Sermon length

by Deborah Bruce

The vatican recently encouraged priests to keep their sermons to less than eight minutes. Archbishop Nikola Eterovic (a Vatican official) suggested short sermons to fit short attention spans. "The homily in general should not go over eight minutes—the average amount of time for a listener to concentrate," he said. He also suggested that clergy should work to ensure their sermons are engaging and relevant, perhaps addressing current issues—either locally or nationally.

How long is the typical sermon or homily?

It depends on the congregation's denomination or faith group. Catholic priests come closest to the Vatican's suggestion. Almost half of Catholic parishes have sermons or homilies that are 10 minutes or less.

Conservative Protestants are at the other extreme. Worshipers in eight in ten conservative Protestant churches listen to sermons that are more than 20 minutes long. Mainline preachers are in between—most of their sermons are in the 11- to 20-minute range.

Typical Sermon Length:
(Percentage of Congregations Reporting Sermons of Each Length)

	Catholic Parishes	Conservative Protestant Churches	Mainline Protestant Churches
10 minutes or less	47%	0%	11%
11 to 20 minutes	47%	18%	61%
21 to 30 minutes	6%	55%	27%
31 to 60 minutes	0%	27%	1%

So if your attention span is particularly short this week, consider worshiping in a Catholic church.

Comments

[Mitch Trigger]

Attention spans in the Catholic churches MUST be short - otherwise they wouldn't be able to believe the many promises currently being made by the hierarchy to "clean up" the abuses taking place.

[Jesse Winkler]

I don't think I even start listening for 8-10 minutes.