It’s been said that most business leaders claim that 80% of our results flow from 20% of our effort.
With that principle in mind, Father Jim Schmitmeyer, pastor of St. Hyacinth’s Church, Amarillo and Immaculate Conception Church, Vega, is hoping to help fellow priests and deacons focus their energy and get more efforts from their preaching. Beginning in August, he’ll be offering an on-going series of preaching workshops at the Bishop DeFalco Retreat Center, 2100 North Spring, Amarillo.
“The DeFalco Preaching Institute is designed for Catholic priests and deacons who desire to excel in making the Word of God a living, dynamic Presence in the lives of their people,” said Father Schmitmeyer. “The Institute also fosters the development of the preacher’s spiritual life through engagement with up-to-date homiletic resources and on-going support of fellow ministers of the Word.”
A foundational course, Perspectives on Preaching, will concentrate on communication strategies that distinguish various types of preaching: evangelistic, catechetical, theological and homiletic. Perspectives on Preaching will be offered Sunday, Aug. 3 through Wednesday, Aug. 6 and again on Sunday, Sept. 14 through Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Four follow-up workshops will be offered. They include:
• Hammers and Keyboards: Preaching and the Workplace, which will be offered Sunday, Oct. 5 and Monday, Oct. 6;
• Sentiment or Sacrament: Preaching at Weddings, set for Sunday, Nov. 2 and Monday, Nov. 3;
• Homeboys, Drugs and St. Dismas: Preaching in Jails and Prisons, which will be offered Sunday, Jan. 11 and Monday, Jan. 12; and,
• The Cross and the Stone: Preaching the Seasons of Lent and Easter, set for Sunday, Feb. 8 and Monday, Feb. 9.
All four follow-up workshops will also take place at the Bishop DeFalco Retreat Center.
“Preachers often work in a vacuum and seldom get the kind of feedback that could advance their skill and increase their confidence,” said Father Schmitmeyer. “My workshops offer homilists the professional support and encouragement they need.”
Articles of interest to preachers and on-line discussions are also featured at The Preacher’s Blog on the DeFalco Retreat Center’s website: www.bdrc.org/preaching.
Father Schmitmeyer is the author of Preacher in a Hardhat: A Guide to Preaching for Pastors and Everyone Else (Chalice Press) and was the preaching columnist for Today’s Parish magazine from 2005-2010.
A past instructor in homiletics at Mt. St. Mary Seminary in Cincinnati, Father Schmitmeyer continues to offer programs on preaching throughout the country.
For more information on the DeFalco Preaching Institute, please call the center at 806-383-1811.
According to Father Schmitmeyer, 20 Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) will be given for the foundational course and 10 CEU’s will be given for each refining workshop.