Future priests endure 'preaching boot camp' to learn how to spice up sermons

Following Pope Francis' calling for priests to deliver heart-felt sermons, priests receive lessons from actors.

Pope Francis has been clear, priests should be able to touch the hearts of their audience whenever they preach. To remedy the lack of heart-and-soul-felt sermons, one seminary in Detroit decided to hire professional actors to teach soon-to-be priests how to give powerful sermons.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Couple actors Arthur Beer and Mary Bremer-Beer have been conducting three-week workshops on public speaking, as well as acting at the seminary for several years.

In the "preaching boot camp," they are taught seminarians how to project and control the tempo of their speaking, according to the Detroit Free Press. These soon-to-be priests also engage in delivering the Biblical truth with a mastery of timing, as well as on when to tell jokes.

Far from the typical classes held, on teaching subjects like theology and doctrine, the workshop classes begin with vocal exercises, practicing tongue twisters like the "Peter Piper." They also do stretches to loosen the muscles and prepare the mind.

To test their endurance, they do breathing exercises with a lit candle in front of their mouth which they must not blow out as they speak. The flame could dance as they speak, but they should be able to control their breath, which eventually will help their delivery.

They are also asked to write speeches about their mothers and read them in front of their moms, a way to exercise how they could tap the emotion of their audience.

"Doesn't it make you feel good when they cry?" asked Bremer-Beer after one seminarian said his mom cried. The acting teacher from Henry Ford College took the emotional responses from the mothers as positive reinforcement that they are learning how to give heartwarming and soul-stirring messages.

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