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As a lay person actually currently praying about how I might serve the Lord through what feels like a call to “teaching and preaching” (although as a woman I feel uncomfortable thinking of myself “preaching” for some reason- I’m a wife and mom so I’m personally thinking along the lines of volunteering for our parish’s RCIA program or something like that…Or potentially becoming a third order Dominican down the road…?) so I was very interested in JD’s idea about an office of preaching. I do understand the criticism of those who think adding more “regulation” to preaching might be counter productive, or that it might discourage the very people who might be most effective, but I do also think it could be a welcome tonic against the “get a bunch of followers on Instagram and now you get to preach for the Church” method. Here in the Twin Cities we have the Archbishop Flynn Catechetical Institute, associated with the Seminary, which is for lay people and, although I am not too familiar with it, seems like the kind of program that could easily feed in to something like a lay office of preachers. It wouldn’t be a theology degree, but enough formal instruction that the diocese could be assured the prospective preacher would be guaranteed to have at least a sound foundation. It would also mean that lay people who felt called to preaching would have a path to pursue or way to discern without having to start a YouTube channel or something first. I also love the idea of a trusted group of lay people who could be available to help support and supplement the preaching of priests who are already in high demand and rather short supply.

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I like the idea of instituting a ministry of lay preaching and I'm sorry that so many people think it's a bad idea. I am comparing it in my mind to the ministries of lector and acolyte, and now catechist, which makes me ask a bigger question about these ministries. What are these ministries practically for? Anybody can be a "reader" at Mass, and anybody can be a "server" at Mass. Almost anybody can be an extraordinary ministry of Holy Communion. The only benefit of acolytes is that they can cleanse vessels, since EMHC's are not supposed to do this (which makes no sense - they can hold the body of Christ in their hands, but can't cleanse the vessel?) Until it's clear why these ministries still exist, or until a bishop makes good use of them, it's hard for me to envision an instituted ministry of preaching.

Until only lectors can read at Mass, and only acolytes can serve at Mass, those ministries don't mean much to me.

Retreat programs like Cursillo are an amazing platform for lay preaching, which is mostly witnessing one's personal story, not strictly based on the Word of God. Maybe we just need some pastors and bishops to help their parishioners discern their charism of preaching!

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I really enjoyed this episode, and the ongoing discussion about JD’s “lay preacher” idea. The discussion about the Pontifical Academy For Life’s Twitter activity was outstanding, however, and raised the right questions. I appreciate the effort to establish that it doesn’t appear to just be some “intern with the keys” that published this, which raises all sorts of disturbing questions about the way in which the Holy See and its various agencies approach social media. Who indeed writes these things? Without someone signing their names to these posts and with the agencies further refusing to take responsibility for ill-considered (and I would argue in the case of the Humanae Vitae post, explicitly scandalous) posts, this just muddies the waters of Catholic intellectual development as opposed to contributing positively to authentic doctrinal development and evangelical engagement with the world.

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As a Lay Dominican, I wonder how an office of lay preaching would affect us. I wonder if we'd be instituted into it as part of our rite for those making their final promise, or maybe it's done separately either before or after the final promise. It would be something that should fit seamlessly with our charism. Would we update the Rule? Or would we have it in our particular Directories in case the responsibilities vary between dioceses? Would our Dominican formation satisfy the formation requirements for the office, or would we need additional formation? And what of our religious brothers and sisters? The priests obviously wouldn't need it, but would all of the lay brothers and sisters be instituted? What of the nuns?

Lots of interesting questions to ponder.

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Thanks for your discussion of the PAL, infallibility, and papal primacy.

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