Communication from the pulpit: Combining the sacred the basic Part 1of 3

1. Communication from the pulpit: Combining the sacred & the basic  Part 1of 3 Catholic Distance Learning Network � March 2008 Hello and welcome to this three part series on communication from the pulpit. My name is Sherry Kennedy Brownrigg, and I am the president of the Kennedy Brownrigg Group. We specialize in producing dynamic content for a variety of Catholic media platforms. Personally, I provide workshops and individual coaching sessions for priests and seminarians on improving communication from the pulpit and I conduct research on the topic as well as overall communication during the Mass and at the parish level. When I speak anecdotally or casually about the material that I will present in this course, the question that I often encounter is: �So, you want to make the Mass more entertaining?� Absolutely not! In no way do I advocate changing the Mass to make it more entertaining, or light, or something other than what Jesus Christ intends it to be. The Eucharist is God�s perfect communication, and the Mass is our greatest treasure. My only goal with this work is to give priests the tools they need to communicate more effectively with today�s modern parishioner through a greater understanding of basic communication dynamics and how they can be blended with the sacred nature of the priesthood and the Sacrifice of the Mass. I hope this three-part series is useful in your role of teaching our future priests. Hello and welcome to this three part series on communication from the pulpit. My name is Sherry Kennedy Brownrigg, and I am the president of the Kennedy Brownrigg Group. We specialize in producing dynamic content for a variety of Catholic media platforms. Personally, I provide workshops and individual coaching sessions for priests and seminarians on improving communication from the pulpit and I conduct research on the topic as well as overall communication during the Mass and at the parish level. When I speak anecdotally or casually about the material that I will present in this course, the question that I often encounter is: �So, you want to make the Mass more entertaining?� Absolutely not! In no way do I advocate changing the Mass to make it more entertaining, or light, or something other than what Jesus Christ intends it to be. The Eucharist is God�s perfect communication, and the Mass is our greatest treasure. My only goal with this work is to give priests the tools they need to communicate more effectively with today�s modern parishioner through a greater understanding of basic communication dynamics and how they can be blended with the sacred nature of the priesthood and the Sacrifice of the Mass. I hope this three-part series is useful in your role of teaching our future priests.

2. Why study communication from the pulpit? Increasing expectations on priests - fewer priests, but more work - CEO - greater spiritual need by parishioners - pressure to communicate & compete against other messages but no new tools Why should we even discuss communication from the pulpit? We�ve all heard it: �I�m just not being fed at that parish� or �by the Catholic Church�. It is tempting to say that people should just go to Mass regardless of their emotions or what they profess to �get out of it�, but reality is very different. Our priests are struggling to adapt to a changing reality, and at the same time, more and more is expected from them in today�s parish climate. There are fewer priests and more work for each. They are often called upon today to act more as a CEO of the parish rather than a spiritual leader, while at the same time the spiritual needs of parishioners are increasing. Most priests are very aware of the need to communicate more effectively during the homily, and they understand that there are now many more engaging messages that compete. An evangelical minister once remarked to me that he wanted to become a minister because he loved to preach. Preaching certainly is emphasized in evangelical and protestant seminaries. Our Catholic tradition, however, rightly does not make preaching the primary focus. Rather, homiletics is one of many courses required in seminary, and the homily has agency among many theological focuses in the Mass. Consequently, the goal of our discussion is simply to open the dialogue, provide a greater understanding of the communication that occurs during the homily and offer useful and applicable methods for improvement. Why should we even discuss communication from the pulpit? We�ve all heard it: �I�m just not being fed at that parish� or �by the Catholic Church�. It is tempting to say that people should just go to Mass regardless of their emotions or what they profess to �get out of it�, but reality is very different. Our priests are struggling to adapt to a changing reality, and at the same time, more and more is expected from them in today�s parish climate. There are fewer priests and more work for each. They are often called upon today to act more as a CEO of the parish rather than a spiritual leader, while at the same time the spiritual needs of parishioners are increasing. Most priests are very aware of the need to communicate more effectively during the homily, and they understand that there are now many more engaging messages that compete. An evangelical minister once remarked to me that he wanted to become a minister because he loved to preach. Preaching certainly is emphasized in evangelical and protestant seminaries. Our Catholic tradition, however, rightly does not make preaching the primary focus. Rather, homiletics is one of many courses required in seminary, and the homily has agency among many theological focuses in the Mass. Consequently, the goal of our discussion is simply to open the dialogue, provide a greater understanding of the communication that occurs during the homily and offer useful and applicable methods for improvement.

