Is a Decolonialized Roman Catholic Homily in the U.S. Possible?: Beyond Postcolonial Preaching

This paper juxtaposes decolonial thinking with contemporary Roman Catholic homilizing. The fundamental question that undergirds this exploration is whether a decolonialized Roman Catholic homily is even possible in the U.S. Since more preachers and theologians are familiar with postcolonial theory rather than decolonial thinking, the first step in this exploration is to define postcolonial practice and theory – as much as that is possible – and illustrate how it has been employed in recent theorizing about preaching as well as highlight some of its limits. After a necessary autobiographical excursus to locate the author in this discussion, we then turn to an exploration of the nature of decoloniality and a consideration of the nature of Roman Catholic homilizing. Finally, we will propose four specific homiletic lenses and strategies that could contribute to a more decolonialized path to Roman Catholic Homiletics. At the same time, there is a recognition that, given Roman Catholic canon law about homilizing, authentic decolonialized preaching in this context is virtually impossible.