Pastor Giving Permission for Someone Else to Say Homily?

[comgrad05]

Last weekend at Mass a religious sister gave the homily so I voiced my concern to the pastor (who celebrated Mass). She was brought into the diocese from an archdiocese to help with a specific problem here.

He agreed with me that only a priest or deacon could give the homily but said that a pastor has the authority to give permission to let someone else if he feels it is important and that that’s what he did. Does a pastor have this kind of authority? If not, what documents can I refer to for proof? Thank you!

 

[Tantum_ergo]

No, he doesn’t. He has the authority to let somebody speak on something important (say, missions) but not as a homily, not in place of a homily. Some priests (especially in certain dioceses where it came down from the bishop) got the idea that this could be done so your priest may be quite certain because his superior in seminary SAID it was 'Okay" that it is okay. . .but it isn’t. I know there is documentation about this from the GIRM:

*The Homily

1. The homily is part of the Liturgy and is strongly recommended,63 for it is necessary for the nurturing of the Christian life. It should be an exposition of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or of another text from the Ordinary or from the Proper of the Mass of the day and should take into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.64
2. 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 at all Masses that are celebrated with the participation of a congregation; it may not be omitted without a serious reason. It is recommended on other days, especially on the weekdays of Advent, Lent, and the Easter Season, as well as on other festive days and occasions when the people come to church in greater numbers.66

Father may be confused into thinking that Sister, as a religious sister, is not a lay person. However, she is, in fact, a lay person (sisters and nuns do not take holy orders) so she may not give a homily. I hope this helps.*

 

[FrDavid96]

Last weekend at Mass a religious sister gave the homily so I voiced my concern to the pastor (who celebrated Mass). She was brought into the diocese from an archdiocese to help with a specific problem here.

He agreed with me that only a priest or deacon could give the homily but said that a pastor has the authority to give permission to let someone else if he feels it is important and that that’s what he did. Does a pastor have this kind of authority? If not, what documents can I refer to for proof? Thank you!

The Pastor has no authority to allow anyone other than a validly ordained priest or deacon with faculties to preach at Mass. There is no way around this, and there are no exceptions.

Ask him to read Redemptionis Sacramentum #161

• [161.] As was already noted above, the homily on account of its importance and its nature is reserved to the Priest or Deacon during Mass. As regards other forms of preaching, if necessity demands it in particular circumstances, or if usefulness suggests it in special cases, lay members of Christ’s faithful may be allowed to preach in a church or in an oratory **outside Mass **in accordance with the norm of law. **This may be done only on account of a scarcity of sacred ministers **in certain places, in order to meet the need, and it may not be transformed from an exceptional measure into an ordinary practice, nor may it be understood as an authentic form of the advancement of the laity. All must remember besides that the faculty for giving such permission belongs to the local Ordinary, and this as regards individual instances; this permission is not the competence of anyone else, even if they are Priests or Deacons.

The bold-type is my own emphasis.

 

[John_Lilburne]

From the 2004 Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum:
“[74.] 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,[156] nor is it permissible to dispense with the homily on their account.”

 

[benedictgal]

And if these references weren’t enough, here is one from a document that the Congregation for Clergy released 11 years ago (seven years before RS came out). It is called The Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest. It says very explicitly that:

The Homily

§ 1. The homily, being an eminent form of preaching, qua per anni liturgici cursum ex textu sacro fidei mysteria et normae vitae christianae exponuntia,(68) also forms part of the liturgy.

The homily, therefore, during the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, must be reserved to the sacred minister, Priest or Deacon(69) to the exclusion of the non-ordained 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. For the same reason the diocesan Bishop cannot validly dispense from the canonical norm(70) since this is not merely a disciplinary law but one which touches upon the closely connected functions of teaching and sanctifying.

For the same reason, the practice, on some occasions, of entrusting the preaching of the homily to seminarians or theology students who are not clerics(71) is not permitted. Indeed, the homily should not be regarded as a training for some future ministry.

All previous norms which may have admitted the non-ordained faithful to preaching the homily during the Holy Eucharist are to be considered abrogated by canon 767, § 1.(72)

This same language shows up again in the GIRM and in RS.

 

[Beautiful]

Last weekend at Mass a religious sister gave the homily so I voiced my concern to the pastor (who celebrated Mass). She was brought into the diocese from an archdiocese to help with a specific problem here.

He agreed with me that only a priest or deacon could give the homily but said that a pastor has the authority to give permission to let someone else if he feels it is important and that that’s what he did. Does a pastor have this kind of authority? If not, what documents can I refer to for proof? Thank you!

comgrad05 ~
Everyone has offered sound advice. I’d like to add that perhaps the woman religious speaking might have been contagion from your neighboring Diocese of Rochester. This sort of thing has been going on regularly just a short drive from your hometown - oh - for about ten years anyway. I pray it stops dead.

 

[comgrad05]

Thank you for your thoughtful remark but actually, Rochester is a diocese. She came from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. But I have heard that Rochester has many problems as well… Ahh! It’s so frustrating!