Posted on 05/10/2008 1:30:21 PM PDT by NYer
Father Terry Rassmussen, pastor of St. Joseph in New Hope, finished reading, closed the Book of the Gospels, and stepped away from the ambo. From the congregation, Ginny Untiedt stepped forward.
Clad in a white robe, Untiedt bowed as Father Rassmussen laid his hands on her head and blessed her. She looked up, walked to the ambo and began preaching for the last time.
As many as 29 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have used lay preachers at Mass during the past 25 years. In January, however, Archbishop Harry Flynn instructed pastors to discontinue the practice. He gave his retirement date - May 2 - as the time by which parishes should develop "a pastoral plan" to end lay preaching at Mass.
In his January letter to pastors, Archbishop Flynn referenced the 2004 Vatican instruction "Redemptionis Sacramentum," which called eucharistic lay preaching - a non-ordained person reflecting on the Gospel reading at the place in Mass usually reserved for a homily by a priest or deacon - a liturgical abuse.
Only an ordained person should preach after the Gospel at Mass, Archbishop Flynn said.
Many lay preachers have expressed "enormous grief and anger" over the directive to stop the practice, said Patricia Hughes Baumer, who co-founded the lay preaching training organization Partners in Preaching with her husband, Fred, in 1997.
Proponents of lay preaching argue that canon law allows the practice and that both the congregation and pastors benefit from hearing Gospel reflections from diverse voices.
Ending the practice
For many lay preachers, some of whom have been preaching in the archdiocese for more than 25 years, the biggest question is: Why now?
Archbishop Flynn told The Catholic Spirit he was aware of a few parishes practicing lay preaching and that local leaders in the lay preaching movement were aware of his disapproval. He wrote the January letter only after becoming aware that the number of parishes with lay preachers was larger than he realized, he said.
Some have speculated Archbishop Flynn's letter came at this time because he wanted to "clean house" before Archbishop John Nienstedt assumed leadership of the archdiocese, but Archbishop Flynn said this is not the case.
Archbishop Flynn said he has explained to Baumer on two occasions why lay preaching during the Mass cannot be promoted. He said canon law does not support the practice of lay preaching at the place of the homily during Mass. The education, formation and ordination of priests and deacons make them uniquely suited to preach during Mass, he said.
"There has to be that kind of training and theological background that even a person with a master's degree in theology would not have," he said. "The church does not want people just standing up there and giving opinions or even things they've read in books, but [rather]: What is the clear teaching about this mystery of our faith?"
To allow a non-ordained person to preach would also interrupt the action of the Mass, he said. The Scriptures make it clear that it was the role of the presbyters to preach, he added.
"To preach the Gospel is an extremely important part of the mission of any priest - I cannot overemphasize its importance," Archbishop Flynn said. "I would feel deprived, because this is my vocation to preach the Gospel. And if I were celebrating Mass, and it came time for me to preach - which should be the fruit of my prayer, my experience and the experience of those who [are] in [the] congregation - it would be disruptive to me to have someone else come and break open the Word of God."
As for priests who appreciate the break from preparing the homily when lay people preach, Archbishop Flynn said they should pray and spend more time in homily preparation because that is the work of the priest.
Archbishop Flynn has received letters both from Catholics who support lay preaching and from those who have been deeply distressed by it, he said.
If a lay person must speak or preach at Mass, it would be appropriate for him or her to address the congregation after the prayer after Communion, he said. Lay people may also preach outside of the Mass.
Feelings of loss
For parishioners accustomed to hearing lay people preach on the Gospel, and for the lay preachers themselves, understanding and accepting this change has proven difficult.
Ruth Hunt, 52, a parishioner at St. Joseph in New Hope, has been preaching for 13 years. The number of lay preachers at her parish has fluctuated between five and about 12, she said. When she first heard that lay preaching would end in her parish, she was filled with a very deep sadness and a sense of loss. The response of many St. Joseph parishioners was similar, she said.
