"The Primary Duty of the Priest is to Preach."
Vatican Council II
On June 13, I gave my 700th and final homily at Bellarmine University as the Director of Catholic Worship. I thought it might be a good thing to review just a few of the preaching occasions I have had during the last 48 years.
By the way, I still have about 90% of all the homilies I have written over the last 40 years in hard copy and many of them on tape and published in books and columns.
Check them out at:
I actually started preaching in the campgrounds of Crater Lake National Park (Oregon) in the summer of 1968 in a United Church of Christ program for student ministers called A Christian Ministry in the National Parks. I was the first Catholic to sign up for this program. I preached generic Christian sermons twice each weekend that summer.
Besides preaching, I was a desk clerk, bar tender, wine steward, garbage truck driver and Master of Ceremonies for the "Miss Crater Lake Beauty Contest."
Besides preaching, I was a desk clerk, bar tender, wine steward, garbage truck driver and Master of Ceremonies for the "Miss Crater Lake Beauty Contest."
I have always thought it interesting that the United Church of Christ gave me an opportunity to preach long before I was given that opportunity in my own church.
I have conducted over 75 Parish Missions over the last 30 years. This is the poster for my upcoming Parish Mission for all the parishes of Meade County combined. I am really looking forward to this one!
Preaching at St. John Church, in the town of Mesopotamia, in the island country of SVG.
Preaching to young Protestant preachers at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.
Preaching at Bellarmine University almost every Sunday for the last seventeen years.
Preaching in Newfoundland, Canada.
Preaching at a Sunday Mass in the island country of SVG.
Preaching a Parish Mission in St. Stephen Cathedral in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Preaching to the Diocesan Staff in Victoria, Canada.
Preaching to the priests of Regina, Canada.
Preaching a three-parish Parish Mission in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Region III Parish Mission, Louisville, Kentucky.
Preaching at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville for 14 years.
Preaching in the chapel at St. Meinrad Seminary for ten years.
Preaching in Monterrey, California
Since preaching is "the primary duty of the priest," I want to be buried with a Lectionary in my hands. The Lectionary, of course, is that book of Scriptures used by the lector, deacon and priest at Mass.
This is the Lectionary presented to me by Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, Canada, for my casket after I talked about it in one of my presentations during their priest convocation in May of 2010.
These two photos were taken by Mark Thompson Sunday, June 6, 2016, as I was giving my final homily as chaplain in Our Lady of the Woods Chapel at Bellarmine University at the Alumni Mass. I may be invited back as a guest or to fill in, but this was the last preaching event as an official chaplain after being the longest serving chaplain in Bellarmine's history - seventeen years.
Assisting me were Father Michael Wimsatt (a graduate of Bellarmine) and Ms. Melanie Prejean Sullivan (Director of Campus Ministry) with whom I have worked for almost seventeen years.
