Homily written by lay person but delivered by a priest

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LighthouseRon

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At our parish our priest has been having a lay person writing his homilies but the priest delivers them as his own. Is that acceptable? This lay person writes other things too such as his weekly message in the bulletin. The priest, once again, signs them as his own. Just my opinion but it doesn’t seem right to me.
 
I wonder why that is so? 🤔

How do you know about this happening?
 
Because the person doing the writing is my wife’s mother who lives with us.
 
LighthouseRon said:
Just my opinion but it doesn’t seem right to me.
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I agree that this isn’t proper, but so long as the priest chooses to read it and isn’t forced, then it isn’t wrong. Without knowing the reason, it’s hard to say much more. Hopefully the content is orthodox!
 
Are you asking if it makes the Mass somehow illicit or invalid? If so the answer is no.

If you are asking do others like the idea, well that’s up to them, but since it doesn’t make the Mass illicit or invalid, does it really matter?
 
I’m not thinking it makes the mass invalid and I’m a little surprised at the question.

I consider writing a homily part of his job. I realize priests do not get paid very much and it isn’t all that unusual for priest to look at catholic homily resources for inspiration. I consider that different than just having someone else write the homily for you. I’m not trying to make a big deal out of it but it’s something I’ve never heard of before, hence the question.
 
Are they good homilies? What kind of reaction do they get, flattering and appreciative, or not so much?
 
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Well… I’ve heard of priests using a homily written by another deacon, priest or bishop - but I’ve never heard of a priest using a homily written by a lay person.

I would think it would be totally fine if it was rare… but this does seem improper to me and I’m wondering what his motive is.
 
Regarding the quality of the homilies, they have become negative. Many Sundays my wife and I feel like we’re being admonished for not being good enough. I understand that none of us are good enough for God but my opinion, and I understand it’s just my opinion, we as parishioners might be better served by meeting us where we’re at and give some encouragement and less admonishment. Two put it more simply, it’s getting difficult to be taken out behind the woodshed so often.

I haven’t approached either and probably won’t. If there isn’t anything wrong with it, why?
 
could you perhaps give us an example?

I agree with the others, I have never heard of this before either, though on the flip side, not all priests are gifted writers, or even preachers, so a little weird, but not the end of the world I suppose, however, if they are not well-received or negative then there may be a bigger problem
 
I haven’t heard of it, but I wouldn’t like it. I would have thought it wasn’t allowed, but I don’t have real knowledge of that.
 
There is a precedent for this;

As a postulant and novice, Demjanovich taught at the Academy of Saint Elizabeth in Convent Station during 1925-1926. In June 1926, her spiritual director, Father Benedict Bradley, O.S.B., asked her to write the conferences for the novitiate. She wrote 26 conferences which, after her death, were published in a book, Greater Perfection .[7]

 
Greetings of peace!
Yes it seems not right but it can be acceptable.It is not right because it is the duty of a priest to organize his parish and to write his own homily and if he told you that it is his own it can not be right however he is an ordinary person and he needs help maybe the priest do that thing because he is not sure with the behavior of people in that parish maybe if he do the homily he thinks that it can hurt the feelings of his parishioners or something like it .The priest can have a homily from a laity because the laity knows each other and the priest became a laity once.A priest can have a homily from the life of a laity saint.Priest have studied for 10 years so I think that he is too smart however he needs the help from his parishioners so he can build and strengthen the parish.I think it is not a problem or a trouble.
 
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I don’t know of anything illicit about it (though I’m not a cannon lawyer), If the homilies were good, and the priest were bad at writing/speaking I could see this as a way to try to provide good information to the attendees.
 
Some priests subscribe to “homily services”. There is no rule that priests have to compose their own homilies. If someone recognizes they do not have a gift for writing homilies, seeking out someone to assist is a wise thing!
 
I don’t think Fr. Bradley passed off Servant of God Teresa Demjanovich’s work as his own writing, which seems to be what is happening with the OP’s priest and his MIL.
 
I think it is a good thing to be able to involve the parish in the writing of homilies, the priest in my view should deliver the majority of homilies but to occasionally have one written by a parishioner is a good thing as I think as it makes them feel a real value to the parish. It has always been my dream to write a homily and have it preached at Mass and I never knew it was actually permitted until I read this thread.
 
The GIRM requires that a sacred minister gives the homily. The Third Instruction on the Correct Implementation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1970) assets, ‘The homily is the task of the priest’. Ten years later the Sacred Congregation for Sacraments and Divine Worship repeated this regulation: ‘The homily is to be given by the priest or deacon’. Canon Law (No 767) says only priests or deacons can give the homily. In 1997 eight Vatican dicasteries issued the instruction Some Questions Regarding Collaboration of Nonordained Faithful in Priests’ Sacred Ministry and therein the point was clearly made, ‘The homily … must be reserved to the sacred minster, priest or deacon, to the exclusion of the nonordained faithful, even if these should have responsibilities as ‘pastoral assistants’ or catechists in whatever type of community or group. This exclusion is not based on the preaching ability of sacred ministers nor their theological preparation, but on that function which is reserved to them in virtue of having received the Sacrament of Holy Orders.’

I do not read any of the above as saying the priest must read out the homily but a lay person can have written it form him. To me the above means the priest’s responsibility is not simply to stand there like an actor and read another’s script. The sacred minister must be the author of his own homily.
 
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