"I was sad that this role of the laity could be something that Jesus didn't want," she said.
Untiedt, 62, has also been preaching for 13 years at St. Joseph and was instrumental in bringing lay preaching to her parish.
After Mass May 4, a parishioner told her that he enjoys hearing lay preachers because he feels like he can identify with their life experiences, she said.
Barb Frey, 51, a parishioner at St. Frances Cabrini in Minneapolis, described preaching as a "humbling, transformative experience." "It's enriched the ecclesiastical understanding of the community," she added.
Lay preachers at St. Frances Cabrini meet almost weekly throughout the year to read, pray and discuss Scripture together. The parish has had 52 lay preachers in the last 15 years ranging in age from 30 to mid-70s. They are provided seven sources of written material to help them plan what they will say, and many consult additional sources, said Chris Kosowski, the parish's liturgist.
Frank Schweigert, 57, also preaches at St. Frances Cabrini. He grew up in rural Wisconsin where his father sometimes preached in the absence of a priest. He sees lay preaching tied into the archdiocese's Evangelization Initiative and lay people's "ownership of the Gospel."
"Would that we had 1,000 preachers . . . instead of 100," he said. "I don't think that would diminish the role of the priest. It hasn't here."
After Vatican II encouraged greater participation of the lay faithful in the Mass, some pastors across the nation began to invite their parishioners to preach during the liturgy. Lay preaching differs from a homily, Baumer said, and is called "lectionary-based liturgical preaching."
Homilies, she explained, are reserved for a priest or deacon.
Lay preachers do not exist simply to compensate for a shortage of priests, proponents insist. Even if a parish had three full-time priests, it would benefit from lay preachers, said Father Bob Hazel, a retired priest of the archdiocese. When he became pastor at St. Joseph nine years ago, he inherited its lay preaching tradition.
"A good part of preaching is to witness to one's faith - we're not just up there to give catechism," Father Hazel said. "Lay preachers can witness to their faith in terms of the difficulty, the problems in the business world, work-a-day world, and in families, and priests just can't do that in the same way."
Lay preaching was prohibited by canon law until 1983, when a revised Code of Canon Law was promulgated. Canon 766 addresses lay preaching, saying "lay persons can be permitted to preach in a church or oratory, if necessity requires it in certain circumstances or it seems advantageous in particular cases," Baumer said.
It is the multiple interpretations of what constitutes a "necessity" or what is "advantageous" that opened the doors to regular lay preaching in parishes across the country, Baumer said. In the archdiocese, the practice varied, from an occasional lay preacher to regular, scheduled lay preaching one or more Sundays each month.
Lay preaching is meant to collaborate with the priest's ministry, not substitute for it, Baumer said, just as it is a pastor's responsibility to ensure the education of the faithful, yet share the actual teaching with lay religious education teachers. In most cases, pastors invited particular men and women they felt may be called to preach to consider the ministry.
Most, if not all, parishes trained their lay preachers to effectively "break open the word of God" through their own program or through Partners in Preaching's nine-month program. Although it is possible that lay preaching could be mishandled, most lay preachers receive guidance from their pastors or liturgists as they prepare their reflections, Baumer said. Some pastors even read the reflection before it is given.
Archbishop Flynn's letter said that a lay person could speak after the prayer after Communion. But to insert something that refers to the Liturgy of the Word after the Liturgy of the Eucharist does not fit the Mass' liturgical flow, Baumer argues.
Lay preaching also brings a woman's perspective to the Gospels, Baumer said. "The suppression of lay preaching is simultaneously the suppression of female voices, because no matter how God has gifted a lay woman . . . to break open the Word, the community will not have access to that word as it gathers on Sunday," she said.
Looking to the future
Some parishes have stopped lay preaching completely. Others are looking for new ways to use their lay preachers. At St. Joseph, lay preachers will reflect on the day's Scriptures before Mass one Sunday per month.
However, it will be hard to effectively "break open the word" while people are still coming into the church and before they have heard the readings, Hunt said.
