What’s wrong with homilies today?

Elizabeth Tenety, who contributes to the Washington Post’s provocative and always-interesting On Faith section, sums it up for her generation with this entry, which blames it all on “Christianity Lite.”

Take a look:

Advocates of the Latin Mass often cite the banal music in our churches as reason enough to bring back the ethereal rite of old. While they insist that the mystery and grandeur are the missing elements in our liturgies, and the Latin Mass the solution, I have noticed another looming problem, one not easily fixed by Latin elements:

The Christianity preached from our Catholic pulpits is totally lame.

In my family, we have a running joke about the bland predictability of homilies. If one family member is suspected of having not attended mass on a particular Sunday, another may use reasonable measures to determine the individual’s guilt or innocence.

“What was the homily about?” we may inquire of the suspect.

“Love. It was about loving God and loving your neighbor.”

Can’t argue with that response! Because what I have heard preached from Southern California to Boston, Massachusetts, is a charming, neat, and terribly bland “Love one another.” “Be nice.”

I’ve somewhat irreverently taken to referring to the kind of homilies that string together terms like “love your neighbor as yourself,” “God among us,” and “Blessed Mary Ever Virgin,” but lack any real substance, as “Theological B.S.” Sure the priest talked for twenty minutes. But he could have told us to “just be nice,” and “trust in God.” It would have saved us all a lot of time and really said the same darn thing anyway.

Critics call this lackluster brand of Christianity which tries to make people feel good ‘Christianity Lite.’ This religion fits in quite charmingly with that nice sweater set, our 2.2 kids, recently purchased S.U.V and the 470 pounds of food that each American household throws away each year. This religion doesn’t disturb people. We wouldn’t want that Jesus guy to get in the way of our comfort now, would we?

Or would we?

Shane Claiborne is a Christian who started a faith based ministry in Inner-City Philadelphia. His organization, The Simple Way, is a community of faith that serves the people of Philadelphia in many different ways –from feeding homeless, to tutoring children, to living as modern-day monastics. On Krista Tippitt’s Speaking of Faith program, Claiborne spoke about the perilous threat of Christianity Lite:

I’m convinced that if the Christian church loses this generation, it will be not because we didn’t entertain them, but because we didn’t dare them, you know, with the truth of the world. And it won’t be because we’d made the Gospel too hard, but because we made it too easy, and we just played games with kids and didn’t actually challenge them to think about how they live.

Thank you, Shane. Thank you.

Thank YOU, Elizabeth.

She has more in her post about bad Catholic music, too. Give it a look.