Latest / The Catholic Current / LTACL: What Will Become of Preachers? ( Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J) 8/5/26

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LTACL: What Will Become of Preachers? ( Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J) 8/5/26 · The Catholic Current

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  I have to ask you, have you ever heard of this story before? It's amazing.
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  I learned about it recently as I was preparing for a sermon to
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  honor Saint Dominic on his feast day. Rightly renowned as the founder
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  of the Order of Preachers, rightly celebrated as a very great champion of the Rosary,
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  he also had a zeal for souls. That zeal
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  for souls was so great that he was known during prayer
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  and vigils he kept at night to cry out, Lord,
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  what will become of sinners? Because he knew the
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  worst thing that could happen to a sinner is for the sinner to die without
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  first being reconciled to Christ.
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  Now, what if instead he and
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  we not only cried out, Lord, what will happen to sinners?
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  What if we also cried out, Lord, what will happen
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  to preachers? What do I mean by that? Stay with me,
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  I've got a story to tell. Hi, I'm Jesuit Father Robert McDade, your daily host
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  every day here at the Catholic Current, coming to you from the Station of the
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  Cross Catholic Media Network. Let's take a closer look.
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  Glad you're here. Saint Dominic cried
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  out, Lord, what will become of sinners? I say let's do that.
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  Let's have a zeal for souls. Let's admit that the worst fate that can
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  befall anyone is to be a sinner dying not reconciled
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  to Christ. What do preachers have to do with that? Well,
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  to really learn about the mission of preachers, you need to read Saint Paul's
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  Epistles to Timothy. There is a veteran preacher talking
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  to his apprentice about how to preach. It's great
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  stuff. It's inspiring. But certainly every disciple of Christ,
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  and in particular those who bear the burden of
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  the office of preaching have to have a zeal for
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  souls. We have to be horrified at the thought that
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  a soul might be lost. So let me give you an example of
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  someone who was a disciple of Christ who had
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  a zeal for souls and understood the fate that awaits
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  those who reject Christ. British author and
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  speaker Charles Spurgeon said this: If sinners be damned,
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  at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies.
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  And if they perish, let them perish with our
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  arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them
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  to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled
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  in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one
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  go unwarned and unprayed for. Pow.
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  Let no one go unwarned and unprayed for.
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  So in the external forum, the warning comes in particular
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  from preachers, and the praying for in the internal
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  forum, well, that's everybody's business. Now I have to
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  ask you, when was the last time you heard
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  a preacher speak like that, who used words like sinner
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  and damned and hell and dead bodies?
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  And imploring? Was it recently?
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  Let me know in the comments or contact me at thestationofthecross.com/askfather.
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  I want to know because it seems to me, based on what I've
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  heard from congregations and from priests around the world,
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  the type of preaching that's expected, the type of
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  preaching that's tolerated, the type of preaching
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  that's encouraged is Um,
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  not quite as sharp, oblique,
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  blunted. There are worse words. I'll stay with those because
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  this is a broadcast. What's my point?
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  We disciples of Christ, and especially those
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  who bear the burden of the office of preaching
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  the gospel with authority, we have a terrible
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  obligation before God to tell the truth about sinners myself
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  included, and the truth about God so that
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  they can be made right before they die. And if
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  we add sugar, if we soft soap, if we backpedal,
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  whatever image you want to use, whatever metaphor you want
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  to deploy, if we don't tell the saving truth,
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  souls will be lost and God will notice. Now,
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  someone who really spoke truth to power,
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  someone who confronted true fascism
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  was a German scholar, Dietrich von Hildebrand.
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  Now, Dietrich von Hildebrand was sounding
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  the alarm about the Nazis as early as the 1920s. He had
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  ended up fleeing Europe with his family because Hitler wanted him dead.
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  Listen to this bold statement. He said, the soldier of Christ is obligated
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  to fight against sin and error. His attitude is one of true love.
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  But those who flee from the inevitable battle and treat
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  ironically those who have gone astray,
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  obfuscating their error and playing down the revolt against
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  God, are fundamentally victims of egoism
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  and complacency. Think about that.
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  When was the last time you heard from the pulpit the soldier
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  of Christ is obligated to fight against sin and error?
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  When was the last time you were told that a commitment to fighting against sin
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  and error is a very authentic form of love,
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  a robust and mandatory form of love.
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  And that downplaying sin, which is revolt against God,
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  hiding the horror of sin, does no one favors
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  and is an indictment of cowardice against those who
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  are unwilling to preach the gospel, as St. Paul said to Timothy,
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  both in season and out of season. Again, let me
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  know in the show notes. Contact me at thestationofthecross.com/askfather.
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  So let's follow the good examples and the bold words of both Spurgeon and
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  von Hildebrand, and let's admit that we
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  have an obligation to God and to neighbor to
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  tell the truth about sin, tell the truth about love, and to tell
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  the truth about God. In our prayer,
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  let us cry out, Lord, what will become of sinners?
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  And in our prayer, let's also cry out, Lord, what will
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  become of preachers?
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  That's important too,
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  because the preachers are the first line, the first
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  point of contact, the, the forward face
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  of the church. Calling sinners back to Christ.
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  And preachers, myself included— Lord have
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  mercy— will face a terrible judgment because
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  the saving word has been entrusted to us.
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  And I cry out with Saint Paul, woe to me if
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  I do not preach the gospel. So pray for all the sinners you
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  know— that would be everybody, all of us, including me— and pray too for
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  those who bear the burden of the office of preaching.
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  Intercede for them. Encourage them. Work with
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  them. Meanwhile, think on these things today. Take them to prayer.
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  Talk about it with those you love. Go in peace. And please do pray
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  for me, for I am a sinner.