Pastoral Administrators

[Sunny]

May a female pastoral administrator deliver the homily in any given circumstance ex: priest has 3-4 churches he must be at mass for within a 10-15 mile radius on Sunday. I recently attended a mass where this was done and did not feel right about this. Thank you-God Bless.

 

[1ke]

Only a person who has received the Sacrament of Holy Orders may give a homily at Mass.

And, I don’t understand your example. Why would the number of parishes that a priest serves determine whether or not he gives the homily at all of them?

Our priest has 3 parishes. He gives the homily at all 3.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

May a female pastoral administrator deliver the homily in any given circumstance ex: priest has 3-4 churches he must be at mass for within a 10-15 mile radius on Sunday. I recently attended a mass where this was done and did not feel right about this. Thank you-God Bless.

No. Male or female!

 

[scylla]

No, it is forbidden for laity to give a homily.

Some people lie to themselves and everyone else by calling it a reflection and then doing a “reflection” in place of a homily.

This was done in my parish by our parish administrator a few times when she started and thankfully she stopped.

She recently got around the prohibition by taking a couple days off on the weekend and allowing a guest sister to do it while she was gone. It was a clever way of getting around the prohibition.

Ask if you can give the homily and see what the response is.

God Bless
Scylla

 

[Just_Lurking]

Where is the priest while the pastoral administrator is giving the homily?

 

[Sunny]

Only a person who has received the Sacrament of Holy Orders may give a homily at Mass.

And, I don’t understand your example. Why would the number of parishes that a priest serves determine whether or not he gives the homily at all of them?

Our priest has 3 parishes. He gives the homily at all 3.

 

[Sunny]

Thank You for your response. I felt the same way-- even though the priest has 3 other parishes he should give they homily at all three.

 

[Sunny]

Also the priest is sitting and listening to the homily. He made some excuse about not having the time to put together a homily. What really got to me is that the homily she delivered was about submission to authority etc. which I thought was pretty bold seeing that she herself was defying authority.

 

[Karl_M]

This issue has been beaten to death and then some.

The Vatican has been more than extremely clear, in Redemptionis Sacramentum.

Paragraph 64 points out that the homily must be done by the celebrating Priest, a concelebrating priest, a non-concelebrating priest, or the deacon, “but never to a layperson.”

You asked specifically about the Pastoral Administrator…

1. The prohibition of the admission of laypersons to preach within the Mass applies also to…those known as “pastoral assistants”; nor is there to be any exception for any other kind of layperson, or group, or community, or association

usccb.org/liturgy/documents/instruction.pdf

I didn’t include Paragraph 65, which says that any previous norm that may have allowed lay preaching is reprobated, so that it cannot be permitted to attain the force of custom.

This document also explains why it is such a big deal to follow the liturgical norms. It’s not just arbitrary rules.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Thank You for your response. I felt the same way-- even though the priest has 3 other parishes he should give they homily at all three.

I doubt that many will attend more than one; so he only needs one homily and repeat it.

 

[Corki]

No, it is forbidden for laity to give a homily.

Some people lie to themselves and everyone else by calling it a reflection and then doing a “reflection” in place of a homily.

This was done in my parish by our parish administrator a few times when she started and thankfully she stopped.

She recently got around the prohibition by taking a couple days off on the weekend and allowing a guest sister to do it while she was gone. It was a clever way of getting around the prohibition.

Ask if you can give the homily and see what the response is.

God Bless
Scylla

How is this “getting around the prohibition”? Nuns or sisters can’t give homilies either.

 

[quiet52]

The relevant sections of Redemptionis Sacramentum should be given to the priest. If he continues to shirk his responsibility to give a homily, or to find a deacon or another priest to deliver one if he insists he isn’t prepared to, then he needs to be reported to the bishop a.s.a.p.

 

[scylla]

How is this “getting around the prohibition”? Nuns or sisters can’t give homilies either.

Because she can say she was gone and didn’t see it or didn’t get to stop it.
They could announce it and no one could complain until after it was done and a few days had passed. So she gets around the confrontation, the having to answer any questions and the responsibility of being there while it happened even though she scheduled it before-hand.

There are many ways to twist the faith and or introduce grey areas to further agendas. Just last week I went to a class on lay presiding for liturgies. The handouts mentioned things like God being female yet it wasn’t said out loud so no one verbally misrepresented the faith, they just did it with the handouts.

We see this sort of thing all the time out here in California, it is just something we have to deal with and pray about.

God Bless
Scylla