Directive from Archbishop Flynn ends lay preaching at Mass

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I find it sad that this kind of abuse has gone on for 25 years and only now is being ended.

Pray for those that knowingly allowed and participated in a known abuse.
 
After reading this article, I am surprised at the reaction of the laity to this. Anger? Dismay? Shock?

What about obedience?

One may not like a directive, but the bishop has spoken. And in the Catholic Church, that is the end of the story.
 
Interesting article. I’m glad the Archbishop put a stop to the abuse, though I wish he had done it sooner. I suspected the following comment or something like it would appear in the article, when I saw the picture of the “lay preacher” in white robes, but it didn’t come until late in the article:
Lay preaching also brings a woman’s perspective to the Gospels, Baumer said. “The suppression of lay preaching is simultaneously the suppression of female voices, because no matter how God has gifted a lay woman . . . to break open the Word, the community will not have access to that word as it gathers on Sunday,” she said.
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I’m not surprised…at least there wasn’t a comment about the Church ordaining women.

What is so important about a woman preaching at Mass? I’m not against hearing women giving a lesson on the readings, but it shouldn’t supplant the homily by the priest. We have Adult Faith Formation at our parish at the same time the kids are having their formation classes. That is the time for lay participation in teaching and preaching. Bible study groups are also a good time for that, but Mass is the primary time for the priest to preach the Word and feed his people the Bread of Life.
 
There are so many places outside of the realm of the mass for laity to teach and catechize. Their roles are important but they should not be relegated to presbyters. It’s not meant as a punishment to the “lay preachers” but rather a definition of roles. They have a valued place in the schools or parish catechetical programs, but not during the celebration of the liturgy.
 
KathleenElsie said:
I find it sad that this kind of abuse has gone on for 25 years and only now is being ended.

Pray for those that knowingly allowed and participated in a known abuse.
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Several years ago, I attended Mass in Mount Pleasant, Michigan while on vacation. The “homily” was given by a woman who while sitting down read a chapter from “Tuesdays with Morrie”. That was abuse!
 
i’ve never even heard of laity preaching during mass. what a deep, dark cave i must live in!
 
Well, if the rule is no lay preaching - so be it. One thing I will say is that in the past year the preaching I have heard from our resident priests has been absolutely miserable. Even the Easter sermon was a total dud. Last week a visiting priest was allowed to preach. He was great! But that just emphasized how bad our resident priest are. Why don’t seminaries emphasize homiletics?
 
The least important part of the Mass is the homily. If the priest is a poor speaker, spend the time in prayer. For Protestants the most important part of the service is the sermon, after all it’s all they have.
 
The last 2 parishes I belonged to regularly had lay preaching and a person would be held with great dismay by other parish members if they said a peep about it.
 
cathgal said:
Some priests can be so lazy as to give their job to the laity.

thecatholicspirit.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=1943&SectionID=37&SubSectionID=&S=1
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I feel this will be a great loss for the Archdiocese. I have only been to a couple parishes at different times when this happens and I think it can be a good thing. They do not (and are not intended) to replace the priest, but add more to some masses by bringing in different perspectives. Many lay preachers as the article says are as educated as many priests with Masters or higher in theology or some similar degree.
 
NewUlm1976_2000 said:
I feel this will be a great loss for the Archdiocese. I have only been to a couple parishes at different times when this happens and I think it can be a good thing. They do not (and are not intended) to replace the priest, but add more to some masses by bringing in different perspectives. Many lay preachers as the article says are as educated as many priests with Masters or higher in theology or some similar degree.
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Education or different perspectives have nothing to do with it. If they want to offer different perspectives, they can…outside of Mass. But the Church says that only clergy can preach at Mass: deacons, priests or bishops.
 
cathgal said:
Some priests can be so lazy as to give their job to the laity.
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Agreed. Now the Archbishop needs to order his priests to actually preach. I’d send out observers for good measure.

At our local Parish, the priest just downloads homilies (or sermons from protestant pastors) and reads them as if they were his own work. He has never credited the actual author for their work. Basically, he is a plagiarist priest.

On the bright side, this has given me something to do during his boring, monotone, reading of stolen material. I jot down catch phrases, those that will make a good Google search. Then I go home and find the source of his material. I’ve shared this with others, but nobody seems to be bothered by it like me.

I’ve got a good mind to video tape him and post it to You Tube with a link to the stolen material. That would get the Archbishop’s attention.

Nohome
 
OriginalJS said:
Well, if the rule is no lay preaching - so be it. One thing I will say is that in the past year the preaching I have heard from our resident priests has been absolutely miserable. Even the Easter sermon was a total dud.
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Our Easter sermon was the same as our Christmas sermon.

“My sermon today is one to listen to carefully and take to heart: Merry Christmas!/Happy Easter!”
 
Now, when I’ve been in the circumstance (before the Military Archdiocese ended the practice) of providing a communion service for deployed Soldiers I would make a comment on the scripture readings for that day…but I could never imagine doing this during a Mass. I saw the abuse one time in Wisconsin and immediately made my concerns known to the priest right after Mass.

I’m currently blessed to have a priest at my Parish who is the absolute, bar none, best Catholic preacher…and one of the best preachers of any denomination, that I’ve ever heard.
 
We went thru this a year or so ago when our newly appointed Bishop began implementing the GIRM.

It ruffled some feathers, and there were more than a few nasty letters to the editor of both the Diocese newsletter and the local town paper.

The result is most people are going along with it. There’s still a couple of parishes where lay people are giving a homily-but they say it isn’t a “homily,” its a “talk,” but for the most part, it’s going OK.

Once people settle down, they’ll see that being obedient to the Pope and the Archbishop on something other than female altar servers isn’t a bad thing.
 
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