Who gives the homily?

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marthagreys

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Can a sister give the homily at a Communion service when no priest or deacon is present?
 
Technically, no. Anyone may give a reflection - and most lay persons wouldn’t differentiate that from a homily. So, in a colloquial way of speaking about it, it is ok.
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
Technically, no. Anyone may give a reflection - and most lay persons wouldn’t differentiate that from a homily. So, in a colloquial way of speaking about it, it is ok.
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Only a priest or deacon is permitted to say a homily. However, the homily is recommended but not required at Daily Mass. Since this is a Communion service, I would assume it is during the week. The best line of action would be to just skip the homily. The priest or deacon are the only ones allowed to preach. The faithful attending might also think that the reflection takes place of or is the homily. It would be best to just skip it.
 
GKChesternut said:
Only a priest or deacon is permitted to say a homily. However, the homily is recommended but not required at Daily Mass. Since this is a Communion service, I would assume it is during the week. The best line of action would be to just skip the homily. The priest or deacon are the only ones allowed to preach. The faithful attending might also think that the reflection takes place of or is the homily. It would be best to just skip it.
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During Mass only the ordained can give a homily. Outside of Mass there is no rule. Often the priest will leave a reflection to be read during a Celebration of the Word with Communion. In the Canadian Rite it says a reflection can be read or a period of silence can be observed after the Gospel.
 
Actually, there is a rule. A deacon at a communion service can give a homily. A lay person can give a sharing/reflection. A homily incorporates instruction/teaching/interpretation but a sharing would not.
 
Of course, many people wouldn’t recognize the distinction between a reflection and a homily just as many lay people don’t grasp the difference between a Mass and a Communion Service.
 
Phemie said:
During Mass only the ordained can give a homily. Outside of Mass there is no rule. Often the priest will leave a reflection to be read during a Celebration of the Word with Communion. In the Canadian Rite it says a reflection can be read or a period of silence can be observed after the Gospel.
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What is the Canadian rite? Is it different to the Roman rite? Thank you.
 
PaulfromIowa said:
Of course, many people wouldn’t recognize the distinction between a reflection and a homily just as many lay people don’t grasp the difference between a Mass and a Communion Service.
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yup. Very true.
And in the case of communion services, the reflection is something read by the person and is pre-approved and screened by the Pastor who asked them to cover the communion service anyway. It’s generally a very brief paragraph or two relating to the Gospel.
 
At least you’re getting something. In our parish, the priest never offers a homily or even a brief reflection at daily Mass. When the deacon conducts a Communion Service on the priest’s day off, he always delivers a brief homily.
 
First of all I am not the biggest fan of Communion Services in most cases. I realize that there are places in the world where a priest can only visit a few times a year and those would be the exception. I am never a fan of the laity giving reflections without the approval of the pastor. When someone without the teaching authority of the Church gives their “reflection” it is all too often their opinion, and opinions are like elbows, almost everyone has a couple of them.
 
When I bring communion to the elderly, if they are physically able to, I will bring along some blog from a trusted source like USCCB or my archdiocese (Cardinal Wuerl posts great stuff all the time) and share this with the communicant. Nuns have more theological training, so maybe it’s different for them, but whether you call it a homily, a reflection or Uncle Eddies daily spiritual vitamins, writing it myself is above my pay grade.
 
Mike_Dye said:
First of all I am not the biggest fan of Communion Services in most cases. I realize that there are places in the world where a priest can only visit a few times a year and those would be the exception. I am never a fan of the laity giving reflections without the approval of the pastor. When someone without the teaching authority of the Church gives their “reflection” it is all too often their opinion, and opinions are like elbows, almost everyone has a couple of them.
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We can’t assume that they are not pre-approved.
 
Phemie said:
During Mass only the ordained can give a homily. Outside of Mass there is no rule.
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Even outside Mass there remain rules about homilies.

Practical Provisions, Art. 3 § 4: “Homilies in non-eucharistic liturgies may be preached by the non-ordained faithful only when expressly permitted by law and when its prescriptions for doing so are observed.”
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_interdic_doc_15081997_en.html

Furthermore, even if not technically a homily, the lay faithful are not allowed to “preach” in a church or oratory without express permission, even outside of the liturgy.

Can. 766 Lay persons can be permitted to preach in a church or oratory, if necessity requires it in certain circumstances or it seems advantageous in particular cases, according to the prescripts of the conference of bishops and without prejudice to ⇒ can. 767, §1.

Of course, much hinges upon the distinction between “preaching” and “reflecting/sharing” or perhaps even “catechizing.” When I took an intro to canon law a decade ago we asked - especially because most of us were planning on lay ministry - just what counted as preaching, and the priest professor told us there was no further specification. This allows much to occur that, to us in the pews, seems functionally equivalent to preaching or even homilizing, but which is sanitized by going under a different name.
 
We fudge in my parish; a nun reads a prepared homily by the priest! :nun2:
 
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