3. Declining Mass attendance - 40% of Catholics attend Mass �most� Sundays (CARA, 2005) 70 - 80% of these Catholics only attend Mass most Sundays with no other interaction with the Church or parish Mass becomes the most important communication tool we have in the Church today. Why study communication? (cont) We study communication during the Mass because it is the most important opportunity we have to communicate with Catholics. We study communication during the Mass because it is the most important opportunity we have to communicate with Catholics.

4. Changing expectations & the way messages are received by Mass attendees� - consumer mindset - lack of knowledge about faith - busy way of life & the absence of silence Why study communication? (cont) As Americans, we are blessed. We may not have everything we think we should have or want, but as a society, we, the consumer, generally rule. Of course, consumer empowerment is not a bad evolution of our free-market economy, however this attitude is now basically applied throughout our lives, even in our churches. A consumer attitude revolves around choice and the expectation that our needs should be met� every time. When we feel our needs are not being met at our church, we think nothing about shopping for a new parish and sometimes even a new faith. There are only a few variables that change in the Mass, and the priest and his homily become one of the ways a parishioner judges if the parish is meeting his or her needs. In short, more than ever, parishioners expect the priest to communicate well. Most Catholics do not go beyond confirmation to learn more about their faith, yet we so often communicate in a manner that assumes a level of knowledge of Catholicism and the Mass. This assumption actually fuels a consumer mindset. The Catholic faith is not a �product,� but a consumer attitude places it in that category in the minds of many Catholics. In fact, if we were in sales, we could expect the consumer to begin looking for something better since we rarely tell him or her the benefits of our �product.� Finally, the incredible pace of our life and the lack of silence and space in which God so often speaks brings many Catholics to a higher expectation of Mass. They often look for an authentic experience of God and place much of that expectation on the priest and his verbal expression of God, the homily. As Americans, we are blessed. We may not have everything we think we should have or want, but as a society, we, the consumer, generally rule. Of course, consumer empowerment is not a bad evolution of our free-market economy, however this attitude is now basically applied throughout our lives, even in our churches. A consumer attitude revolves around choice and the expectation that our needs should be met� every time. When we feel our needs are not being met at our church, we think nothing about shopping for a new parish and sometimes even a new faith. There are only a few variables that change in the Mass, and the priest and his homily become one of the ways a parishioner judges if the parish is meeting his or her needs. In short, more than ever, parishioners expect the priest to communicate well. Most Catholics do not go beyond confirmation to learn more about their faith, yet we so often communicate in a manner that assumes a level of knowledge of Catholicism and the Mass. This assumption actually fuels a consumer mindset. The Catholic faith is not a �product,� but a consumer attitude places it in that category in the minds of many Catholics. In fact, if we were in sales, we could expect the consumer to begin looking for something better since we rarely tell him or her the benefits of our �product.� Finally, the incredible pace of our life and the lack of silence and space in which God so often speaks brings many Catholics to a higher expectation of Mass. They often look for an authentic experience of God and place much of that expectation on the priest and his verbal expression of God, the homily.

5. Why study communication? (cont) Competition with other messages - messages that contradict teachings of our faith - the �Oprah Effect� & �spirituality lite� - sound bite society Our modern mass media consumption has a wide range of effects on how we perceive the world. Media (in all its forms) tells us what is important and media frames influence our judgments on those issues. The average Catholic consumes media no differently than the average person, and he or she is influenced in much the same way. The prevalence of messages that speak against the values of our faith and in fact, the Church herself, make it much more difficult for the priest to effectively communicate the opposite. Media also gives a great deal of attention to the much easier path of �spirituality.� The �Oprah Effect� promises that if you simply believe there is a God and do the right thing according to your own conscience, all will be well. Of course, we know the sad consequences of this separation from God�s sacrifice of love, but the candy-coated spirituality promoted on our media leaves little room for the understanding of the deep nuances of the truly Catholic life. How does a priest communicate this in an eight minute homily? Another effect of media consumption is the preference we begin to have for sound bites and quickly skipping across a wide variety of topics but rarely going deeper. Although we bring this attitude into Mass with us, the Sacrifice of the Mass was never meant to be a moment of light spirituality or a snapshot of God, but the highest form of Christian prayer. The priest ultimately finds himself in the dilemma of communicating a deep Truth in a manner that today�s modern Catholic can understand and put into real life practice. Our modern mass media consumption has a wide range of effects on how we perceive the world. Media (in all its forms) tells us what is important and media frames influence our judgments on those issues. The average Catholic consumes media no differently than the average person, and he or she is influenced in much the same way. The prevalence of messages that speak against the values of our faith and in fact, the Church herself, make it much more difficult for the priest to effectively communicate the opposite. Media also gives a great deal of attention to the much easier path of �spirituality.� The �Oprah Effect� promises that if you simply believe there is a God and do the right thing according to your own conscience, all will be well. Of course, we know the sad consequences of this separation from God�s sacrifice of love, but the candy-coated spirituality promoted on our media leaves little room for the understanding of the deep nuances of the truly Catholic life. How does a priest communicate this in an eight minute homily? Another effect of media consumption is the preference we begin to have for sound bites and quickly skipping across a wide variety of topics but rarely going deeper. Although we bring this attitude into Mass with us, the Sacrifice of the Mass was never meant to be a moment of light spirituality or a snapshot of God, but the highest form of Christian prayer. The priest ultimately finds himself in the dilemma of communicating a deep Truth in a manner that today�s modern Catholic can understand and put into real life practice.

