By 
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has rejected a request by the German Bishops’ Conference to allow lay faithful, in exceptional circumstances, to preach the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist.
The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments communicated the decision in a letter dated June 17 addressed to Bishop Heiner Wilmer, president of the German Bishops’ Conference.
In the letter, the Vatican dicastery said it is “not possible to grant the indult requested” made on March 30 which would have allowed a duly designated layperson to preach in place of the homily.
Although the dicastery — which oversees most matters related to the Catholic Church’s liturgy and the ritual of the sacraments — expressed appreciation for the pastoral motivations behind the request, it emphasized that current norms do not allow for exceptions on this point.
“The reservation of the homily to a priest or deacon is not a merely disciplinary norm, but derives from the very nature of the liturgy,” the dicastery said.
The letter noted that the homily “constitutes an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word,” is “intrinsically linked to the proclamation of the Gospel,” and “represents an exercise of the munus docendi entrusted to ordained ministers through the sacrament of holy orders.”
The dicastery also stressed that the “proclamation of the Word within the liturgical celebration is inseparable from the mission received sacramentally and from the unity that links the Word and the Sacrament in the eucharistic celebration.”
The letter underlined the need to strengthen the formation of clergy, pointing to “the importance of promoting the ongoing formation of ordained ministers, so that the homily may fully express its pastoral and spiritual efficacy.”
Finally, the dicastery recalled that the Church’s current discipline already provides other possibilities for lay faithful to preach.
“There are numerous forms of proclamation of the Word and preaching that can be entrusted to the lay faithful outside the homily and outside the celebration of the Eucharist,” the dicastery said, noting that such preaching must always be carried out in accordance with canon law and the proper nature of those forms of announcing the Gospel.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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“[C]urrent norms”, “current discipline”?
And tomorrow?
Well, in the words of Pope Leo “we have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the Church says”.
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Tomorrow may be ways away, but anything is possible.
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The parish in which I was confirmed had a Liturgist/Adult Ed cooridnator (a woman too!) who gave homilies on the regular. I don’t know if that is still the case, but that parish was widely known to be, um, fresh, modern, and forward thinking.
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(In the 30 years I’ve been Catholic, the diocese has shrunk in attendance by about 35 % in the past 30 years or so. To be fair, some folks have died and some moved away.)
To be fair, the English version of the letter on the Italian website silerenonpossum did not use the term “current norms” or a similar qualification. The letter referred only to “the norm” or “this norm.” Perhaps the writer, or whoever translated this article into English, introduced the term “current.”
“Since the reservation of the homily to the ordained minister belongs to the sacramental and liturgical structure of the celebration of the Eucharist itself, no dispensation by way of indult can be granted from the norm laid down in can. 767 § 1, even in the presence of grave pastoral considerations.”
I’ll take it. These days, I am happy for whatever bit of good news we get.
Cannot Canon law be changed?
The Vatican letter wisely sees through the clever double-halfstep of enabling lay homilies, combined with the separately developed agenda for possibly non-ordained deaconesses.
“I’ve just signed legislation outlawing the German Episcopacy…”
“The Vatican has rejected a request by the German Bishops’ Conference to allow lay faithful, in exceptional circumstances, to preach the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist” (unless, of course, that person is a homosexual).
Please!, Diogenes
Mary E. above (1:44 p.m.)
Thanks for the clarification.
Push em back, push em back, way back, way back
They’re just not ready yet. They have to cobble together the appropriate video course or hurried “certification” about some such non-sense as “Homiletics in the Age of Synodality”. Just as soon as they get that inane and meaningless course fashioned, they’ll provide full sanction: it’s inevitable.
And when lay preaching occurs anyway, will there be consequences? Permit me to doubt that.
What could possibly go wrong with lay people preaching?
The same thing that happens when a priest gives a homily.
I want to have a priest save my soul through his preaching; in large part due to his training on the matter.
Honestly, I have yet to hear a memorable, life-changing homily (in my 30 years as a Catholic).
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I did, however, once hear a “pastor” of a “rock band church” give a powerful “teaching” on marriage, which was honestly more Catholic than anything I’ve heard yet from a Catholic priest on the subject.
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Come to think of it, I’ve not yet heard a homily on marriage in my 30 years, though I have heard some vague references to it (along with other subjects the priest noted during his 10-minute homily), so I guess that’s not a fair comparison.
This will be quietly ignored by individual parishes in Germany and anywhere else. Communion on the hand was also not allowed in the 70’s but that prohibition didn’t last long.
As far as the English translation being different to the Italian text issued by the Vatican, maybe the church can use a common language that Catholics could learn to avoid mistranslation…. oh wait!