Who Can and Cannot Give Homilies
Date: August 2, 2025
Author: Fr. Edward McNamara, LC
Question: I am concerned by a practice in which a priest defers to a visiting non-cleric (religious sister or brother) or permits a lay person to offer a reflection. The reflection usually follows a one- or two-minute comment from the presider who claims it was the homily. I have been taught that canon law is clear as to whom the homily at Mass is reserved, as well as the exceptions permitted by the bishop for a layperson to preach. However, this is not the case about which I am speaking. — T.O., Gloucester, New Jersey
Answer: Our reader is quite attentive to the nuances regarding the reservation of the homily, properly speaking, to ordained clergy and is right to be concerned. This is a very complex question mixing themes that are directly related to canon law and others that fall into liturgical law. Of course, liturgical law is no less law than canon law. But liturgical law is not always written with the legal precision of canon law and is sometimes more descriptive than prescriptive.
Let us first note that we refer above all to a lay homily during Mass or during a celebration presided over by a deacon in the absence of a priest.
We are not referring to an occasional testimony, exhortation or appeal that might be offered on special occasions by a lay person at the end of Mass before the final blessing without substituting the homily.
Nor do we refer to the subject of lay preaching as such. Although preaching was once practically reserved to clerics, there are today many excellent laypersons authorized to preach outside the liturgy in churches as well as in other venues such as retreats and spiritual exercises.
With respect to the law, Canon 517.2 allows for the possibility of non-clerics to assume some pastoral services, not excluding preaching in certain liturgical settings, in concrete circumstances. To wit:
"If, because of a shortage of priests, the diocesan Bishop has judged that a deacon, or some other person who is not a priest, or a community of persons, should be entrusted with a share in the exercise of the pastoral care of a parish, he is to appoint some priest who, with the powers and faculties of a parish priest, will direct the pastoral care."
Other canons directly address the question of the homily and preaching:
“Can. 766 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, according to the prescripts of the conference of bishops and without prejudice to can. 767, §1.
“Can. 767 §1. Among the forms of preaching, the homily, which is part of the liturgy itself and is reserved to a priest or deacon, is preeminent; in the homily the mysteries of faith and the norms of Christian life are to be explained from the sacred text during the course of the liturgical year.”
With respect to the canonical aspects, I will have to be guided by authoritative commentators, since this is not my specialization. Many of these commentators point out that the 1997 interdicasterial instruction “Ecclesiae de Mysterio: On Certain Questions regarding the Collaboration of the Non-ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priests,” provides an authentic interpretation of the above canons and determine their limits.
Several canonists also state that the instruction delineates the conditions whereby the figure(s) described in Canon 517.2 are allowed a share in the pastoral care, including preaching in a liturgical context. These conditions are:
-- The arrangement is established by the bishop, upon whom falls the prudent judgment of its necessity.
-- The arrangement is exceptional and requires a true shortage of priests to fill all positions in the diocese. If the situation ceases, then so does the possibility of implementing this canon. “Ecclesiae de Mysterio,” No. 75, suggests that before employing Canon 517.2 "other possibilities should be availed of, such as using the service of retired priests still capable of such service, or entrusting several parishes to one priest or to a coetus sacerdotum [a group or team of priests]."
-- The arrangement requires the appointment of a priest director with the powers and faculties of a pastor. The priest director is not the pastor of the parish (this would fall under Canon 526.1) but is the community leader. The parish as such is technically vacant. The priest director's having the powers and faculties of the pastor means that he would have the final say on administrative and pastoral decisions.
-- The arrangement involves entrusting a share of the pastoral care to deacons or laypersons. They participate in the pastoral care but do not exercise the full care of souls. For such an office can be validly conferred only on a priest. In making this designation the bishop should give preference to deacons before naming others.
There are few official indications as to the practical functions of those who have been entrusted with this task. It would certainly mean providing at least the minimal pastoral care, excluding all that is specific to an ordained priest, so that the parish would not have to be closed. If a layperson is entrusted with these functions, then he or she might also require additional delegation of faculties as deemed necessary.
Among the duties that such laypeople might carry out, in collaboration with the priest director, are those of ordinary administration, organizing and directing catechetical programs, preparation for the reception of the sacraments, and assistance to the sick and needy.
Depending on the degree of penury of priests they may also be entrusted with some liturgical functions, for example, guiding a Celebration of the Word with Communion in the absence of a priest and bringing Communion to the sick.
If priests are very scarce, then laypeople can be delegated to perform baptisms, witness marriages and direct funerals. On such occasions because of the absence of a priest they may also be called upon to preach the Word of God.
The question of lay preaching in a liturgical context was further refined in the 2004 instruction "Redemptionis Sacramentum":
“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.”
Later, in No. 161, it states:
"As was already noted above, the homily on account of its importance and its nature is reserved to the Priest or Deacon during Mass. As regards other forms of preaching, if necessity demands it in particular circumstances, or if usefulness suggests it in special cases, lay members of Christ's faithful may be allowed to preach in a church or in an oratory outside Mass in accordance with the norm of law. [The Code of Canon Law, Canon 766] This may be done only on account of a scarcity of sacred ministers in certain places, in order to meet the need, and it may not be transformed from an exceptional measure into an ordinary practice, nor may it be understood as an authentic form of the advancement of the laity. All must remember besides that the faculty for giving such permission belongs to the local Ordinary, and this as regards individual instances; this permission is not the competence of anyone else, even if they are Priests or Deacons."
Some canonists argue that “Ecclesiae de Mysterio” and "Redemptionis Sacramentum" are more restrictive regarding lay preaching than the Code of Canon Law.
This indeed appears to be the case and was perhaps intentional. The documents in question were all duly approved by St. John Paul II, who also promulgated the Code.
The prohibition of laypeople delivering the homily in these documents is much more stringent, and the Holy See has even gone so far as to state that the diocesan bishop does not have the authority to permit a layperson to give the homily.
The reasons why the bishop cannot give this dispensation were adduced in the above-mentioned 1997 document: "[T]his is not merely a disciplinary law but one which touches upon the closely connected functions of teaching and sanctifying" (Article 3, No. 1).
However, there are two circumstances that might at first glance appear to be exceptions to this norm. One is where the priest uses a dialogue form of preaching in which he poses questions and solicits responses from the faithful. This is usually done at children’s Masses but might occasionally be a useful pastoral recourse even for adults. Here the priest is not delegating the homily to the faithful but building the transmission of Christ’s message from the responses received.
Another apparent exception is the special provision approved for the members of the Neocatechumenal Way who are permitted to offer brief “resonances” to the Word of God after the proclamation at Mass. These celebrations are made up of relatively small communities and those making the resonances do so from their places in the assembly.
The resonances do not substitute the priest’s homily, which always takes place at the ambo. This practice may not be extended beyond the celebrations of the Neocatechumenal Way as the resonances form part of a particular path of formation in the Christian life that is proper to those making this spiritual journey.
Taking all of this into account, the practice observed by our reader of the priest offering some brief remarks and then passing the baton to a lay preacher for the bulk of the homily is clearly not what is envisioned by the above norms.
As mentioned above, any occasional lay reflection or exhortation should be at the end of the celebration and, preferably not given from the ambo. The homily may never be omitted to allow for the final exhortation, but the priest might be briefer than usual.
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