German bishop refuses to sanction the lay preaching he admits is forbidden

The bishop of Mainz, Bishop Peter Kohlgraf, who also chairs the pastoral commission of the German Bishops' Conference, judges the Roman reasoning that forbids lay preaching at Mass “not entirely consistent,” and states that he will take no action against the parishes of his diocese where laypeople already preach.

In June, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Arthur Roche, rejected a request from the German bishops, arising from the “Synodal Way,” to allow a commissioned layperson to preach in place of the homily on an exceptional basis. His letter recalls that the only one to preach at Mass is the priest who celebrates it.

Bishop Kohlgraf sets against this principle an objection of consistency: “a priest who concelebrates, or a deacon who takes part, would then, in strict logic, likewise not be permitted to preach at that Mass.” He acknowledges that Mainz observes the prohibition, but that where lay preaching has become a habit he will neither authorize nor prevent it: “When I learn of it, I do not intervene with a disciplinary measure and I do not impose a canonical penalty. But I do not promote it, and I cannot authorize it.

I simply note that, in certain parishes, such a practice has established itself.” He concedes that a lay employee of the diocese could not preach “according to the Roman requirements,” and that “canon law does not permit it, and that remains our basis.” He says, finally, that he is troubled that the prohibition “now encourages denunciation,” with faithful writing to him, to the nuncio, or directly to Rome. For Mainz, he concludes, the Roman letter changes nothing in concrete pastoral practice.

What tradition teaches

The question is not new, and the Church settled it long before it was made the object of synodal negotiation. To preach is not to take the floor: it is to exercise an office received, and that office presupposes a mission. “And how shall they preach unless they be sent?” asks Saint Paul (Rom 10:15). The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that bishops and priests are the interpreters and ambassadors of God, charged to teach us in His name the divine Law, sent as the Son was sent by the Father and the Apostles by the Son. The proclamation of the word at the altar belongs to those whom the sacrament of Holy Orders has made ministers, not to every baptized person.

Hence the constant discipline: the 1917 Code forbids all laypersons, even religious, to preach in church (can. 1342 § 2). The criterion has never been physical presence at Mass, but Holy Orders and mission — which dissolves in a word the objection of “consistency”: the deacon and the concelebrating priest are ordained and sent; the layperson is not. There is no inconsistency in reserving to the sacred minister what, by its very nature, requires the sacrament of Holy Orders.

The measure

The grave thing is not that a bishop finds a Roman argument imperfect; it is that he acknowledges the law, calls it “our basis,” and yet refuses to enforce it. Knowingly tolerating in his parishes what the law forbids is not pastoral prudence: it is laying down the staff the bishop received precisely to guard the flock. The shepherd who “simply notes” an established abuse ceases to govern what he will answer for. As for grieving that the prohibition “encourages denunciation,” this reverses the order of things: what troubles the peace of souls is not the faithful who reports a breach of the Church's law, but the breach itself, left to run under the authority that ought to have corrected it.

What the faithful should hold

The homily is not a right of the baptized nor an open tribune; it is the teaching of one who is sent. The faithful formed in tradition holds to this rule without bitterness or party spirit: he asks to hear at the altar the voice of an ordained minister, and he knows that an “established” practice never becomes legitimate by habit alone, nor by the silence of the one who ought to have corrected it.

Sources. Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans X, 15 (Douay-Rheims). Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), on the sacrament of Holy Orders. Code of Canon Law of 1917, canon 1342 § 2.