Lay Preaching Allowed?

[G_S]

Our priest stated in his homily this Sunday that about twenty years ago our bishop asked Rome if he could authorize lay people to preach the homily at Mass and that he received written authorization to allow it. Then he said during the homily to the religious sister who is in charge of the parish, “Isn’t that right, sister?” She seemed to hesitate and then somewhat partially agreed. We previously had someone from the diocese come to the parish and say that the pope had given written authorization for the practice and held up a paper saying it was a document from Rome and that it would be available for everyone. It has never become available. I asked someone in the bishop’s office about it and he said, “Oh, there’s documents you don’t even know about.” Any comments?

 

[benedictgal]

Our priest stated in his homily this Sunday that about twenty years ago our bishop asked Rome if he could authorize lay people to preach the homily at Mass and that he received written authorization to allow it. Then he said during the homily to the religious sister who is in charge of the parish, “Isn’t that right, sister?” She seemed to hesitate and then somewhat partially agreed. We previously had someone from the diocese come to the parish and say that the pope had given written authorization for the practice and held up a paper saying it was a document from Rome and that it would be available for everyone. It has never become available. I asked someone in the bishop’s office about it and he said, “Oh, there’s documents you don’t even know about.” Any comments?

This is what Redemptionis Sacramentum has to say on the matter:

[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

This document came out in 2004 and, as the highlighted text indicates, it supercedes whatever practice was employed in the past. Most, if not all, of the Church’s documents are available online. Theer is nothing secret about what she has to say regarding the liturgy.

Furthermore, as the former Joseph Ratzinger is our Supreme Pontiff, I seriously doubt that he would make any changes that are contrary to a document that he himself co-wrote. Furthermore, legitimate agencies like Zenit and Adoremus would have been publishing reports and the bishops conferences would have to be studying the matter. The USCCB has not mane any pronouncements regarding this purported document and, certainly, Francis Cardinal Arinze, whose Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments would be the originators of the document, has not made any formal (or informal) announcement regarding this issue.

 

[Phemie]

This is what Redemptionis Sacramentum has to say on the matter:

This document came out in 2004 and, as the highlighted text indicates, it supercedes whatever practice was employed in the past. Most, if not all, of the Church’s documents are available online. There is nothing secret about what she has to say regarding the liturgy.

Furthermore, as the former Joseph Ratzinger is our Supreme Pontiff, I seriously doubt that he would make any changes that are contrary to a document that he himself co-wrote. Furthermore, legitimate agencies like Zenit and Adoremus would have been publishing reports and the bishops conferences would have to be studying the matter. The USCCB has not mane any pronouncements regarding this purported document and, certainly, Francis Cardinal Arinze, whose Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments would be the originators of the document, has not made any formal (or informal) announcement regarding this issue.

But the way this is written makes it obvious that at some time in the recent past, somewhere, indults were granted allowing this. It would be recent enough that the practice hasn’t acquired ‘force of custom’ and that’s the whole point of this item in RS. Why state that something is abrogated, if it never existed?

 

[G_S]

But the way this is written makes it obvious that at some time in the recent past, somewhere, indults were granted allowing this. It would be recent enough that the practice hasn’t acquired ‘force of custom’ and that’s the whole point of this item in RS. Why state that something is abrogated, if it never existed?

Why state it applies if it’s been abrogated?

 

[EasterJoy]

Why state that something is abrogated, if it never existed?

I think there may have applied a special exception in cases where the priest did not know the language of the faithful at the Mass, but that now the situation is that the priest gives the homily and it is translated, which may be done by a layperson? In the former case, if there was no one to translate and the priest did not know the language, he could be sitting there while a layperson preached something totally wrong they thought up from scratch. In the present case, you just have to find someone competent and trustworthy to translate the thought faithfully.

If no priest or deacon present speaks the language(s) of the faithful and none of the faithful present understand the language(s) of the priest well enough to translate, I guess the homily must be dispensed with.

 

[Phemie]

Why state it applies if it’s been abrogated?

Any “permission” previously given is abrogated. The “prohibition” applies to seminarians and all other lay people.

