17
September
Homiletics and Pastoral Review article on Priests and Men
Founded over one hundred years ago, Homiletic & Pastoral Review is one of the most well-respected pastoral magazines in the world. Priests and laymen alike have relied on HPR for decades.
Homiletics and Pastoral Review has recently run an article on the challenges of helping priests become more effective in evangelizing Catholic men.
Here is a sampling:
“The survey suggests with a robust commitment to evangelize men by bishops and priests, real progress can be made to address the Catholic “man-crisis.” Priests who make it a priority to evangelize men have a significant impact on men’s faith lives: highly effective “emangelizing” priests lead their men to pray more, attend Mass and Confession more frequently, and have more and deeper friendships with other faithful Catholic men. Men are ready and willing to follow the majority of today’s priests. Men want to be challenged to aspire to Catholic manhood, to learn and practice the basics of the faith, and to be drawn into Catholic fraternity with other men. Unfortunately, only about 1 in 5 priests (i.e.. 20 percent) have made it a priority to evangelize men, and the majority of practicing Catholic men feel neglected by their bishops and priests. Given the real impact that priests can have on Catholic men, and the willingness of Catholic men to follow the majority of priests, the survey results suggest that with a new commitment by bishops and priests to evangelize and catechize Catholic men, great progress can be made in addressing the Catholic “man-crisis.””
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