Preaching Effectively, Revitalizing Your Church The Seven-Step Ladder Toward Successful Homilies

This book, by an experienced and respected teacher of homiletics, offers a practical and theological guide to effective preaching. Following the medieval tradition of Allan of Lille, Guerric DeBona uses the metaphor of a ladder to describe the ascent up seven rungs or building blocks that constitute the strategies of preaching. Beginning with advice on discovering a personal theology of preaching, he proceeds to unlock the power of the Bible and the liturgy, then guides the reader in creating a unified homily and in discovering a homiletic method that best suits one s own intellect and temperament. Chapters on communicating in contemporary culture and on globalizing the homily for a New Evangelization are vital for coming to grips with the technological age and the often bewildering diversity of today s world. Finally, DeBona challenges the reader to recognize and confront one s own obstacles to effective preaching. Each chapter ends with questions to assist the reader in appropriating the material.

With bad homilies consistently cited as a factor in declining church attendance, Preaching Effectively answers a very pressing need, especially in view of Popes John Paul II s and Benedict XVI s urgent call to rescue traditionally Christian countries from the brink of total secularization.

• Preface
• Introduction: A Catholic Homiletic?
• Step 1. Discovering a Personal Theology of Preaching
• Step 2. Knowing the Power of the Bible and the Liturgy
• Step 3. Creating a Unified Homily
• Step 4. Finding a Homiletic Method
• Step 5. Communicating in Contemporary Culture
• Step 6. Globalizing the Homily for a New Evangelization
• Step 7. Confronting Obstacles to Effective Preaching
• Notes
• Bibliography.