Synod: Opening door to Lay Homilies? (part 3)

Last time I signed off with a cryptic reference to lay homilies and the Synod on the Word of God. I was exaggerating a little: the Synod does not call for lay homilies as such. As my dear friend Japhy (who often corrects me when I become overzealous) pointed out, the Synod document specifically mentions in paragraph 50 that the homily is to be preached only by an ordained minister. Fair enough.

However, I am interested not so much in what the document says and does not say, as much as what progressives will stretch the document to mean. Therefore, the question for me is not "Does the working document call for lay homilies?" as much as "Can progressives twist this in any way that seems to imply or lead to lay homilies?" To this second question, the answer is a resounding affirmative.

For the troubling passage in the working document with regards to lay homilies, we need not look to sections 50 and 51 which specifically address the homily as such, but back to paragraph 37 which deals pastoral implications in the context of the ministry of the Word. Paragraph 37 begins by talking about a harmonic unity between the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. With regards to the liturgy of the Word, it goes on to talk about the vital importance of making the readings meaningful and understandable to the people, so that the hearing of the Readings consitutes a true "encounter" with the Word of God. To this end, the Synod recommends in the middle of section 37:

"In the liturgy of the Word, maximum attention should be given to clear, understandable proclamation of the texts and a homily based on the Word. This requires competent, well-prepared readers who, for this purpose, need to be formed in schools, even ones which might be established by the Diocese [watch this last sentence]. At the same time, the Word of God might be better understood if the lector made a brief introduction on the meaning of the reading to be proclaimed."

Now step back and think about what that says. It was not referring to the pastor giving the homily, otherwise that would be redundant: of course the homily will expound the meaning of the reading. It specifically says lectors, and if it says lectors, we can assume it means the Old Testament and Epistle readings commonly done by lay people in most parishes. Now, we know that lector is an actual office, along with acolytes, who are referred to with lectors in the CIC as "lay men" who have a "stable ministry" (CIC 230:1). Realistically though, how many Novus Ordo parishes have properly instituted lectors or acolytes? Almost none. I certainly don't know of any around here. Instead, we have just a bunch of lay people volunteers doing the readings who are commonly called lectors. Is this not the case? These persons are spoken of in canon 230:2-3:

"Lay people can receive a temporary assignment to the role of lector in liturgical actions...where the needs of the Church require and ministers are not available, lay people, even though they are not lectors or acolytes, can supply certain of their functions, that is, exercise the ministry of the word, preside over liturgical prayers..."

So, we see that though the Church retains the official office of lector, they confer upon any old lay person the exact same duties and responsibilities as a true lector, thus eliminating the distinction. So, let's come back to the Synod document. Knowing that in practice, most lay readers are not lectors (but are errantly called so), and knowing also that the Synod in paragraph 37 has called for "lectors" to give "brief introductions to the meaning of the readings," do you see the potential for a huge abuse to be opened up here?

Imagine, you are at Sunday Mass. A middle-aged woman wearing suit pants comes up in front of the congregation and steps up to the ambo. The reading is from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. She starts off: "Before I begin this reading, I'd just like to give a few insights into the meaning of this passage..." Then follows a five to ten minute "introduction" to the readings prior to the Gospel and the homily. And if you come up to the pastor afterwards and voice your concern, he points to paragraph 37 which encourages lectors to give introductions to the meaning of the readings.

Of course, we know that the woman is not technically a lector. But (and let's be real), do 99% of parishes know or care about the distinction? When they see lector, they translate it as "reader" (which I guess is the literal translation, but that's beside the point). This clause in the working document, if adopted, will encourage lay people doing the Readings to start spouting off their own half-cocked introductions to what they think the readings are about. Even if what they say is good, it is still an inversion of liturgical roles.

What is the meaning of the Synod's statement here? Either it is calling for lay readers to give explications of the Scriptures, or else it is making a statement about the instituted office of lector, in which case it would be next to meaningless since the office of lector is practically extinct in most mainstream NO parishes. I'm telling you, if this gets adopted, we will get the equivalent of lay homilies, only done before the first readings, so they technically will not be called homilies.

Am I drawing correct inferences here?

Just as a little experiment, do a Google images search on the phrase "Catholic Mass lectors" and check out all the pictures that come up.

Next time, the final installation: Synod's fanciful statements on post-Vatican II Church