What's The Good Word on Lay Preaching?

Questions and Answers about including lay peopležs voices in the Sunday homily.

Does the Church allow lay people to preach at Sunday Mass?

The 1983 Code of Canon Law gives lay people permission to lend their voices, perspectives and experiences to the preaching that occurs at Eucharistic celebrations. This reversal of the 1917 canons forbidding lay preaching in church reflects the fact that "there is a widespread need for more persons to do ...preaching, persons who are committed to the ministry of the word, trained in the scriptures and theology and skilled in communication."1

But while more women and non-ordained men are preaching in church than in years past, the sight is still relatively rare on any given Sunday morning -- and that, too, is largely owing to the 1983 code. While the code recognizes lay people's ability and call to preach the word of God, it also reserves the primary role of liturgical preaching for ordained clergy.

When can lay people preach?

The preaching role of the laity flows from baptism and confir-mation. According to Canon 759, the laity "can be called upon to cooperate with the bishop and presbyters in the exercise of the ministry of the word."

Canon 766 acknowledges that lay people are capable of offer-ing preaching that meets the needs of the liturgical assembly. According to John Huels O.S.M., properly trained lay people may preach during Mass in the following circumstances:

--on weekdays when a homily is not required by law.

--in addition to a homily on Sunday and holy days.

-- and when a competent authority permits it on a Sunday or holy day, if there is a serious reason for omitting the priest's homily.2

Lay people are not restricted from preaching at other kinds of liturgies, such as the liturgy of the hours, or non-liturgical events, such as parish missions.

Is there a difference between a homily and lay preaching?

According to canon 767 of the 1983 Code, the homily is the "preeminent form of preaching." It is a part of the liturgy and is reserved for priest or deacon. The homily is not to be omitted from Sunday Eucharistic celebrations unless there is serious reason, and it is "strongly recommended" that the homily be given during weekday Masses, as well. While the canon sets parameters around lay preaching, commentators disagree as to the extent to which it is restricted. 3

James H. Provost has argued that, canonically, the term 'homily' has become a technical term attached to what a priest and deacon does, and not a restrictive term describing what actually happens during liturgy.4 He points out that the content of lay preaching and of the presbyteral homily should be similar if they are to reflect the standards set forth in canon law. And he adds that when a homily, for grave reason, is omitted, it can be replaced with lay preaching.

According to Huels "new legal sources have proved the correctness of Provost's insight."5 Both scholars point out that determining when lay preaching is merited is largely up to the bishop, who sets guidelines, and to the particular pastor, who has the primary responsibility of ensuring that his congregation hear the Word of God preached.

If priests are trained to preach, what is the benefit of lay preachers?

At a time when the number of lay parish ministers is on the rise, lay preaching allows these non-ordained women and men to bring their experiences, perspectives and theological reflections, both as lay people and as parish leaders, to the Sunday assembly.

In an article in America James Wallace, C.SS.R., points out that lay people's perspectives can help the members of the community to connect their lives with the work that God is doing in the world. "If one accepts the homily as primarily an interpretive act, it is important to ask why this act is open only to a very limited portion of the Catholic Christian community: the group of aging, predominantly white, male, celibate clerics? Is this the only group that can scripturally interpret life in today's world?" he asks.6

Properly trained lay people should be included in the ordinary ministry of the homily, Wallace argues. The assembly will benefit from the perspectives of teen-agers, singles, young married couples, professed religious, widows and widowers, the divorced. "These are the experiences that the presently approved preachers can only know second hand."7

If lay people preach often, what happens to the priest's duty to preach the word at Mass?

William Skudlarek points out that "priests are ordained primarily to the ministry of word and sacrament." 8 They are recognized as the community's leaders of prayer. "If a priest were regularly or frequently to hand this ministry over to others, one could legitimately ask if he should continue to serve the church in the ministry of the priesthood.

"This ultimately raises the question of whether the church should continue to ordain only "unmarried men to the ministry of word and sacrament" Skudlarek points out..If priests no longer know the communities they serve, and those communities are being nurtured spiritually by "the preaching of resident non-ordained pastors, then we are in serious danger of reintroducing or reinforcing the notion that the priest is little more than a ritualist possessed of magical powers, rather than a minister of the word and personal symbol of the priestly character of all the baptized."

With the decreasing number of ordained ministers there will be more and more opportunities for lay people to preach in lieu of a homily. The liturgical value of having the priest presider, who also should be a community leader, preach the word to the assembly is an important one. Does it weigh more than the value of having more voices and perspectives present in the liturgical preaching of the Word, especially when those voices and perspectives reflect the natural leadership that emerges in Christian community? Skudlarek's call for this variety of voices to be reflected in ordina-tion best addresses the problem. But until the Vatican amends its restrictions on who can respond to the call to the priesthood, the tension that is present in the canons themselves remains.

What can I do to encourage more lay preaching at my church?

Make sure that lay preachers are well prepared. The Diocese of Cleveland, for example, has an Institute for the Ministry of the Word, which provides training in liturgical preaching to lay people and clergy.

Review the celebrations of the year -- those universal in the church and those special to your community -- with an eye toward the appropriateness of lay perspectives. At one Cleveland church, for example, members of a parish group that had been discussing racial issues for several weeks, were invited to use the homily time one Sunday to share personal experiences of racism. The stories challenged to the community to examine its own racial stories and its own Catholic universality.

Discuss the issue with your pastor or liturgy commission to see if there is an openness to lay preaching. Encourage lay preaching at daily Mass and at special non-Sunday liturgies, with the goal of including more lay preaching on Sundays.

Encourage your clergy to weave the voices of lay people into their homilies. A short homily can be followed by comments from members of the community. Two preachers, one lay person and one ordained, could speak alternately during the homily. The ordained minister could provide Scriptural and theological commentary, while a parent, single-person or teen-ager, for example, could share personal experiences.



References

1 Coriden, James A., commentary on Canon 766 in The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary. (New York: Paulist Press) 1985. p. 551.
2 John Huels, Disputed Questions in the Liturgy Today, (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications) 1988. p. 22.
3 James H. Provost says the code provides a "cautious possibility" for lay preaching in "Brought Together by the Word of the Living God" (Canons 762-772) Studia Canonica, 23 (1989): pp. 354- 356. James Coriden, in his commentary on the code, says the code provides a "broad warrant for lay preaching" (p. 552). Patrick Norris, OP, writes in Studia Canonica, 24 (1990), p. 453 that, "based on historical, theological and liturgical concerns, it seems that laypeople should have the possibility of preaching at the Eucharist ... all things considered, they may not."
4 James H. Provost "Lay Preaching and Canon Law in a Time of Transition" in Preaching and the Non-Ordained, ed. Nadine Foley, OP; (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press.) 1983. p. 148
5 Huels, "The Law on Lay Preaching: Interpretation and Implementation" Annual Proceedings of the Canon Law Society of America. (Cleveland: Canon Law Society of America) 1990. p. 65.
6 James Wallace, "Guidelines for Preaching by the Laity: Another Step Backward?" America Vol. 161, No. 6, 1989. pp 140-141.
7 Wallace, p. 141.
8 William Skudlarek "Lay Preaching and the Liturgy", Worship, Vol. 56, No. 6, Nov. 1984,. p. 505.

This brochure was prepared by Barbara Ballenger, a freelance journalist who works full time in Beacon Street, a performing arts ministry. She is currently completing a master of arts degree in pastoral ministry from Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio.