German bishop: Vatican case against lay preaching ‘not entirely consistent’

Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz, Germany, who chairs the pastoral commission of the German Bishops’ Conference, said the Vatican’s reasoning on the ban on lay preaching is, in his view, “not entirely consistent” on some points.

The Vatican — specifically Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments — rejected a request from the German bishops in June arising from the Synodal Way for permission to let a commissioned layperson preach in place of the homily at Mass in exceptional cases.

Kohlgraf said the Diocese of Mainz observes the ban but that lay preaching has become customary in some of its parishes and that he will neither authorize it nor move to stop it.

“The letter from the liturgy prefect says that the only one who preaches at Mass is the priest who celebrates it,” Kohlgraf told the official news portal of the German bishops’ media arm, katholisch.de. “But a priest who concelebrates, or a deacon who takes part, would then logically also not be permitted to preach at that Mass.”

“In any case, in the Diocese of Mainz we abide by the Church’s directive that laypeople do not preach a homily at Mass,” the bishop said, before qualifying: “In practice, though, it has become established that this happens from time to time nonetheless. I am not going to change that there.”

Pressed on the point, Kohlgraf made clear that a woman employed by the diocese as a personnel officer, for example, could not preach “according to the Roman requirements.” Nor could he as bishop “issue such a permission”: “Canon law does not allow it, and that remains our basis.”

“Nevertheless, it is the case that in some parishes here it is customary for laypeople to preach,” he added. “When I learn of it, I will not intervene disciplinarily or sanction it under canon law. But I do not promote it either, and I cannot permit it. I simply take note that in some parishes such a practice has become established.”

Concern about ‘denunciation’

“I do argue, though, for using all the other forms of proclamation that canon law makes possible,” Kohlgraf said. “Perhaps one would have to collect all these possibilities of proclamation for laypeople in the liturgy since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). In the Diocese of Mainz, the liturgical commission published a set of guidelines on this last year, compiling the many possibilities of the preaching ministry.”

For the Diocese of Mainz, the bishop summarized, the Roman letter changes “nothing in concrete pastoral practice.” He was more troubled, he said, “that the ban on lay preaching from Rome is now encouraging denunciation,” because there are “people who report liturgical violations to the bishop immediately and write directly to me.”

“That existed before as well, that individual people complained to me, but now they demand that I must intervene. Some even write to the nuncio or directly to Rome,” he said.

He reacts to such reports in a friendly and unruffled way, Kohlgraf said: “I take note of it and pass it on, usually to the respective pastor or pastoral leader of the parish concerned.”

In principle, the bishop of Mainz underlined, permission for lay preaching at Mass would be welcome to him, and he regards it as an enrichment for the Church where pastoral workers are theologically qualified to preach. “But I can still only choose the forms that canon law permits,” he said.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.