U.S. archbishop: Catholics need solid preaching, not feel-good fluff

Published: 2007-01-22

ROME (CNS) -- Catholics need solid preaching about Jesus, the cross and the church, and not "feel-good" spiritual advice that demands no sacrifice, said U.S. Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee. Preaching well means challenging people's complacency and, like Christ, occasionally "shaking things up," Archbishop Dolan said in Rome Jan. 14. That cannot happen if preachers soft-pedal the cross, he said. "Maybe the greatest threat to the church is not heresy, not dissent, not secularism, not even moral relativism, but this sanitized, feel-good, boutique, therapeutic spirituality that makes no demands, calls for no sacrifice, asks for no conversion, entails no battle against sin, but only soothes and affirms," he said. "Our preaching can then become cotton candyish: a lot of fluff, air and sugar, but no substance," he said. Archbishop Dolan made the remarks at the Pontifical North American College, where he lectured on "Preaching: An Ecclesial Vocation." While noting that preaching the Gospel is a mandate shared by all Christians, he focused on the preaching of ordained ministers.

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