The Reservation of the Homily to the Clergy

Michael F. Hull

September 29, 2005

Each Christian is, by definition, a witness to Jesus Christ. Witnessing to Christ takes many forms. One such form is preaching, that is, preaching in its general sense as described in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” But preaching, in its particular sense, is advancing the gospel through public discourse, whether that public discourse takes place in a church, oratory, home, or marketplace. Again, on the general level, all of the faithful are required to give witness to the gospel. Some among the faithful are called to preach in the particular sense, that is, by means of public discourse in certain circumstances. And some members of the people of God, the clergy, are called to a specific type of preaching, that is, preaching at the Eucharist, in the form of a “homily,” which is a subspecies of preaching.

The Lord himself is the paradigm for all witnessing in terms of his proclamation of the kingdom of God and the Paschal mystery. It was the Lord’s intention not only to bear witness himself, but also to establish the Church in order to continue his saving mission under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; John 14:25–26; 16:12–14; and Acts 1:4–8). The gospels recount the Lord’s sharing of his ministry with his chosen followers. In Luke 9:1–6, he gives the twelve power and authority and sends them out to preach the kingdom of God. In Luke 10:1–15, he sends the seventy-two to preach not only the kingdom of God but also the awful repercussions of its rejection. In Matthew 28:16–20, the apostles are to make disciples of all nations. And in Mark 16:14–20, the apostles are commanded by the Lord: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” In Acts 2, immediately after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles at Pentecost, we find them, particularly St. Peter, preaching to the devout from every nation. St. Peter’s words here comprise the oldest extant Christian sermon. Additionally, Acts concludes with Paul “preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ quite openly and unhindered” (Acts 28:31). There is no doubt that the Lord desires his disciples to preach in his name.

Yet there are differences not only in degree but also in kind among the disciples of Christ. There is no small difference of opinion within the Church about distinctions between clerical and lay preaching. But that is nothing new. In the early Church, Origen (c. 185–c. 254)—one of the most famous preachers in the Church’s history, and often called “the father of the homily”—illustrates the problem. In 215, Origen, who held a prominent position as a leading catechist in the Alexandrian church, was asked to preach by the local bishops of Palestine. Since Origen was yet a layman, this was considered a breach of Alexandrian ecclesiastical custom, and his own bishop called him home. And, of course, Origen returned home in obedience to his bishop and commenced preaching only after his ordination. In the Middle Ages, the rise of lay preaching movements and the mendicant orders expanded the notion of preaching, but also raised questions about the distinctive roles of clergy and laity in public proclamation. This resulted in an exhortation for clerical preaching and a limitation on lay preaching in the Fourth Lateran Council. Likewise, the emphasis on preaching in the Protestant Revolt led to the emphasis on clerical preaching at the Council of Trent.

Although the Second Vatican Council highlighted the role of the laity in the Church, especially the role of the laity as witnesses of the gospel in the world, the Council did not envision preaching as a specific work of the laity, but of the clergy. In fact, Apostolicam actuositatem speaks of the salvific mission of the Church wherein every member is to seek “to manifest Christ’s message by words and deeds and to communicate his grace to the world. This is done mainly through the ministry of the Word and the sacraments, entrusted in a special way to the clergy, wherein the laity also have their very important roles to fulfill if they are to be ‘fellow workers for the truth’ (3 John 8)” (no. 6). Apostolicam actuositatem goes on to speak of “innumerable opportunities open to the laity” and says that “a true apostle looks for opportunities to announce Christ by words addressed either to non-believers with a view to leading them to faith, or to the faithful with a view to instructing, strengthening, and encouraging them to a more fervent life” (ibid.).

Alternately, the Council did envision preaching as the primordial work of the clergy in Lumen gentium (nos. 25 and 28), Christus Dominus (nos. 12 and 28), and Presbyterorum ordinis (no. 4). For example, Lumen gentium says: “Among the more important duties of bishops that of preaching the gospel has pride of place” (no. 25); and it speaks of priests as those who “are consecrated in order to preach the gospel and shepherd the faithful as well as to celebrate divine worship as true priests of the New Testament” (no. 28). This teaching is coupled with the Council’s stress on the importance of the homily in the Mass, especially on Sundays and holy days. Sacrosanctum concilium notes the intimate connection between the homily and its context in the Mass and lays down parameters for the homily that presume its delivery by the clergy (nos. 35 and 52). This is poignant inasmuch as the same Council speaks of the Mass as “the source and summit of the Christian life” (LG, no. 11). All of this was codified in the 1983 Code of Canon Law (canons 762–772). Canon 767 is very clear in restricting the homily. Taking its language for Sacrosanctum concilium (no. 52), the canon refers to the homily as “the most important form of preaching” and definitively reserves it to the clergy.

