Meanwhile

If you get restless about the length of homilies, just be thankful it’s not worse. A new survey suggests that Catholic priests give the briefest sermons, with a median length of 14 minutes, compared to an average of 37 minutes across denominations. The Pew survey, conducted in the United States, found that historically black Protestant churches averaged 54-minute sermons (though thus includes musical interludes and call-and-response exchanges), whereas Mainline Protestant pastors preach for an average of 25 minutes. Evangelicals are somewhere in between. Deacon Steve Kramer, who teaches homiletics, told the Catholic News Service: “The numbers sound right to me.” He observed that the Eucharist takes up more time and attention in a Catholic Mass than a Protestant service.

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A witness – of sorts – to the indissolubility of marriage comes from Gwen Stefani, lead singer of No Doubt. According to People magazine, Stefani will not seek to marry her boyfriend, country singer Blake Shelton, unless she obtains an annulment from the Church declaring that her previous marriage to Gavin Rossdale was null. The singer is said to be hoping for a church wedding one day, but believes it “isn’t possible currently”.