Monsignor Robert F. Coleman, J.C.D., returned to Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology (ICSST) on October 21, 2025, where he reflected on his years of preaching and ministry. The event was part of the Wisdom Figures of Preaching series within the Preaching as Hospitality Program, an initiative at ICSST.
Monsignor Coleman, who grew up in West Orange, New Jersey, received his bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University in 1974 and was ordained in 1978. He pursued advanced studies in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His service at ICSST included roles as Vice Rector from 1996 to 2000 and Rector/Dean from 2000 to 2012. Afterward, he served as Associate Vice Provost and Minister to the Priest Community at Seton Hall until his retirement in 2020.
Reflecting on his approach to preaching, Monsignor Coleman emphasized drawing people into the Word of God. He described his process: “I’m trying to understand not only what the Lord is saying in the Word, but how am I going to then, with His grace, impart a ‘welcoming Word.’” He added that he begins by addressing himself: “I always tell myself, I’m going to preach to myself,” he said. “If I can come up with something that I think is going to invite me in, then hopefully there will be others who are going to be invited in.”
As Rector/Dean, Monsignor Coleman encouraged seminarians to cultivate a welcoming environment. “I didn’t want anyone to come into the Seminary building and not see a community that would immediately say, ‘welcome to the Seminary,’” he explained. He noted that this atmosphere was meant to prepare them for future priestly service: “Their future priesthood was one that was going to be filled with love and with real welcoming to people.”
He advised preachers to treat preaching as a prayerful act: “It’s God’s Word spoken to us, and what better way for us to begin if we’re going to impart something about God’s Word,” he emphasized. According to Monsignor Coleman, prayer forms the foundation of preaching and it is essential for preachers to welcome the Holy Spirit into their work. “Be the vessel, the vehicle by which the Holy Spirit is going to really be able to empower people,” he said. “Somebody out there needs this just as much as I need this, so how can I then be the vehicle for that very thing?”
On building community through preaching, Monsignor Coleman remarked: “That’s the wonderful thing about worship… Everybody gets together, and we’re all different…and yet, here we are standing all together shoulder to shoulder, because we’re all gathered to worship our one God.” He added: “I believe that’s real hospitality…we’re not only finding ourselves drawing people together in hospitality, but those, the assembly, all of them gathered there in the church, they’re going to experience that sense of hospitality.”
The Preaching as Hospitality Formation program at ICSST aims at forming seminarians and other theology students into preachers who practice compassion and welcome through their ministry. The program also supports newly ordained clergy and pastors with less than five years’ experience by encouraging them to view preaching through a lens of Christian hospitality.
For further information about Wisdom Figures of Preaching or ICSST’s Preaching as Hospitality Formation Program contact Alyssa Carolan.
