FATHER LARRY RICHARDS

This is Father Larry Richards, a great priest of the Diocese of Eerie, Pennsylvania, who will be speaking in our Diocese of Raleigh in the coming month. It is the second portrait in a series I am putting together for the "Ignited by Truth" Catholic Conference this February in Raleigh, NC. Father Larry is best known for his preaching style, which is at once funny, engaging, and somewhat rough around the edges. He's not a man who minces words. Father Larry epitomizes the phrase which defines the duty of every preacher of the Gospel: "To comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable." Father Larry's sometimes harsh directness and his very challenging message are always salted with a wonderful sense of humor. A friend of mine, who was once a seminarian assigned to Father Larry's parish, said that every time Father Larry would see him coming, whether others were present or not, would always yell out to him "Hey Pagan Baby! Need to go to confession? I'll be right there!" His homilies are filled with this same playfulness, but he never swerves from the serious message that is being delivered. You can visit "The Reason for our Hope," an apostolate of Father Larry's, at this website:

http://www.thereasonforourhope.org/meet_father/index.html

I hope that you will enjoy a very moving example of Father Larry's preaching style: