in the homily the mysteries of faith and the norms of Christian life are to be explained from the sacred text during the course of the liturgical year.”
Homilies – unlike sermons, which can be about any topic – are to be rooted in the readings and/or prayers for that Mass or in the feast that is being celebrated if there is one. A homily is meant to assist the faithful in entering into the celebration of the Mass by better understanding what God is saying to them through the readings.
At Pius X High School in Lincoln, Craig Gould presented for students of the Catholic schools of the diocese in a session titled, “What Do You Know?” The entire student body of Pius attended, and the presentation was made available via livestream to the other five high schools across the diocese.
Gould is the program director for Notre Dame Vision, which includes summer conferences for high school students that help them recognize their vocational call and understand their own story as it connects to the story of Jesus.
He encouraged students to translate their knowledge of faith into meaningful action. Using visuals of the night sky, Gould illustrated the depth of understanding that grows when one moves closer to Christ, comparing the progression from a simple view of stars to a detailed image of a nebula captured by a powerful telescope.
“If you don’t actually come closer to Jesus,” Gould stated, “you can’t simply say, by going through the motions or doing everything you’re supposed to do, that you know Jesus.”
That evening, at St. Mary Church in downtown Lincoln, Dr. Joshua McManaway and Carolyn Pirtle gave presentations focused on deepening faith through Scripture and the arts. The event was open to all.
McManaway is program director for the Savoring the Mystery homiletics project. His talk, “Reading Scripture as a Christian: Finding Christ on Every Page,” examined how the New Testament authors and early Church fathers placed Christ at the center of Scripture, presenting the Bible as a cohesive narrative of God’s saving work.
“A Catholic reading of Scripture is one that finds Christ on every page,” McManaway explained.
Carolyn Pirtle, program director for the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, spoke on “Contemplating God’s Beauty through Scripture and Art.” She highlighted the importance of liturgical music, the arts in Catholic life, and fostering prayer within the home.
“We’re losing our capacity for wonder and for encountering the transcendent,” Pirtle said. “Spending time with and praying with sacred, religious, Christian art can help us recultivate that capacity for contemplation—it can help us see again.”
The evening provided attendees with tools and insights to deepen and enrich their faith through knowledge, action, and beauty.
McManaway and Pirtle were joined by Father Michael Wurtz, SCS, on Tuesday in giving separate presentations to the priests of the Lincoln Diocese during the “Priest Study Day” at St. Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward.
Father Wurtz, a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, is an assistant professor of theology at King’s College (PA) where he has taught since 2019. His talk to the diocesan priests focused on “The Preacher and His Craft.” In short, a priest should be himself as he preaches, drawing on his own gifts and allowing his personality to show through, but the focus of a homily must be on the Gospel, not the preacher himself.
Father Wurtz reviewed the Church’s expectations of the homily and explored tools for crafting and enhancing the homily.
Father Caleb La Rue, chancellor of the diocese, said he enjoyed the presentation.
“I appreciated his insight into the idea of a priest as an artist in the classical sense, using his God-given gifts to create something that gives glory to God when he preaches.”
The full presentations of Dr. McManaway and Carolyn Pirtle are both free to watch and can be found on the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln YouTube channel.
The Catholic Diocese of Lincoln will continue to work with the McGrath Institute for Church Life to grow the diocesan “Prepare and Proclaim: Enriching our Mass experience” program for priests, religious and parishioners across the diocese.
