Folia Canonica 2. (1999)
PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. - Vladimir Filo: Homily as a Specific Duty of Ordained Persons
HOMILY AS A SPECIFIC DUTY OF ORDAINED PERSONS 293 place for a sermon ought to be indicated in the rubrics, for a sermon is part of the liturgical action whenever a rite involves one.”17 This leads us to believe that the homily is not an essential, but only an integral part of the liturgical celebrations. Liturgy would be poorer without it.18 Thus according to the teaching of the Council we shall have to see that the homily in the liturgy can only be preached by an ordained person. 2. The Magisterium after the Council The Magisterium in the documents after the Council designates the homily as a liturgical action and considers it in relation with the Holy Mass.19 However there are some exceptions recorded, namely the substitution of the homily with other forms of preaching. The letter of the Congregation for the Clergy, in which a licence is given to the diocesan bishops of Germany to grant lay people delegation to preach in extraordinary cases is considered an exception of this kind.20 It is known that the Council did not mention this possibility. This problem arose after the Council, in 1970, when a question was laid before the Pontifical Commission for the Interpretation of the Decrees of Vatican Council II, whether a lay person, either a man or a woman, is allowed to preach a homily. The response was negative because of the conviction that the homily is reserved to ordained persons.21 In spite of this the Congregation for the Clergy gave a licence to the diocesan bishops of Germany, that allowed them in certain cases to give delegate to lay people the right to the homily even within the Holy Mass. The indult, that is to say the licence “ad experimentum” has been given for four years, though it has been extended several times since then.22 Another similar exception is the Ordo baptismi parvulorum (26) where we read: “It is the duty of the bishop to judge if catechists are allowed to preach a homily by performing or reading out the written texts”23 In the context of other liturgical books both cases must be considered as exceptions and as it is known that the exception proves the rule. On preparing the new Code a discussion was held about this question as well. They drew a clear distinction between preaching and homilies as an integrated 17 SC 35,2. 18 Cf. Fox, L’omelia (cf. nt. 7), 20. 19 Cf. Sacra Congregatio pro Clericis, resp. Omnibus christifidelibus, 20. XI. 1973, in Enchiridion Vaticanum, Supplementum 1, n. 468,474; Sacra Congregatio pro Sacramentis ET CULTO Divino, instr. Inaestimabile donum, 3. IV. 1980, in Enchiridion Vaticanum 7, n. 293, 286. 20 Cf. resp. Omnibus (cf. nt. 19), nn. 466^177, 472-479. 21 Cf. Enchiridion Vaticanum, Supplementum 1, 400. 22 Cf. Enchiridion Vaticanum, Supplementum 1, nn. 468, 471,476, 474-478. 23 This is not an official translation.
