PROFILIRANJE PUBLIKE U PROPOVIJEDI (ANALIZA GOVORA SVEĆENIKA MLADIMA)
ASSESSING THE AUDIENCE IN SERMON (ANALYSIS OF PRIEST SPEECHES FOR YOUNG AUDIENCE)

Summary/Abstract: Numerous handbooks on rhetoric emphasize the importance of profiling the audience in public speaking. It is said that there is no bad audience, only bad speeches that are not adapted for a particular audience and it is the speaker’s job to find the right means of rhetoric to reach their audience. The audience dictates not only the subject or the central thought of the speech, but also the choice of words, figures, examples and illustrations. The introductory part of the paper provides different ways of profiling, as well as crucial elements of the audience that have to be included in the process of preparing a speech. The research part of the paper analyzes speeches given by ten priests who address young people in their sermons (from the Meeting of Croatian Catholic Youth, the Hikers’ way of the cross for young people, student chaplains...). The fact is, one of the challenges for the Church in the 21st century is to attract young people, to keep them at the Mass and make them pay close attention to the sermon for which the preacher plays the crucial role.

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