homily

Homily Feedback Journey

About this Journey

Do you desire for parishioners to engage even deeper with your homily? Do you wish to eliminate distractions or barriers? This journey is for pastors to help sharpen their homilies through a trusted small group of parishioner feedback, giving perspective on clarity, tone, and delivery of the homily. This journey is all about providing a safe space for you to gain insight from the real experiences of your parishioners and providing small but impactful changes. The goal of this journey is to unite your parish, connect with parishioner felt needs, and transform your community.

This journey includes two different feedback groups: Pre-Homily and Post-Homily.

Pre-Homily Feedback covers ideas, flow of communication, and clarity.

Post-Homily Feedback covers the tone of how you delivered the homily. We believe together, these groups can provide a holistic view to creating the most impact through your homilies.

What would this full journey require of me?

Create a simple, 4-question form
Copy and paste into your email builder
Prep of homily a week or so prior to delivering it
Discernment of feedback + application to your homily

Special thanks to Fr. Justin

St. Anthony of Padua

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https://stanthonyvan.com/new-home

A special thanks to Fr. Justin who created this and has used it for his own homilies for the past few years. We thank you for leading in this space and offering your tools to others.

Customize for your parish

Everything in this package is ready-made for you to use as is or edit to make it more your own. We've created fully customizable templates in the free-to-use online design tool, Canva. Use all the assets together or pick and choose what makes sense for your community.

View the roll-out plan by

PDF

Prayers

Prayers for pastor + feedback groups during the process.

homily-prayer

PDF

Feedback group criteria

How-to's on picking a trusted feedback group.

feedback-group-criteria

Link & Doc

Feedback guidelines

Questions & guidelines for giving feedback.

homily-form

Doc

Email invitation

Invite a select group of people to provide homily feedback.

homily-email

Prayers

Prayers written by Fr. Justin for the Pastor as he chooses feedback groups, and for the lay people as they offer feedback.

Customize to meet your needs

Pastor prayer

Begin the process by praying through who to ask for homily feedback.

Download

Lay Prayer

This prayer is offered to lay people to pray through before offering feedback on the homily.

Download

Feedback group criteria

Picking your feedback groups is not a small task. It requires finding people you deeply trust and who can be honest with you. It requires those with wisdom and maturity to be able to offer perspective and then take a step back. This document will help outline how and who to pick for your pre-homily and post-homily feedback group.

Customize to meet your needs

How-To: Picking your feedback groups

Get a few points from Fr. Justin on who to ask for feedback.

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Feedback form

Below are two documents to help guide your groups in giving effective feedback.

The feedback Form is specifically for your Post-Homily Feedback group. The form has simply questions to get a feel for the tone of your homily, and will be sent after your homily. You can build the form using basic templates from Google Form or Microsoft forms.

The Guidelines are for your Pre-Homily Feedback group. This provides helpful questions for them as they read through your homily.

Below are two documents to help guide your groups in giving effective feedback.

The Guidelines are for your Pre-Homily Feedback group. This provides helpful questions for them as they read through your homily.

Customize to meet your needs

Post-Homily Feedback Form

Short, online questionnaire.

Download

Pre-Homily Feedback Guide

Guidelines for reviewing the homily.

Download

Email Invitation

These emails help invite you invite groups into this new initiative, set them to begin, and plan for a three-month review. These emails include variables like name, dates, form & PDF links, so be sure to edit those before sending.

Customize to meet your needs

Email: Ask to be in Pre-Homily Feedback Group

Invite a small group to give you feedback your homily.

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Download

Email: Ask to be in Post-Homily Feedback Group

This is the first email to your group for homily tone feedback, including the form to fill out.

Download

Email: Intro to Pre-Homily Feedback Group

Intro to Pre-Homily Feedback Group

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Download

Email: Intro to Post-Homily Feedback Group

First week of Homily Feedback

Download

Email: 3 month review

This email can be sent to both groups to set up a three-month evaluation with the pastor.

Download

Welcome to the Homily Feedback Journey

We're excited to see how this can impact your parish. Below is a recommended rollout plan for you to follow in order to help make the series as impactful as possible.

When should I roll this out?

This journey can be started at any time!

Part 1 - Prayer about who to ask

Asking someone to help you sharpen your homilies is a big ask for both parties. Ask God for surrender as you open yourself up to bringing others in as you teach. Ask God for the right people, who will be wise sounding boards.

Take time to consider the two groups of people you will be asking: Pre-Homily & Post-Homily Groups.

Pre-Homily Feedback Group: They will provide feedback on the ideas, clarity, messaging etc. before you deliver the homily. This group will be reading your homily and giving specific feedback.

Post-Homily Feedback Group: They will provide feedback after the homily on how the delivery came across. This group will be listening to your homily as they would any other weekend, and only filling out a few questions on your tone and delivery.

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Take time to consider the two groups of people you will be asking: Pre-Homily & Post-Homily Groups.

Pre-Homily Feedback Group: They will provide feedback on the ideas, clarity, messaging etc. before you deliver the homily. This group will be reading your homily and giving specific feedback.

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Part 2 - Ask your feedback group

We recommend sending an email to ask your groups but it might be good to also do an in-person touchpoint. The two emails below are for the two different feedback groups. Each email includes the ask and expectations of each group.

Some things to consider when customizing the emails: When do you need feedback before giving your homily? How much time will you give people to read through?

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Some things to consider when customizing the emails: When do you need feedback before giving your homily? How much time will you give people to read through?

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Part 3 - Get started by sending your groups guidelines + forms

It's time to send your groups an introduction! These emails include guides for their specific feedback, and a prayer for them as they enter in. We also recommend always following up with a quick email or text when someone submits their feedback to recognize their time and effort.

The Guidelines can be sent as and the Form can be built using basic templates from Google Form or Microsoft forms. Once the form is built, copy a sharable link to the email template below.

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The Guidelines can be sent as and the Form can be built using basic templates from Google Form or Microsoft forms. Once the form is built, copy a sharable link to the email template below.

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Part 4 - Review after 3 months

After a few weeks of receiving feedback, evaluate whether it's working for you. Are you getting back helpful notes? Is there something specific you wish your groups would focus on? Are these the right groups for you to feel encouraged and refined?

Part 5 - Use feedback & repeat as needed

You can continue to ask for feedback every month, every few months, or every Sunday. It’s up to you and how much capacity you have to integrate feedback into homilies! There are no assets needed for this step as you can continue to send the same survey to your small group of confidants.

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