Archbishop Nienstedt, who now leads the archdiocese upon Archbishop Flynn's retirement, agrees with his predecessor's position, he said.
"It's not a question of a person's God-given talent. There may be better speakers, but this priest or deacon, we believe, has been ordained . . . for this sacred service," he said. "There is the power of the Holy Spirit that goes with him that doesn't go to just anyone who has been baptized."
Archbishop Nienstedt said he hopes that people will be understanding of the church's position, but realizes that it might not be easy for them.
"It's awfully hard to explain to somebody why you can't do something next Sunday that you already did last Sunday," he said.
Give the laity an inch and they will take a mile! This practice should never have begun. It is very difficult to take responsibility away without hurting feelings. Why now? Why not now?
This practice should never have begun.
&&
Amen. Enough with the priest wannabes. Geez,look at her! She’s even costumed like a priest and perhaps even copied her priest’s hair style.
Communion next, I hope.
If at all possible, I always position myself so that I receive Communion only from the priest. Fortunately, in my current parish, Father always distributes to the same side of the church, whereas in my old parish, the priest alternated, and I could not always remember which side would be chosen for a given week.
My current parish, BTW, is rather small, so it looks like a silly mob scene when all of the extraordinary ministers descend upon the altar.
I even have problems with some deacons preaching. They are part priest, part laymen, and while they are a step up from laymen preaching, some of them try to be too cute and too “earthly” and lack some of the spiritualness that most priests have. Eventually they get around to the spititual message in their homilies, but we have had to sit through what they watched on TV, what they ate, or tell some joke that in some cases have been inappropriate.
Not all priests are wonderful speakers, in fact, most aren’t, but they preach from a whole different perspective than a lay person or, in some cases, even deacons.
I like going to the priest at communion too.
I HATE the term “break open the word” Just what the heck does that mean?
Sheesh! She looks like a Vestal Virgin!
Well, at least he didn't rush into it! ;-)
Sounds like he doesn't want preaching at all -- he'd be much happier with a book or TV show . . . or the guys down at Joe's Bar & Grill!
This is all a travesty. You can tell by the way these silly women dress up that they are just angling for ordination.
Ladies . . . .
(. . . and we see how well that's worked out for them.)
I agree, the pic of this lay preacher reminds one of a Vestal Virgin. But I am interested in the definition of necessity defined in Canon 766. I was deployed to Uzbekistan in 2003-04. Around December the Catholic chaplain in our camp had to go TDY to Afghanistan due to a priest shortage at Bagram, a much larger base camp.
He entrusted me with consecrated Hosts (I am a lector and a Eucharistic minister) and asked me to conduct a Sunday service consisting of the readings and the Gospel. I did just that, and people complained that it was a `dry service’ without a homily. So I studied the readings prior to Sunday, and after preaching the Gospel, spoke for several minutes on the content of the three Scriptural texts, reflecting on their lessons as best I could.
This went over much better, complete with handshakes and “Great sermon!” (!!?) until the chaplain returned and resumed his saying of Sunday Mass. That to me is a definition of liturgical necessity.
Why is it so important to them that they do this during Mass?
I searched the Bible in 5 different versions (including the Young's Literal Translation) and couldn't find it! The closest I could come is Luke 24:32, the Road to Emmaus, when the disciples ask each other after Jesus disappears, "Were not our hearts burning within us as he opened the Scriptures to us?"
Which just confirms that the only person who should be "opening the Scriptures" to the faithful is one who stands in the place of Christ - alter Christus - the PRIEST.
Got it, ladies?
I would think that whoever the bishop is with jurisdiction over the armed forces ought to have a plan in place for just such necessities. It won't be the last time.
Probably because the heathens dared to preach in English.
Can't have that, after all.
Soooooo narcissistic! Too bad for her — She was about three sermons short of the Stigmata. Now it’s “Lay, Lady, Lay” for her.
