Preach the Gospel (when appropriate?)

It's an essential part of the Church's mission, but there's a lot to know about what preaching is, and who can do it, where and when

The Scottish Archdiocese of St. Andrews & Edinburgh drew attention this month, when it highlighted a recent ecumenical exchange, with a Catholic priest and Church of Scotland Minister taking turns to preach to each other’s Sunday congregations. 

Homily in church. Dominican Province of St. Joseph, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Preaching the Gospel is a fundamental part of the life of the Church, both internally for her members, and externally as part of the mission to evangelize the whole world.

While most people tend to think of “preaching the Gospel” as synonymous with the homily at Mass, the notion can be seen as something much broader, encompassing all kinds of spiritual reflection, exhortation, and exercise, as well as catechetical instruction.

Within that context, questions often arise about who can and should preach, how and when. 

Questions have also arisen in recent years about Catholic lay preaching, which is very common in some countries, including the United States — and about calls during the synodal process for lay people to be allowed to give homilies?

So who can preach the Gospel, and when?

The Pillar explains.

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What is preaching?

As you might expect, preaching can mean a lot of different things, depending on the context. 

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the concept of preaching is bound up with the basic mission of the Church: “So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel… Strengthened by this mission, the apostles ‘went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.’”

Preaching, in its most general sense, is any kind of speech through which Christ is announced and the faith proclaimed, and is generally considered as distinct from catechesis, which is systematic education in the faith.

While the catechism and canon law do not offer a Catholic “dictionary definition” of preaching, or firm rules about when and where it is meant to happen, both reference preaching tell us a lot about what the Church expects to be the norm. 

For example, the presumption of both the law and the catechism is that preaching is usually going to take place in a church or oratory; or that is where it is most concerned with regulating it, anyway.

So “preaching” means “the homily”, right?

Not exactly, though the homily is recognized in canon law as the “preeminent” form preaching because it is an actual liturgical function with a particular and defined place in the celebration of Mass.

“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,” canon law states, and it “must be given at all Masses on Sundays and holy days of obligation which are celebrated with a congregation, and it cannot be omitted except for a grave cause.”

More generally, anyone engaged in preaching is to “propose first of all to the Christian faithful those things which one must believe and do for the glory of God and the salvation of humanity” and “impart to the faithful the doctrine which the magisterium of the Church sets forth concerning the dignity and freedom of the human person, the unity and stability of the family and its duties, the obligations which people have from being joined together in society, and the ordering of temporal affairs according to the plan established by God.”

Specific requirements for the homily to one side, preaching can and should be “accommodated to the condition of the listeners” and delivered “in a manner adapted to the needs of the times,” which obviously leaves a lot of room for discretion.

For this reason, canon law calls for bishops and pastors to make appropriate provision for all kinds of preaching for the faithful entrusted to their care, including spiritual exercises, parish missions, and “other forms of preaching adapted to [their] needs.” 

They are also meant to ensure that preaching is made available to “non-believers”, since it is an essential part of the Church’s evangelizing activity and mission.

Ok, so can anyone preach?

The short answer is: it depends.

Canon Law states that “the function of proclaiming the gospel has been entrusted principally to the Roman Pontiff and the college of bishops,” while “it is proper for presbyters, who are co-workers of the bishops, to proclaim the gospel of God,” and it “is also for deacons to serve the people of God in the ministry of the word in communion with the bishop and his presbyterium.”

As for the laity, by virtue of their baptism they are “witnesses of the gospel message by word and the example of a Christian life” and “can also be called upon to cooperate with the bishop and presbyters in the exercise of the ministry of the word.”

What this boils down to is that bishops have the general right to preach anywhere (unless the local diocesan bishop explicitly restricts it for another bishop), and priests and deacons have the faculty to preach everywhere — though a faculty can be taken away by their bishop, and is supposed to be exercised with at least the presumed consent of the pastor or rector of the church he’s preaching in.

