Thursday, November 5, 2009

Jesuit “We All Think We Are Good Preachers”

A Jesuit priest and liturgist is keynote speaker for the 2009 Archdiocese of Portland Assembly in November. The gathering convenes priests and pastoral councils.

Father J-Glenn Murray, director of the Office for Pastoral Liturgy in the Diocese of Cleveland, speaks at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, at St. Pius X Church in Portland.

Father Murray, tall and with a graying beard, knows how to captivate an audience. He has a deep, commanding voice and a background in theater. Often, he aims to help priests improve their preaching.

“We all think we are good preachers,” he told a convention of priests in Florida. “But if we were all good preachers, then people would not be asking for better preaching. So we are probably not the wonderful preachers that we think we are. So we always stand in need of reminding.”

He’s been a member of the Maryland Province of Jesuits for 40 years and was ordained a priest in 1979.

Father Murray has been a parish priest, a campus minister at Duke University and vice principal at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, the oldest black Catholic high school in the western hemisphere. He holds a doctorate in liturgy from the Catholic Theological Union.

Since 1989, he has worked in liturgy for the Diocese of Cleveland, and has directed the office since 1995. He’s taught at seminaries and has lectured widely.

Link (here) to the original piece in the Catholic Sentinal

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If he's such a good liturgist, why is he wearing his stole over the chasuble?