Pssst! No one will come or listen either -- methinks the captive audience makes all the difference here!
You’re right, of course. Outside of Mass, it is easier for victi...errr...people to escape from them. :-)
And chances are that a word of Latin hasn't been uttered in years in most of the parishes in question, except perhaps by accident.
I agree A.M. You “break open” an egg. You “READ” the word. Sheesh
Awesome. I don’t even like lay readers ... invariably they sound like they’re reading to very small, somewhat slow children.
You are a lay minister, so please explain to me what the “necessity” is for having the laity dispense Holy Communion at a normal mass. Is it because the faithful might hsve to put themselves out a little bit by being in a longer line? Why is it not a “necessity” for a lay person to distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday? To bless throats on St. Blaise Day? Also, is it a necessity that the Eucharist be deposited into the unconsecrated (and sometimes unwashed) hands of the recipient? Not kneeling or genuflecting in the presence of the Sacrament — also a necessity? The nod of the head doesn’t seem to cut it, reverence wise. But it’s so much easier on the poor patellae after being forced to kneel for maybe five minutes.
P.S. Thank you for your service!
At my Latin Mass the “homily” is still called a “sermon” and an “ambo” (amusing word) is called a “pulpit”. Also the “reading” is the “Epistle” and the “cup” is a “chalice”. Are the old words too frightening for the fragile psyche of the New Catholic? Please, don’t anyone out there tell me they are so more meaningful, lest I puke.
This could engender many flamings, but it’s true, hear me O Lord.
Back in the guitar-picking, tambourine-banging 1960’s, I watched in horror as the Tridentine liturgy was abandoned in favor of the Novus Ordo vernacular Mass, complete with the unsanitary and insincere `sign of peace’ (I carry a bottle of Purel now).
But by becoming a lector and Eucharistic minister, I knew that I could be assured of exchanging the `sign of peace’ only with the celebrant himself.
Oh, and a postscript: I joined my current parish when I noticed that the pastor did NOT call for exchanging the `sign of peace’. When I asked him why, he replied,
“Look, son, I’m the celebrant! When I face the congregation and say, `the peace of the Lord be with you all’, then that’s all the `peace’ there is and there ain’t no more!”
(May I greet this Monsignor in Heaven some day.)
OK, fire away.
Yeah, the vernacular in Gambia is Swahili.
Is it in ENGLISH?
They are not laymen, they are not priests but they are ordained clergy.
Was it Protestants who were complaining?
How was the Know Nothing meeting, gunner?
**began preaching for the last time.**
Why was she even allowed to preached now?
This guy flynn needs to fly away.
It was slow at first, but picked up after folks started speaking English.
They asked about you.
Interesting, since when do you Know Nothings not speak English?
Some people are obviously called, and gifted, at preaching.
Some men are called to Holy Orders.
When there's an overlap, it's an accident.
I've been going to Catholic churches for eleven years. Every once in a while ( a great while), you run across a capable homilist - but it's pretty rare.
A little expository preaching would be a good thing, and might get some Catholics to actually come to Mass.
If they won’t come for the Consecration, they won’t come for a speech.
In English-speaking countries, yes. In non-English speaking countries, no.
Are you suggesting that homilies were regularly preached in Latin in the past 500 years?
“Was it Protestants who were complaining?” (about the lack of a homily at our Catholic Sunday service)
You know, I never thought of that. At Camp Stronghold Freedom in Uzbekistan, several denominational services were available on Sundays, but principally a Catholic Mass and a Protestant worship service. In addition, people of all faiths were meeting on Wednesday evenings in the chapel tent to discuss the new book “The Purpose-Driven Life” which was all the rage at the time.
In addition, in this Muslim nation where we were deployed, many local Uzbek employees were exposed to Christianity at our base camp, and I still correspond with a schoolteacher-interpreter; she later converted and I think so did her family.
You have posed a most interesting question.
“A little expository preaching would be a good thing,...”
