Deacon delivering Homily

[xixxvmcm85]

Greetings!

I understand that in certain cases a homily may be given by a Deacon, however is this allowed to happen frequently?

The last 4 Sundays’ homilies were given by the deacon while the Priest sat in his chair.

I checked the GIRM, which states:
General Instruction of the Roman Missal:

The Homily should ordinarily be given by the priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to the deacon, but never to a lay person.

So does the frequency by which this Deacon delivers the homily constitute a liturgical abuse?

 

[benedictgal]

That would not necessarily count as an abuse, since the deacon is one of the three prescribed to preach a homily (deacon, priest and bishop). The celebrant may have been incapacitated or have a situation that is unknown to the faithful. Having the deacon preaching is a viable option and certainly conforms to both RS and the GIRM.

This evening, the deacon preached at the Cathedral. He usually does so about once or twice a month and preaches at all of the Masses. The same holds true for the deacons in the rest of the diocese.

I hope this helps.

 

[Howard_Roark]

In our local parish, it’s great mercy to the faithful when the deacon gives the homily. I certainly hope no one ever complains to the Bishop about that.

 

[nate12387]

The deacon delivering the Homily also gives the priest a break. At my perish it would seem that my two priests and the Deacon trade off and on to give the Homily. Its also gives a transitional deacon who is going to be a priest practice in delivering the Homily.

 

[xixxvmcm85]

The deacon delivering the Homily also gives the priest a break. At my perish it would seem that my two priests and the Deacon trade off and on to give the Homily. Its also gives a transitional deacon who is going to be a priest practice in delivering the Homily.

I had never thought of this.

Thanks for opening my mind.

 

[Aramis]

Greetings!

I understand that in certain cases a homily may be given by a Deacon, however is this allowed to happen frequently?

Yes. In one parish, the preaching schedule is Pastor, Deacon #1, Deacon #2, other priest.

So does the frequency by which this Deacon delivers the homily constitute a liturgical abuse?

only if the priest almost never delivers one. In general, when there is just one priest and one deacon, the priest should be delivering about half, but so long as he’s preaching at least some times…

if not at least once a month, I’d be worried. Dad preaches about every 4th week in his current assignment, and the other deacon preaches the week after him.

 

[love4mary]

Our preist gives very good and informative homilies, and our deacon gives good and wonderful spiritual homilies and Always at least minutes longer:thumbsup:

I love it when our deacon preaches, he speaks totally from the heart and you can “see” the Holy Spirit move within him.

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

If your deacon is a transitional deacon, his preaching is part of his education toward the priesthood. Perhaps the pastor is giving him a greater opportunity to practice his preaching (literally and figuratively), since in the seminary, public preaching is rotated among all the deacons and they often only get to preach at seminary Masses once or twice per semester.

 

[benedictgal]

If your deacon is a transitional deacon, his preaching is part of his education toward the priesthood. Perhaps the pastor is giving him a greater opportunity to practice his preaching (literally and figuratively) than he’ll get in the seminary, where public preaching opportunities are limited because they are rotated among all the deacons.

That is what happened in my old parish in Austin. The parish, run by the Paulists, will sometimes have a transitional deacon on staff. One of them became a dear friend of mine.

Now, once my friend was ordained, we get him back for a spell. In this case, because of his transitional diaconate, he was put into the preaching rotation on a regular basis.

Let me explain how this worked: My friend would preach at all of the Masses on a particular weekend, sometimes once a month. During weekday Mass, he would also preach. This really helped him a lot and, I must say, he turned out to be the best homilist of the group.

 

[PJM]

Greetings!

I understand that in certain cases a homily may be given by a Deacon, however is this allowed to happen frequently?

The last 4 Sundays’ homilies were given by the deacon while the Priest sat in his chair.

I checked the GIRM, which states:

So does the frequency by which this Deacon delivers the homily constitute a liturgical abuse?

Reply: No

This same instructiopn can be found in the Code of Canon Law.

Remember Deacon’s ARE Ordained Ministers.

Some of the reasons, although none is really required, for a Deacon to give homilies might include: the Topic, i.e. issues of sexual practice, fund raising, a particular interest or speciaty of the Deacon, other reasons could include the fact that the priest are not feeling well, or are saying mutiple Masses.Perhaps the priest feel that the Deacon is a more gifted speaker?

Not a good idean for every Mass, every week, but the call lies within the pervue of the Pastor.

No sin, no foul:thumbsup:

God’s continued Blessings,
PJM m.c.

 

[PacoG]

Considering that a lot of permanent deacons are older men who held down careers in such fields as law and education, there would be a lot of good deacons who are good preachers. For example, on EWTN, Deacon Bill (an attorney) preaches a good homily.

 

[RB2]

Deacon giving homilies is fine.
Consider it good training.

Now Saint Simon and Jude in Huntington Beach.
Choir Director gives homily, Volunteers who teach
the catechism to children give homilies. People who
have written books, one who seemed to think we should be given quotes by Anthony Quinn , a former catholic, many children out of wedlock during his 3 marriages, died protestant. Nun serving as Pastoral Assistant
gives the homily and she starts giving out feminist speak with womens equality. Pastor gives homily,
where Hell doesnt exist, if it doesnt exist in your mind with convoluted logic hoopla.

Now those are problems!

 

[PacoG]

St. Francis of Assisi was a mere permanent deacon. I wouldn’t mind him preaching the homily every week.