Preaching tips from a Catholic priest, husband and father of five

“I like what Pope Francis said in ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ when he talked about preaching and likened it to family conversation; I try and imagine that I’m at a coffee shop talking to someone and I just have a conversation with them,” Josh Whitfield says. “If I were to sit down with you and just talk about important stuff—share the Gospel with you—I would not lecture you. The homily is family talk.”

Father Whitfield serves as the pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in Dallas. A former Episcopal priest, he trained for ministry in England. After his conversion to Catholicism, he was ordained a Catholic priest in 2012, through the pastoral provision of Pope St. John Paul II. He now lives in Dallas with his wife and their five children. Father Whitfield is a regular contributor to the Dallas Morning News and Our Sunday Visitor and the author of The Crisis of Bad Preaching: Redeeming the Heart and Way of the Catholic Preacher (Ave Maria Press, 2019).

Listen to Father Whitfield’s homily for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, on this week’s episode of “Preach.” After the homily, he shares with host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., how this husband and father of five brings his whole self to the pulpit.

Read the full text of this week’s homily and Scripture readings

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