Laity Talk After the Homily?

[pjMerluza]

So I went to a different church last week, and the priest gave a short homily and invited up a man who was the president of the local catholic radio to give a talk about donating for their recent fundraising drive. He then directed the parisoners to the envelopes on the pews, and those were collected when the collection baskets went around. I sent an email to the priest, and he said that sorry that i felt that way about his talk, because of all the good work that the radio station did.

So in summary, was it alright for the priest to allow the laity to speak after the homily?

 

[benedictgal]

So I went to a different church last week, and the priest gave a short homily and invited up a man who was the president of the local catholic radio to give a talk about donating for their recent fundraising drive. He then directed the parisoners to the envelopes on the pews, and those were collected when the collection baskets went around. I sent an email to the priest, and he said that sorry that i felt that way about his talk, because of all the good work that the radio station did.

So in summary, was it alright for the priest to allow the laity to speak after the homily?

I do not have my Roman Missal with me, but, the rubrics call for any announcements to take place after the prayer after Communion, before the final blessing. This talk should have taken place at that time, not after the homily. What makes this even worse was that this happened during Pentecost Sunday, a major Solemnity because it marks the Descent of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church, and the final day of the Easter Season. The president of the Catholic Radio station should have known better.

 

[diggerdomer]

So I went to a different church last week, and the priest gave a short homily and invited up a man who was the president of the local catholic radio to give a talk about donating for their recent fundraising drive. He then directed the parisoners to the envelopes on the pews, and those were collected when the collection baskets went around. I sent an email to the priest, and he said that sorry that i felt that way about his talk, because of all the good work that the radio station did.

So in summary, was it alright for the priest to allow the laity to speak after the homily?

Yes it was alright.

Whether it’s prudent, or helpful, is a different question.

 

[BernadetteM]

Today in Mass Father allowed a young man to speak to us about a march that is done each year to stop abortion, they walk I believe thousands of miles over a few months and offer up their pain, hunger, etc. to the Lord. The talk was short and Father asked that we stay until after the recessional hymn to listen to the speech.

Our pastor does not allow anyone to give a speech after the homily, which is always given by the priest. We actually have some very good homilies, ones that afterwards you can remember many of the important parts.

Of course I attend a more traditional parish and everything is done with reverence.

Our parish is very pro life and many rosaries are said weekly for the end of abortion.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

 

[Gertabelle]

I don’t have the “official” answer, but Father always makes announcements right after his homily (which is almost always excellent). The past two Sundays I have been at two different parishes, and they both had laity making appeals for their respective causes. This happens at the parishes in our diocese once a year I think, and I guess these weekends are the times for them.

As for the timing of these announcements, the pastor of my parish is not one to make up his own rules. He’s upset some people by being “too rigorous” about following the rubrics, so I’d be surprised to discover that he shouldn’t have allowed the appeals to be made right after the homily – unless the archbishop had mandated that. But given our archbishop, I can even less imagine that he would go against the GIRM or any other Church rubrics.

Now I’m confused

Gertie

 

[VetA]

Today in Mass Father allowed a young man to speak to us about a march that is done each year to stop abortion, they walk I believe thousands of miles over a few months and offer up their pain, hunger, etc. to the Lord. The talk was short and Father asked that we stay until after the recessional hymn to listen to the speech.

Our pastor does not allow anyone to give a speech after the homily, which is always given by the priest. We actually have some very good homilies, ones that afterwards you can remember many of the important parts.

Of course I attend a more traditional parish and everything is done with reverence.

Our parish is very pro life and many rosaries are said weekly for the end of abortion.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

every parish is pro-life, every real catholic organization is very pro-life, at east to my knowledge

 

[Elizabeth502]

The example given by the OP is acceptable. OTOH, what happened today (again!) at my local parish is not acceptable: Lay preaching! Presiding priest says two sentences; then invites lay person to preach. I will say that unlike all the previous four such incidents within the last 12 months (!), this one wasn’t quite as difficult to listen to as the previous four, in that the speaker’s content was a tiny bit less dry, but ever so tinily. Still, though --like the others-- it was way too academic. A homily is not an academic talk, no matter how learned the content, how educated the priest. There’s an art to it, and generally it is not read, at least not as literally as one reads an academic paper.

