Our Mission and Vision
Three Core Initiatives
We believe that the liturgical homily matters to the faith of the Church. Within the context of the Eucharistic celebration, we come together, encounter the Living God and then go out from the Mass to make a difference in the world in which we live. The liturgical homily is called to be a component of that encounter. The opportunity is great. The execution sometimes falls short. We have seen that incremental improvement in the homily can result in exponential growth, for a preacher, for a parish and for the renewal of the Church. Preaching matters.
The Institute for Homiletics is a collaboration between the University of Dallas and The Catholic Foundation of Dallas. Our focus is to help good preachers become great ones. Great preaching contains good delivery and structure and focus and we do teach that “science of homiletics.” But to be truly effective, the spiritual life of the homilist also comes together in the pastoral discernment of “Lord, how would you have me speak to these people at this time through these scriptures on this particular day in history?”
We offer ongoing formation to both preachers and lay people. We desire that the moment of the homily would resonate in the hearts of the homilist and the hearers, and lead the faith community to the Table with open hands, hearts and minds. Our mission comes to life through these three core initiatives:
1. The Preaching for Encounter Program --This program for Catholic clergy addresses all four pillars of ongoing formation
through the lens of homiletics: human formation,
pastoral formation, intellectual formation and spiritual formation. It gives preachers the time, tools and spiritual space to grow, so that their words
from the ambo reach the
hearts of their people and build faith within their communities.
2. The St. Joseph’s Preachers Program – This program for lay people equips them to listen more deeply and pray more intentionally.
They also learn how to be homiletically-
trained conversation partners so that they can support their preacher. We have seen
this lay program renew both preaching ministry and parish life.
3. Resource for Research & Content - We are in the process of building a hub for homiletics resources. We have the only
Catholic preaching resource search engine
that can help preachers in homily preparation, using carefully curated Catholic websites.
We have a lectionary resource for the Sunday readings featuring Sr. Dianne
Bergant, Dr. Karla Bellinger, Fr. James Wallace and Br. John Barker. Other homiletic resources are in the development stage and soon to come.
Pictured left to right: Chizoaba Onuoha (IT Consultant), Anna Liza Denny, Jane Koenecke,
Elda Campos (Student Worker), Dr. Karla Bellinger, Deacon James Baird and Emily Lugo.
