A couple discussions in recent weeks have reminded me of one of my pet peeves in the area of liturgy: namely, the "lay homily."

Now, I should clarify that I have no problem whatsoever with the Church's teaching that all of us, according to our state in life, are called to preach. Hey, I do it here at this blog. Through our Baptism, we are all called to be "prophets" or heralds of God's Word to others. 

And we all have different gifts. Some people are more eloquent, convincing, and "dynamic" as speakers than others. Some lay people have more better oratorial gifts than some priests. No argument there.

Still, the Church very clearly forbids the giving of homilies by lay people (see below). Now, most places that have lay people giving the homily don't call it that. Rather, they call it something else, like a "Gospel reflection." Yet, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and even takes the place of a duck, then for all intents and purposes, it's a duck.

Okay, you might say, the Church is pretty strict about lay homilies, and yes, some dioceses and parishes play a little fast and loose with the rules. But what's the big deal?

Well, in the overall scheme of things, this is far from being the worst liturgical abuse (thankfully). Yet, the practice is nonetheless disturbing. Here are a handful of reasons why that is:

(1) Following the Church's liturgical laws and rubrics is not rocket science, and it's not oppressive. I don't think any lasting renewal in the Church is going to be the fruit of blatant disobedience toward directives from the Holy See.

(2) Lay homilies further play into our culture's lack of appreciation for the special graces that accompany the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The ordained priesthood is essentially different from the "priesthood" that we share as baptized Christians. Bishops, priests, and deacons have been specially commissioned by legitimate successors of the apostles to be ministers of the Gospel--and in a particular way in the context of the liturgy.

(3) The Church teaches that the homily is a privileged opportunity for catechesis. And we all know what great need we have for such catechesis, which can be an oasis amidst the desert of life in this world. This opportunity is missed when the ordained minister doesn't give a homily. It's like keeping Kobe Bryant or Lebron James on the bench at the key moment of the game.

(4) In this country we're experiencing a priest shortage. In many places, buoyed by the current "Year for Priests," the Church is responding through hearfelt prayer and conversion, support for priests and seminarians, and the creation of a "culture of vocations." In some places, which tend to correllate with those places that have "lay homilists," there is a different sort of spirit, one that's okay (or more than okay) with a decline in the number of priests. In such places, lay homilists is part of the widespread plan to create priestless parishes.

(5) Here I gotta let go of some of my own prejudices and rash judgments, but I have generally experienced the use of lay homilists as part of larger agendas that are at odds with the mission of the Church. So, when I see a lay person coming forward to preach as the priest sits down, some of those memories come back, and at the very least I find it very distracting.

(6) This gets back to our role as lay people at Mass. The full, active, and conscious participation of the laity at Mass that Vatican II called for does not mean that the laity can or should take on roles reserved for ordained ministers. Rather, we're called to a different, more profound sort of participation.

Okay, since I've gotten this out of my system, I won't tell you how I really feel about the "Hosea" song!

And for those of you who want to know more about what the Church has to say about lay homilies, see the following passage from Redemptoris Sacramentum (nos. 64-66, footnotes omitted; see also no. 161):   

64. The homily, which is given in the course of the celebration of Holy Mass and is a part of the Liturgy itself, “should ordinarily be given by the Priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating Priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to a Deacon, but never to a layperson. 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.”

65. It should be borne in mind that any previous norm that may have admitted non-ordained faithful to give the homily during the eucharistic celebration is to be considered abrogated by the norm of canon 767 §1. This practice is reprobated, so that it cannot be permitted to attain the force of custom.

66. The prohibition of the admission of laypersons to preach within the Mass applies also to seminarians, students of theological disciplines, and those who have assumed the function of those known as “pastoral assistants”; nor is there to be any exception for any other kind of layperson, or group, or community, or association.