Just fine, however, too many come to the ambo with an agenda to flog their own particular heretical viewpoint. It can be just a tiny, itsy, bitsy little off-note or a word slightly twisted in meaning.
It’s all downhill from there.
Laity does not have the mental discipline that years of seminary teach. A nine month course, or even years in theological school, and some theologians are not exactly “christian,” doesn’t take the place of the Holy Spirit coming upon a consecrated priest.
If anything, we need priests who remember who and what they truly are. That is the job of the laity. “You are a priest forever.”
Lord, give us Holy priests!
I wasn’t aware this was happening. In our parish, only a Priest or Deacon can recite the Gospel reading or give the Homily.
I’m an Eucharistic (now called, in our parish, Extraordinary) Minister in that I give Communion at Mass and in the Hospital/Rehab and to Shut Ins.
I know many who refuse to take Communion from a lay minister.
I doubt that we’ll see a change in EMs anytime soon. There just isn’t enough Priests to handle Communion during our Mass and in our area for hospitals and shut ins.
A religious service in a language nobody speaks is less than worthless.
BS. This is just one more reason why Flynn should have been cashiered a long time ago.
Can. 767 §1 The most important form of preaching is the homily, which is part of the liturgy, and is reserved to a priest or deacon. In the course of the liturgical year, the mysteries of faith and the rules of christian living are to be expounded in the homily from the sacred text.
§2 At all Masses on Sundays and holydays of obligation, celebrated with a congregation, there is to be a homily and, except for a grave reason, this may not be omitted.
§3 It is strongly recommended that, if a sufficient number of people are present, there be a homily at weekday Masses also, especially during Advent and Lent, or on a feast day or an occasion of grief.
§4 It is the responsibility of the parish priest or the rector of a church to ensure that these provisions are carefully observed.
Actually, not to nitpick, but it is my understanding that an ambo and a pulpit are two different things. The ambo is a substitute for both the lectern and the pulpit.
Also, I don’t think “homily” is a modernist term. It is a specific type of sermon, that follows a reading of scripture (e.g., it follows the Gospel reading).
FWIW, I agree on “epistle” and “chalice.” I think those terms are superior to “reading” and “cup.”
Homies and bloods and crips should all speak English.
We also dispense of Ashes on Ash Wednesday. During Mass and also to hospital patients and shut-ins. Our parish has two priests now, the pastor and another priest. They can’t do it all.
The point is, imo, because there aren’t enough priests anymore, at least not in this area.
You only do the sign of peace with the priest? Interesting.
It’s different in our parish as we don’t go to the Altar until after the Sign of Peace.
Also, I have no problem shaking hands, even with little children, during the Sign of Peace, and I don’t carry any antibacterial gel.
In our parish it is. Not sure about other parishes.
Even in our once/month Italian Mass, the homily is said in English. Not sure why, though :)
Thank you, soldier, for serving us in Uzbekistan! Glad to have you home :-)
” religious service in a language nobody speaks is less than worthless.”
They are in English in America. French in France. Spanish in Spain.
Italian in Italy. German in Germany.
We never babble in tongues that no one understands. You must be thinking of Pentacostals.
In our parish, many understand Latin and many more Italian (I’m no where near fluent in Latin but can understand most of the Mass when it’s said in Latin). I can understand and speak Italian, as many in my area, and this is why parishioners wanted a Mass said in Italian.
Not sure about the whole Italian language Mass as it’s not a big deal to me but lots of the older people in our parish seem to miss it or something.
As for the Latin, Mass used to be said (other than the homily if I recall accurately) in Latin. We all understood it because we were forced to (not really forced, I don’t mean it that way) learn it since Mass was said in Latin. As kids, sorta pick it up and if one wanted to understand, then one learned it.
I’m botching this up, I’m sure.
When I was a little kid, Mass was said in Latin. We sorta pick it up after a while. I have no problem understanding when a Mass is said in Latin (or Italian, but any other language and I wouldn’t know what the heck was being said).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.