Fr. Paul Phong Hoang, SCJ, was one of the closing presenters at the 7th Annual Preaching Conference at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology January 7-8 (Fr. Mark Mastin, SCJ, was the opening speaker the night before). This year’s theme: “Know Your Audience: Who’s in the Your Pews?”
Ordained last June, Fr. Paul was paired with another newly ordained priest – Fr. Craig Richter (ordained last May) of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee – to share their experiences of preaching in multilingual settings. Both Frs. Paul and Craig serve on pastoral teams that minister to a mix of English and Spanish-speaking Catholics. Fr. Paul is on the Dehonian pastoral team in northern Mississippi and Fr. Craig is an associate to a cluster of eight parishes in Racine, WI.
Serving in a multilingual environment is familiar territory to Fr. Paul, who was born in Vietnam. His family immigrated to the United States when he was a teen, and he learned English while going to high school in Texas. As a seminarian at SHSST, he had several cross-cultural experiences, including ministry in Ecuador.
“I am not an expert,” emphasized Fr. Paul, “but I hope that by sharing some of my experiences you might find something helpful to take back to your own ministries.”
Although he is comfortable speaking it, Fr. Paul does not consider himself fluent in Spanish so he utilizes several online translation tools, such as DeepL, to help him write homilies.
“And then I always have someone fluent in Spanish read my text before I give the homily,” he said. Spanish-speaking parishioners have been vital to him in proofreading his text but also offering nuances in phrasing and cultural references. Being understood takes more than a common language, he emphasized.
Of the six parishes that the Mississippi team serves, only one – Christ the King in Southaven – has a Spanish Mass. However, multilingual Masses are offered in several of the others.
Preaching in two languages is something that requires practice. Initially, Fr. Paul said that he would try to move back and forth between the two languages in his homily, but that he sometimes lost people.
“By the time that I got back to the listener’s language he often forgot what I said before I switched.”
Fr. Paul said that for him, doing a homily in English – about 7 minutes long – followed by a shorter one in Spanish –– seems to work best in a bilingual Mass.
Preaching in Spanish was intimidating for him at first. “I wasn’t sure how to make the gospel relatable to people whose culture I didn’t know well,” said Fr. Paul, emphasizing that he wasn’t just trying to learn about a single “Hispanic culture” but many. “There is no one Hispanic culture.”
He shared this concern with some of his Spanish-speaking parishioners, one of whom reminded him that “We are all human, there is much that we have in common regardless of language. Don’t focus on the differences.”
Yet there are traditions and experiences that are more frequently found in Spanish-speaking cultures. Devotions, such as to Our Lady of Guadalupe, are important, as are symbols.
In the seminary, most students learn about preaching with three elements: the ethos, pathos and logos. “With the Hispanic Catholics, I think that the emphasis needs to be on the pathos, the passion, the emotional appeal of what you are trying to say,” said Fr. Paul.
When distributing communion during a multilingual Mass, Fr. Paul tries to use the language that he thinks each person coming to him prefers. “I switch between Spanish and English as I share the host, and usually I know which person speaks which language,” he said. “But sometimes I am tired, and I look at a parishioner coming up for communion and unexpectedly, Vietnamese comes out of my mouth!” he laughed.
And that too is a culture and language in which Fr. Paul has frequently preached, especially at St. Martin of Tours in Franklin, WI, where the Priests of the Sacred Heart serve the Vietnamese Catholic community of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
Summarizing, Fr. Paul said that while there are some differences in the way that he preaches to different cultures and in different languages, what is most important is “to preach the truth,” he said. “If the Church is not preaching the truth, it is like the salt that has lost its taste. Speak the truth, and always ask yourself, ‘What does this mean to me?'”
If the preacher can answer that question – in any language – he can share the truth of the gospel and the impact of that truth in daily living.
Held at the beginning of the year, the annual preaching conference draws participants from around the country. For information about future conferences, contact Dn. Steve Kramer, SHSST Director of Homiletics, at [email protected].