Not a deacon, not a seminarian, not a missionary, not a visiting priest. Not an appeal for a cause. Merely a lay person giving a talk about the Trinity, on Trinity Sunday – replacing the priest’s homily.

Despite my frequent complaints here, I’m not a stubborn purist. I think the laity has a lot of ideas to give priests, if/when priests are willing to solicit and incorporate those ideas. I actually think that’s a good use of lay wisdom. (A good homily should have a lot of wisdom in it!) In conversations that come up with priests and pastors, regarding insights, for example – theological insights, scriptural insights – I think it’s perfectly acceptable for a lay person to say to the pastor, “I’d love to hear your opinion on ______ and perhaps include your interpretation of that in a homily.” Or if the pastor appreciates a remark shared by a parishioner, for the pastor to ask permission to make oblique or direct reference to that, anonymously, in a homily. I see nothing wrong with that. That is very different from usurping the priest’s role. Again, to me this is not about canonical purity: it’s about the flow of the liturgy proceeding from a single leader, head, representative of the congregation. The Mass is not a democratic event with egalitarian participation and indistinguishable roles.

End of rant.

(I love Trinity Sunday!)

 

[BernadetteM]

every parish is pro-life, every real catholic organization is very pro-life, at east to my knowledge

I added that because apparently the young man has been in parishes where although they are pro life, our parish is out there every week protesting against abortion with others at an abortion clinic and maybe he has been in parishes that they were not as well received. He mentioned in his speech how pro life our parish was.

Not that this has much to do with the subject, but our parish families range from 4 children to 15. I would say 6 is the average number of children for many families.

God Bless

Bernadette

 

[collar31]

So I went to a different church last week, and the priest gave a short homily and invited up a man who was the president of the local catholic radio to give a talk about donating for their recent fundraising drive. He then directed the parisoners to the envelopes on the pews, and those were collected when the collection baskets went around. I sent an email to the priest, and he said that sorry that i felt that way about his talk, because of all the good work that the radio station did.

So in summary, was it alright for the priest to allow the laity to speak after the homily?

No. Your Priest was well intentioned but ill informed. No person other than the Priest or Deacon can give a homily. No other person can give the homily or speak in place of or after, such. You are right. The person should have spoken after Father had given his blessing at the end of Mass or just before.

 

[prodigalson12]

So I went to a different church last week, and the priest gave a short homily and invited up a man who was the president of the local catholic radio to give a talk about donating for their recent fundraising drive. He then directed the parisoners to the envelopes on the pews, and those were collected when the collection baskets went around. I sent an email to the priest, and he said that sorry that i felt that way about his talk, because of all the good work that the radio station did.

So in summary, was it alright for the priest to allow the laity to speak after the homily?

Par for the course, at least the priest is not adding onto his homily to support said charity, as my past one started doing, I felt like I was listening to a tv commercial. Shake your head no if you guys run into this in the future, if enough of you do, they will get the point clearly.

 

[Canto]

**The General Instruction of the Roman Missal **

1. 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.

65 In particular cases and for a just cause, the Homily may even be given by a Bishop or a priest who is present at the celebration but cannot concelebrate.

There is to be a Homily on Sundays and holy days of obligation… as well as on other festive days and occasions when the people come to church in greater numbers.

After the Homily a brief period of silence is appropriately observed.

The Profession of Faith
67. The purpose of the Symbolum or Profession of Faith, or Creed…

So after the homily there is silence and then the Credo. No mention of the laity giving a talk or promo no matter how pius it might be.

1. The Concluding Rites consist of:
2. brief announcements, if they are necessary;
3. the priest’s greeting and blessing…

 

[Ockham]

Questions such as this should be asked directly to someone proficient in Church teachings and/or canon law. “Ask An Apologist” section of this website is an excellent resource. EWTN offers expert answers as well.

"Among the practices which the above mentioned document criticized and asked to be ended were:

a. using lay extraordinary ministers to supply for ordinary ones by multiplying “exceptional” cases over and above those so designated and regulated by normative discipline,

b. assumption by the laity of titles such as “pastor”, “chaplain”, “coordinator”, " moderator" or other such similar titles which can confuse their role and that of the Pastor, who is always a Bishop or Priest.

c. preaching of the liturgical homily, by other than the bishop, his priests or his deacons, or other preaching by the laity in a church or oratory that is not in accordance with the prescriptions of the bishops’ conference, as confirmed by the Holy See."

ewtn.com/expert/answers/non-ordained.htm

Redemptionis Sacramentum
If the need arises for the gathered faithful to be given instruction or testimony by a layperson in a Church concerning the Christian life, it is altogether preferable that this be done outside Mass. Nevertheless, for serious reasons it is permissible that this type of instruction or testimony be given after the Priest has proclaimed the Prayer after Communion. This should not become a regular practice, however. Furthermore, these instructions and testimony should not be of such a nature that they could be confused with the homily, nor is it permissible to dispense with the homily on their account [RS 74].

 

[Ockham]

Redemptionis Sacramentum

[64.] The homily, which is given in the course of the celebration of Holy Mass and is a part of the Liturgy itself,[142] “should ordinarily be given by the Priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating Priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to a Deacon, but never to a layperson.[143] In particular cases and for a just cause, the homily may even be given by a Bishop or a Priest who is present at the celebration but cannot concelebrate”.[144]

[65.] It should be borne in mind that any previous norm that may have admitted non-ordained faithful to give the homily during the eucharistic celebration is to be considered abrogated by the norm of canon 767 §1.[145] This practice is reprobated, so that it cannot be permitted to attain the force of custom.

[66.] The prohibition of the admission of laypersons to preach within the Mass applies also to seminarians, students of theological disciplines, and those who have assumed the function of those known as “pastoral assistants”; nor is there to be any exception for any other kind of layperson, or group, or community, or association.[146]

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html

 

[thomas_jd]

The laity are permitted to talk after the Homily, after Communion( announcements), and after the Mass.

 

[Ockham]

The laity are permitted to talk after the Homily, after Communion( announcements), and after the Mass.

Source?

 

[thomas_jd]

Source?

My Bishop .

 

[centurionguard]

Yes it was alright.

Whether it’s prudent, or helpful, is a different question.

I’ve seen missionary priests who are annual guests in our parish ask for donations during a homily but never a lay person.

Usually though the homily by the priest should hone in on the message of the gospel or first and second reading.

Could such a monetary drive from lay people become too habitual during a homily is other question.

Personally; I don’t think it was prudent for a lay individual to give this message until the closing pray at Mass.

Such can easily detract from the spiritual message given at the homily.

 

[Ockham]

My Bishop .

Do you belong to the same diocese as the OP?

Can your bishop over rule Redemptionis Sacramentum?

 

[zab]

Our pastor enlisted the help of certain individuals to give a brief talk about their journey back to the Catholic Church. It was all part of the “Catholics Come Home” campaign. This talk was given about 5 minutes before Mass began.

 

[damooster]

Our pastor enlisted the help of certain individuals to give a brief talk about their journey back to the Catholic Church. It was all part of the “Catholics Come Home” campaign. This talk was given about 5 minutes before Mass began.

General Instruction of the Roman Missal states:

1. … Even before the celebration itself, it is commendable that silence to be observed in the church, in the sacristy, in the vesting room, and in adjacent areas, so that all may dispose themselves to carry out the sacred action in a devout and fitting manner.

I visited a parish yesterday, and right before Mass (while I was kneeling in prayer), a bugler entered the nave and blasted out America the Beautiful, followed by Taps.

When is this stuff going to end? When are people going to stop taking the focus from God in our churches? I love my country just as much as the next person (I’m a vet), but Mass is not the place for this sort of thing.