Should We Vary the Preachers at Mass?

by Kilian SC · May 27, 2016

I know of one European diocese where the bishop has approved a “homily team” of half-a-dozen lay people who have undergone training, and who get together to plan and discuss their homilies. They serve in a diocese where one priest has charge of seven parishes.

By Mike Pothier – How many times do you look at your watch during a sermon? Do you sit patiently every Sunday after the Gospel reading, waiting for the droning to end so that you can move on to the “important” part of the Mass?

The present debate about whether or not people other than priests and deacons should be allowed to preach at Mass was sparked by a recent series of articles in the Vatican’s own newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. This indicates, I think, that it is a far more vital issue than it may at first appear to be.

If any one aspect of the average Catholic Sunday liturgy turns people off, especially the young people who we know are leaving in their droves, it is the preaching. But, crucially, it is not bad preaching that does this, though obviously no one is going to be attracted and stimulated by a sloppily prepared or poorly delivered homily. The real problem, in my view, is lack of variety.

Compare the situation to liturgical music. Think of your favourite entrance and recessional hymns —would you want to hear them every Sunday, to the exclusion of all others?

We’ve all had parish priests who were good preachers, who put effort into preparing their sermons and who delivered them with enthusiasm and commitment. Likewise, we’ve all probably experienced the preacher who has nothing of interest to say, but who makes up for the lack of quality with a surfeit of quantity, and rambles on pointlessly for 20 minutes.

At present, we just have to live with this. Of course, priests and deacons could be better trained in homiletics, but even if we managed to lift the overall quality of preaching, we would still be listening to the same person week in and week out. And, with the best will in the world, over time the same little stories, the same expressions, the same hobby-horses, will creep into the preaching.

Does it not make sense, then, to introduce a little variety? There was a time when some parishes had three or four priests, but we know that this won’t happen again. However, what we do have now is an increasingly well-educated laity, with access to all sorts of resources with which to prepare an interesting homily (and I don’t mean downloading someone else’s sermon from the Internet). Does it not make sense, then, to introduce a little variety? There was a time when some parishes had three or four priests, but we know that this won’t happen again.

I know of one European diocese where the bishop has approved a “homily team” of half-a-dozen lay people who have undergone training, and who get together to plan and discuss their homilies. They serve in a diocese where one priest has charge of seven parishes.

There is no reason to wait until the decrease in numbers of active clergy forces us to widen the pool of preachers. There is no theological reason to restrict preaching to ordained clergy; the discipline seems to have had its roots in a time when virtually only the clergy could read, or at least, when only they could read and explain the Latin texts. And of course, there was a need to ensure that anyone stepping into the pulpit had sufficient training and understanding of the scriptures to enable them to preach truthfully and accurately and in accordance with Church teaching.

That need still exists, to be sure, but numerous religious and lay people meet these requirements. Indeed, some of them might bring new insights and perspectives to the Sunday sermon, drawn from their experiences of married and family life, the world of work, the struggle for material security, and all the other challenges and daily ups and downs that lay people face.Indeed, some of them might bring new insights and perspectives to the Sunday sermon, drawn from their experiences of married and family life, the world of work, the struggle for material security, and all the other challenges and daily ups and downs that lay people face.

Pope Francis has spoken about a Church that takes risks. It seems to me that there would be very little risk involved if once a month the homily was delivered by a suitably trained lay person or a religious.

And any such risk would be greatly outweighed by the benefits and stimulus of variety, the “breath of fresh air”, that would flow from such an arrangement.