Monsignor Vincent Bommarito - credit: UNICO-St. Louis

Last week, the Aquinas Institute of Theology named the Monsignor Vincent Bommarito, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish in the Hill as the recipient of its Great Preacher Award for 2009.

The award, given annually by the Dominican seminary, promotes “compelling and imaginative preaching that powerfully engages hearers with the Word of God,” Aquinas president, the Rev. Richard Peddicord, said in a release.

In the same release, Bommarito said, “Next to praying the words of the institution narrative, proclaiming the Living Word is critical in exciting the hearts of all to embrace the Lord - and each day graced by the Lord gives rise to hope and thanksgiving.”

The Great Preacher Award will be presented to Bommarito on Thursday, October 29, 2009, at Rose of the Hill, 2300 Edwards, in St. Louis.

I searched for an image of a pulpit, and found this photo of a cliff in Norway called The Pulpit. I like it.

“It’s a writer’s job to tell the truth,” John Updike once said in an interview.

I think one might say the same thing about preaching.  I have been spending a good deal of time and energy recently learning how to preach.  My experiences in the pulpit, as well as in a homiletics class I recently completed at the Aquinas Institute, have encouraged me to see preaching as more than something I do.  Instead, I am learning to see it as part of who I am.  I suppose it’s similar to the distinction between a career and a vocation.  And in the process I’m coming to believe that the most important part of preaching is witness–that is, telling the truth as I have experienced it.

There is an interesting tension in…

I’ve tried two or three times to write about women’s ordination, but I keep deleting my efforts rather than posting them. Too much baggage, too complicated a topic to address in a blog. The last thing I want is to play “dueling denominations.” I decided that in the spirit of ecumenism and keeping things “civil” I would refrain.

And then something happened that I just had to write about in order to begin to make sense of it. I don’t know how helpful personal anecdotes are in addressing a topic like this one; perhaps instead I should write about the Episcopal Church’s history of ordaining women. But for the moment this is what I have to offer.

My grandmother died last month. She was one of those matriarchs whose passing can shake a family to its foundation. When I was little I called her my “double mother” because she was more like a…

A little over a week from now, on Wednesday, May 7, Concordia Seminary will host its sixth annual Day of Homiletical Reflection, 9:00 am–4:15 pm.

This year’s keynote presenter is Dr. Richard Eslinger, who will be speaking on his recent work on the “homiletical virtues,” exploring particularly the character, ethos, and spiritual health and vitality of the preacher and the congregation. The day’s program will also include numerous sectionals and an interview of Dr. Eslinger by Dr. Dale Meyer, president of Concordia Seminary.

The Day of Homiletical Reflection is designed for pastors, students involved in homiletical education, and all those interested in the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world. The cost of the event is $20, and includes continuing education credits.

For more information, contact the Seminary’s Office of Continuing Education at 314/505-7486 or ce@csl.edu.