To be sure, we have noted the importance of the homily. But if the homily is so important, why reserve it to the clergy alone? The key issues involve the context of the homily and the nature of the homilist. Without appropriate cognizance of the bipartite composition of the Mass and the sacramental character of the homilist, the Church’s proscription of lay preaching at the time for the homily in the Mass might seem capricious, but it is hardly so. The reservation of the homily to the clergy represents a profound appreciation for the unity of the Mass.

The Second Vatican Council sought to underscore the Word of God within the Mass. For that reason the Council proclaimed the unity of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist within the Mass in Sacrosanctum concilium. At the Mass, the faithful “should be [both] instructed by God’s Word and be nourished at the table of the Lord’s Body” (SC, no. 48). The Council also called for greater participation of the faithful as well as reform of the rite of the Mass to elucidate more clearly the two parts of the Mass and their internal cohesion and interdependence. Part and parcel of that reform was renewal of the significance of the homily at Mass. The homily’s importance is restated in numerous ecclesiastical documents, particularly in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (no. 66) and the Code of Canon Law (c. 767 §2), which both stipulate that the homily is an integral part of the Mass and that it cannot be omitted at Masses on Sundays and holy days save for grave reason. The celebrants of the Mass are, of course, priests, and it is their lot to feed the faithful with the Lord’s Word and Body. As Presybterorum ordinis points out: “The people of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living God, which is quite rightly sought from the mouth of priests…. This is of paramount importance in the case of the liturgy of the Word within the celebration of Mass where there is an inseparable union of the proclamation of the Lord’s death and resurrection, the response of its hearers and the offering itself by which Christ confirmed the new covenant in his blood” (no. 4). For this reason, “the homily should ordinarily be given by the priest celebrant” (GIRM, no. 66), even if concelebrants and other clergy may also deliver the homily.

Ideally, then, the homily is “an exposition of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or of another text taken from the Ordinary or the Proper of the Mass for the day, and should take into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners” (GIRM, no. 65) and given by the shepherds of the Church. The shepherds must see to it that the sheep are fed with the Word in the homily. What is more, the canons specify that it is the responsibility of pastors to ensure such fodder (c. 767 §4; cf. c. 528). Thus, the homily falls within the purview of the teaching office of the Church, which is proper to clerics, but not to lay members of the faithful. That is neither to say that the faithful are not called to witness to Christ nor that they may not be called upon to preach at certain times. In fact, they may indeed be called upon to preach within given situations and the canons make allowance for just that (c. 766). There is no chasm between clergy and laity as regards the preaching of the gospel, but there is a division of responsibilities within the Church vis-à-vis such preaching. It is incumbent upon the clergy to bear the burden of delivering the homily to the laity within the unique and matchless context of the Sacrifice of the Mass. So important is the homily that many bishops’ conferences have written documents to promote good and effective homiletics on the part of the clergy, as have the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Fulfilled in Your Hearing: The Homily in the Sunday Assembly (July 14, 1982).

This responsibility is an awesome one. The Congregation for the Clergy’s instruction The Priest: Pastor and Leader of the Parish Community (August 4, 2002) observes that the distinction between the ordained and the non-ordained at the Mass in terms of the duty to deliver the homily is not one of ability but of sacramental character (no. 4). But the distinction between the ordained and the non-ordained is not the only distinction to be noted. Members of the laity may be allowed to preach within churches and oratories under circumstances of dire need, though never at the moment reserved for the homily at Mass. Laity who are called upon to preach should not see this extraordinary ministry as a right of their state but as a privilege. That it is a privilege and not a right is demonstrated by the fact that any and all lay preaching within churchs, oratories, or in the name of the Church is regulated by the provisions of the local bishops’ conference. Lay preaching is only permissible for such reasons as an absence of clergy, language requirement, or particular expertise. Moreover, pastors are only allowed to permit members of the laity to preach when the laymen are proven to be orthodox and qualified to do so. The interdicasterial instruction On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest (August 15, 1997) is careful to note that allowing members of the laity to preach “cannot, however, be regarded as an ordinary occurrence nor as an authentic promotion of the laity” (art. 2 §4).

Thus, the homily is a particular type of preaching reserved to the clergy. Though the canons state that the laity “can also be called upon to cooperate with bishops and priests in the exercise of the ministry of the Word” (c. 759; cf. c. 756 §2), preaching in general is reserved to the clergy. Each member of the faithful is called to give witness to the gospel, to let the light of his Christianity shine before men as a means of giving glory to God (Matthew 5:16). The clergy in particular are called by their ordination to preach the gospel as St. Paul was called: “For I if preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16).