 

[G_S]

The procedure followed in our parish is as follows: Father reads a sentence or two that Sister has prepared for him to read. Then Sister gets up and preaches the homily.

 

[Spiller]

Our priest stated in his homily this Sunday that about twenty years ago our bishop asked Rome if he could authorize lay people to preach the homily at Mass and that he received written authorization to allow it. Then he said during the homily to the religious sister who is in charge of the parish, “Isn’t that right, sister?” She seemed to hesitate and then somewhat partially agreed. We previously had someone from the diocese come to the parish and say that the pope had given written authorization for the practice and held up a paper saying it was a document from Rome and that it would be available for everyone. It has never become available. I asked someone in the bishop’s office about it and he said,** “Oh, there’s documents you don’t even know about.” Any comments?**

That’s a bunch of garbage.

The simple fact is, if they had them they would be making them VERY available as it would support their desires.

They would also make their way to EWTN, Adoremus, etc. and they would be disseminated. Your think your bishop’s office has some sort of inside track that is off-limits to those who EAT, SLEEP and LIVE the liturgy? I think not.

I think if my bishop actually made such a absurd comment I would write him and ask him for the documents.

What they might have in the files are inner-office memorandums from the bishop that directs them to ignore instructions from the Church – Much like Roger Cardinal Mahony’s letter to his faithful telling them to ignore the Holy See’s prohibition on pouring the Precious Blood if they would like to…

 

[Spiller]

The procedure followed in our parish is as follows: Father reads a sentence or two that Sister has prepared for him to read. Then Sister gets up and preaches the homily.

He’s covering his backside by suggesting his sentence or two is the “homily” and that the sister is merely giving a reflection. That’s terrible. Lord have mercy on both of their souls because I’m sure both know better…

 

[japhy]

Lay preaching outside of Mass is permitted in certain circumstances, but it cannot be called a homily. Laity cannot give the homily during Mass, nor may they preach during the time reserved for the homily. (source)

The only allowance for lay homilists I have found is from the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy, in a letter of Cardinal J. Wright to Cardinal J. Dopfner (president of the German conference of bishops), on preaching by the laity, from November 20, 1973. This quote below is DOL 344 nn. 2957-2958. (DOL = Documents on the Liturgy.) The permission was granted only to Germany, for a period of four years, under certain circumstances:1. In places lacking a priest or deacon, bishops are to choose layperson who will be empowered to give a homily during the celebration of the word of God so that on Sundays and holydays of obligation the faithful may receive help to sanctify the day.

1. a. During a Mass the celebrant normally gives the sermon.

b. But a celebrant may be physically or morally prevented from fulfilling this function, no other priest or deacon may be available, and thus the faithful may be deprived of the spiritual help coming from the word of God. In such a case of compelling or reasonable need, bishops have the power to grant to laypersons the faculty to preach even during a Mass.

c. Bishops are empowered to grant the same faculty when on a particular occasion (for example, celebrations on behalf of the Christian family, to promote works of charity or foreign missions, or other celebrations at the discretion of the bishops) laypersons who have special qualifications and whose words are likely to be especially effective.
Other documents from that time period make it clear that laypeople cannot give homilies during Mass:

• “In places without a priest and where none is available for celebration of Mass on Sundays and holydays of obligation, a sacred celebration of the word of God with a deacon or even a properly appointed layperson presiding, shall be arranged, at the discretion of the local Ordinary. … If the one presiding is a deacon, he shall give a homily; a nondeacon shall read a homily chosen by the bishop or the pastor.” (Sacred Congregation of Rites, Instruction Inter Oecumenici, n. 37, September 26, 1964 DOL 23 n. 329 )
• “The priest, therefore, is the homilist.]” (Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Instruction Liturgicae Instaurationes n. 2a, September 5, 1970 DOL 52 n. 513 )
• Query: “[May] those also who are neither priests nor deacons, both men and women, but take part in the liturgy, … give the homily?” Reply: “No.” (Pontifical Commission for the Interpretation of the Decrees of Vatican Council II, Reply to a query on GIRM n. 42, January 11, 1971 DOL 215 n. 1768 )