There have been some interesting developments in Youtube Homilies. First we have an addition. That is the adding of a Deacon’s homily. Deacons are a bit controversial in the US because many do not understand who they are and what they do. With that I would recommend seeing the videos of Deacon John on Youtube.

You will notice a void in our list. I did not record a homily this past week. I had a cold and was running slow. So I put up a teaching video that I recorded earlier in the week.

Fr. Josh does a good job preaching the concept of pro-life issues as they relate to abortion and euthanasia. He admits to being a priest ordained 4-5 years and talks about knowing that some people struggle with the issue.

He follows the model, in a sense, of Fr. Simon of using one picture, that of St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy Vision as his visual in the video. In a way that makes things easier because I was able to do work while listening to his homily not needing to watch the video. However, in my own perspective video is a visual medium and really needs a well produced visual component. Fr. Josh’s and Fr. Simon’s models work but I just personally do not prefer to use that style.

St. Joseph Parish of Avon Lake in the Diocese of Cleveland (whose bishop is my former vicar general, here in Boston)  As usual St. Joseph’s produces what I consider the model video for their homilies. But it must be understood that this takes a team of parishioners who know what they are doing. So the fact that they do these videos indicates a team involved in this ministry.

Fr. Bernard Okafor, the missionary preacher for this video does a good job. He is Nigerian and does speak English well. Fr. Okafor does not preach the gospel in this video, but simply speaks to the people about his situation in Nigeria.

Our new preacher this week, Deacon Pat has a video that uses a style similar to that of Fr. Carmel. It is a handheld video camera using the camera microphone. There are times, however, when there are stray sounds that obscure or distract from the message.  Although the video does work, I would encourage a way to improve on sound. Sound is just as much a part of video as video. This all depends on the form of production. I use Final Cut Express, the less expensive version of Apple’s video editing software and I record using Garageband from a mac or, depending on placement of talent, I use a mic plugged into the camera. I also use the camera mic if I can get away with it. These combinations improve sound, which makes it easier to listen to the message. I also use as a video uploading guideline this video from the fine folks at indymogul. Indymogul also has two videos on sound which I would recommend. part 1 and part 2

Deacon Pat uses a style of preaching in which he speaks from a prepared sermon reading it but in a style that works well. His remaining at the pulpit works well in his congregation focusing on him as well as his video congregation being able to focus on him. His message is good especially in the way he asks questions of his congregation, an important point to challenge the people as they hear the words.

Fr. Jean Claude Lordes is back and he does a great studio video. He too uses the camera mic, so echo is a factor, but he uses a unique special green screen effect that adds a good spiritual dimension. Green screens are tricky business, but his spiritual effects add a dimension to his preaching, without the tricky work in making for good edges in front of a green screen. So he uses one effect that enhances the talk without the flaws of the effect used in textbook manner.  He also follows the rule of keeping the video short. This does increase viewers who are willing to invest 4 minutes but not ten in watching a video. Nalts teaches this too. (Speaking of Nalts, he is catholic and his brother is a priest. Fred’s creator Lucas Cruikshank is also Catholic. Not all Catholic Youtubers preach, but they still video and are worth a look. ) But a church homily has to be at least 7 minutes. Therefore, that means producing a short studio homily and a delivering a longer live homily.

Fr. Lourdes adds good music behind the scenes, which is a matter of laying down a music track under the audio homily track on video production software. Fr. Lourdes as he is in Malaysia seems to be preaching near an open window as you can hear birds at one point in the background, but they do not appear in the video. It is great to see Fr. Lourdes is back.

One final note, our video recipe on making Crazy Corn is very popular in Maylasia. Maybe Fr. Lourdes has tried it.

The Franciscan Friars present a video that brings the call to conversion in the readings, as a call to conversion to our country for its support of abortion.

The Franciscan have a great video view with the preacher well framed and with a great visual. It is clear that it is the intention of the Franciscans to put a professionally produced video. Notice, however, that there is no shot of the congregation the one camera focuses on the preacher.

The message is the pro-life message of the weekend again calling against abortion.

Fr. Carmel’s homily is given in the usual style. I heard from the videographer this week and learned that he has a strongly devoted following. In fact, she confirmed that my observations were correct of style and motive is correct. Again, this is the another form of Catholic preaching, the preacher recorded by a devoted hearer. The videographer, although dealing with the same issues as anyone using a camera based microphone does seem to have a good sense of how to make the best of the mic and record Fr. Carmel. Understand that he does speak with a slight accent. His english is fine, but the better the sound the less effort is needed to hear the speaker regardless of which language was his first english or another.

Fr. Carmel is in three parts, the first part is below.

Finally, Fr. Simon uses his usual style of an audio recording taken off his sound system. He uses as the sound track to a slide. His video is in three parts, the first is below. If you notice his style of preaching is more conversational in his approach. He makes a great point in that we are called to learn how to pray “Lord teach me your ways.” Also there is a classical music soundtrack behind Fr. Simon. The first of his videos is below.

Like me, Fr. stevensonrf did not produce a homily this week.

Have a good week and enjoy producing videos that all may hear the word of God.