Preaching for Encounter

During his more than eleven years as our shepherd, Pope Francis has made numerous invitations and exhortations to all the faithful and, indeed, to the whole world.

He has channeled his spirituality in the form of encouragement to all of us. In encouraging priests and deacons all around the globe, one particular invitation and request that the Pope has directed to the ordained has been about preaching.

In his Wednesday catechesis this past June 12th, Pope Francis remarked that the homily exists to “move the Word of God from the book of life.” The homily, in other words, should enable the free flow of God’s love from His written Word to the hearts of the faithful.

This dynamic is of vital importance for the growth of our faith. For, through this faith-sharing liturgical activity, we grow together towards a closer union with God, mainly because the homily sends us forth directly into the liturgy of the Eucharist, by which we are
fed by the Incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ.

I make these remarks today because I will be participating in a special preaching program with the University of Dallas’ Preaching for Encounter Program for the upcoming two years.

In December of last year, the Archdiocese of Chicago asked nine other priests and me to consider applying to this course. I applied to
the program, was accepted, and am very excited to be a part of it along with four other Dioceses in the United States.

One exciting component of this course consists of having a group of parishioners—called St. Joseph Preachers—who will be walking alongside me these two years. During the first year, they will be praying and learning together about what it means to share the Word of God from the pulpit.

Starting in the second year, I will meet with them to pray and receive their feedback regarding my preaching in the parish.

I am very grateful to Tony Lipinski, who has helped me immensely these past weeks by leading and organizing the group. He has formed a group of ten parishioners to whom I give many thanks. I am grateful to Maureen Valentine, Al Trigo, Greg Siemianowski, Audry Salermo, Maria and José Alamilla, Eric Gonsalves, Terri Hirami, and Kathy O’Sullivan for their prayers and support.

From the pew, you won’t notice anything particularly different.

I will be recording some of my Sunday homilies as I work with the group of Chicago priests, my parishioner group, and a personal preaching coach assigned to me. I will also be evaluated by the Preaching for Encounter instructors over the course of the program.

To this end, they have asked to receive some preliminary feedback from parishioners so as to have a baseline on which to look back at the end of the program. At my Masses next weekend (September 14-15 , you will find an invitation to fill out an online survey at all pews and in the bulletin.

If you attend one of my Masses or want to share your thoughts on my preaching, I would appreciate it if you could fill out the survey.

This will help me to see how I can continue growing as a preacher of God’s Word. I also ask that you please pray for me during these two years.

I want to learn more and try new ways of sharing our faith from the pulpit.

Thank you! God Bless! – Fr. Leo