6. Communication basics What is communication? - process by which one person stimulates meaning in the mind(s) of another person (or persons) through verbal and nonverbal messages - source � message � channel - receiver I offer two basic definitions of communication here. Of course, communication is never quite this simple, and there are hundreds of theories on why communication is or is not effective to prove it. In a later module, we will discuss some of the theories that directly apply to the form of communication that occurs during the homily. The first definition, as put forth by communication theorist and professor J.C. McCroskey (2006), is simple but broad enough to cover all communication. One person speaks, writes or acts in other nonverbal ways and a meaning is created in the mind of the person receiving the communication. The second definition is a mathematical model of communication from Shannon and Weaver (1949). The communication originates from a source (in our case, the priest). It consists of a message (essentially the priest�s homily) that travels through a channel (rhetorical communication in the setting of the Mass). Finally it is received by another person (the person in the pew). Both of these basic definitions stop well short of usefulness for our discussion today. They both mimic the mistake that we so often make in the Church: the assumption that because a message has been sent, or it created meaning for the receiver, that communication has been successful. I offer two basic definitions of communication here. Of course, communication is never quite this simple, and there are hundreds of theories on why communication is or is not effective to prove it. In a later module, we will discuss some of the theories that directly apply to the form of communication that occurs during the homily. The first definition, as put forth by communication theorist and professor J.C. McCroskey (2006), is simple but broad enough to cover all communication. One person speaks, writes or acts in other nonverbal ways and a meaning is created in the mind of the person receiving the communication. The second definition is a mathematical model of communication from Shannon and Weaver (1949). The communication originates from a source (in our case, the priest). It consists of a message (essentially the priest�s homily) that travels through a channel (rhetorical communication in the setting of the Mass). Finally it is received by another person (the person in the pew). Both of these basic definitions stop well short of usefulness for our discussion today. They both mimic the mistake that we so often make in the Church: the assumption that because a message has been sent, or it created meaning for the receiver, that communication has been successful.

7. Questions for discussion How does the mindset of those attending Mass affect the message they receive from the homily? What other outside influences might affect the way someone attending Mass would receive communication and the communication they would actually receive? Discussion is always lively when the topic is that of modern man as he intersects the Church. The questions listed above can be useful in a class discussion regarding why we should even study communication from the pulpit or during Mass. Move on to Part two to integrate what the Church teaches about our need to communicate as effectively as possible. References (APA) McCroskey, J.C. (2006). An introduction to rhetorical communication: A western rhetorical perspective (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Self-appointed Mass attendance of U.S. Catholics. (2005 January 10). CARA. Retrieved from http://cara.georgetown.edu/AttendPR.pdf Shannon, C.E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press. Discussion is always lively when the topic is that of modern man as he intersects the Church. The questions listed above can be useful in a class discussion regarding why we should even study communication from the pulpit or during Mass. Move on to Part two to integrate what the Church teaches about our need to communicate as effectively as possible. References (APA) McCroskey, J.C. (2006). An introduction to rhetorical communication: A western rhetorical perspective (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Self-appointed Mass attendance of U.S. Catholics. (2005 January 10). CARA. Retrieved from http://cara.georgetown.edu/AttendPR.pdf Shannon, C.E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press.