The homily, as part of the liturgy of the Mass, is absolutely reserved to the priest celebrant, though he can defer to another priest concelebrating the Mass, a deacon, or even in special circumstances a priest who isn’t concelebrating Mass. 

Lay people can never give the homily. And, since it is a formal part of the liturgy, lay people cannot be invited to give a “reflection” or some other kind of meditation in the homily’s place — in fact, priests are to avoid any kind of invitation or special accommodation which could give the appearance of lay people either preaching the homily or preaching instead of the homily.

Ok, fine, not the homily. But can lay people preach in church?

Short answer: Yes, sometimes.

According to canon law, lay people “can be permitted to preach in a church or oratory, if necessity requires it in certain circumstances or it seems advantageous in particular cases,” though it leaves it to local bishops’ conferences to regulate those circumstances. 

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in turn, has left it to the discretion of the local diocesan bishop to “admit lay faithful to preach, to offer spiritual conferences or give instructions in churches, oratories or other sacred places within his diocese, when he judges it to be to the spiritual advantage of the faithful.”

But, the USCCB norms state, lay preachers in churches “must be orthodox in faith, and well-qualified, both by the witness of their lives as Christians” and their preaching “may not take place within the Celebration of the Eucharist at the moment reserved for the homily.”

While in some places, on some occasions, lay people have been invited to preach or offer reflections at other points in the Eucharistic liturgy — after a brief homily by the celebrant or prior to the final blessing and dismissal — the Holy See actually presumes lay preaching will only ever take place outside of Mass.

In the 2004 instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, which was issued with the full force of papal authority, the then-Congregation for Divine Worship stated that “as regards other forms of preaching” besides the homily, “lay members of Christ’s faithful may be allowed to preach in a church or in an oratory outside Mass” as long as it is in conformity with canon law. 

“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,” the congregation said, while making explicit that only the diocesan bishop could grant such permissions — not a pastor or other priest. 

What about lay preaching outside of churches?

Well, simply put, the Church doesn’t say a whole lot about lay preaching outside of church buildings or in non-liturgical settings.

Part of the reason for this is that if such preaching is part of a systematic presentation of the faith, like sacramental formation or for people preparing to enter the Church, this would properly fall under the definition of catechesis, which is more heavily regulated in the law.

In May 2021, Pope Francis published Antiquum ministerium, a motu proprio that urged local Churches to recognize, commission, form, and regulate diocesan lay catechists, giving them a stable designation and a mission to reflect their role in spreading and proclaiming the Gospel. 

The pope even called for the Holy See to promulgate a commissioning, or “institution” rite for the creation of new catechists.

Of course, this doesn’t account for all kinds of lay preaching which Catholics might participate in, or benefit from. In some cases, it can be a normal part of popular missionary activity within the context of normal parish ministry, under the direction of the pastor. 

In other cases, some lay preachers have carved out entire ministries for themselves, preaching at catechetical and evangelical events for Catholic young people and adults. Of course, the quality of lay preachers at such events varies considerably — some are regarded as well-formed, effective missionaries of the Gospel, others can appear to be fairly theologically unformed, or activists with a tenuous connection to the Church and her magisterium.

There is no general regulation defining what “preaching” is outside of a church, or regulating exactly who can do it.

But, again, the Church does recognize that lay people are “witnesses of the gospel message by word and the example of a Christian life” and can be “called upon to cooperate with the bishop and presbyters in the exercise of the ministry of the word.”

It would follow that preaching is what’s going on when lay people are cooperating in that ministry.

Alright, fine. What about non-Catholics preaching in churches?

The Church’s Ecumenical Directory confirms that when Catholics are invited to non-Catholic — Protestant or Orthodox — liturgical celebrations, they may “read a lesson or preach,” if invited by their hosts. 

It also confirms that outside of the Eucharistic liturgy, a non-Catholic could be invited to read scripture or preach in a Catholic Church — during a prayer service, for example, but not for a homily given during a Mass, because homilies are reserved to priests or deacons.