‘Sermons should be short, crisp’

MUMBAI: Make your sermon brief, seven to 10 minutes, otherwise people get tired, Bishop Percival Fernandes advises junior priests in his lectures.
The Sunday sermon of priests has become a talking point in Catholic circles in the city with reports quoting the Vatican’s top cultural official, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, that sermons must be more interesting.
Mumbai’s priests have been at the forefront of a campaign to make sermons interesting. Two years ago, Bishop Percival Fernandes set the ball rolling by inspiring an article in the Catholic weekly, The Examiner, which urged priests to make their sermons short.
Bishop Fernandes, who lectures at the Catholic Seminary in Goregaon where priests are trained, said he had done extensive studies on the issue and found that seven to 10 minutes was ideal.
Thomas Dabre, the archbishop of Pune, said, “Be brief, be bright and be gone.’’
Contrary to popular perception, work is on in the diocese to make sermons interesting. Fr Anthony Charanghat, the spokesperson for the archdiocese of Mumbai, said priests here often exchange views on sermons. “There are also seminars and discussions at the deanery level for the clergy held from time to time where the issue of preaching sermons is taken up,’’ he said.
The Vatican cardinal has also asked priests to be in sync with their times and adapt to a high paced tech-savvy world. “We are adapting to the new-tech culture and priests are slowly taking up the use of the internet and emails for their study,’’ said Fr Charanghat.
Ernst Fernandes, a management consultant, said some priests gave interesting sermons. “We live in an increasingly fast-paced, complex world. There is an information deluge from many sources and priests have to adapt to the new culture,’’ he said.