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Preaching to the Catholic Imagination

If theologians such as David Tracy and Mary Catherine Hilkert, and social scientists such as Andrew Greeley and Robert Bellah, are to be believed, Roman Catholics have a particular form of religious imagination alternately named analogical, sacramental, and liturgical. In their work, these theologians and social scientists have attempted to explain and even verify empirically a phenomenon well known in pastoral ministry and widely commented upon in pastoral mythology. The phenomenon is the importance of sacraments and sacramentals, almost treated as religious consumables by Roman Catholics. The importance of this phenomenon is symbolized in the frequent requests, even insistence by Roman Catholics who are completely disengaged from the church and its life, for sacraments for themselves (such as marriage) or for their children (such as baptism). Not only have many Roman Catholic dioceses and parishes put into effect rules and regulations that discourage people from engaging in sacramental activity without preparation and commitment, but Roman Catholic pastoral ministers regularly joke about the number of people who show up when ashes or palms are given out. If sacraments are the instinctive center for the catholic imagination, this has something to say about the way Roman Catholics preach to this distinctive imagination. To that end, in this article we will first consider the nature of the ‘‘catholic imagination,’’ then detail what Roman Catholic teaching and law have to say about preaching in view of a sacramental imagination, and finally consider what is at stake in such preaching. The particular focus of our remarks here will be the homily, or that particular type of preaching that takes place within the context of the Roman Catholic Eucharist. While these remarks are admittedly presented from one very particular ecclesial (Roman Catholic) and liturgical (homiletic) perspective, it is hoped that they are of benefit to those who think about preaching from other ecclesial and liturgical perspectives as well.