Laity Talking After The Homily?

A reader writes:

It’s quite clear that the priest or deacon is the only one that should give a homily. As I understand it, it’s allowable to have a lay person come up after the homily to give a talk about something. I would hope that such talks about whatever should be done at the end of mass with the announcements, but if someone absolutely must give a talk I believe it’s possible AFTER the homily. Is this right?

As indicated in Redemptionis Sacramentum, the Church really does’t want the laity speaking right after the homily–presumably because it would be too easy to confuse what they are doing with the homily and continue the blurring of the laity’s role in this area. The document states:

If the need arises for the gathered faithful to be given instruction or testimony by a layperson in a Church concerning the Christian life, it is altogether preferable that this be done outside Mass. Nevertheless, for serious reasons it is permissible that this type of instruction or testimony be given after the Priest has proclaimed the Prayer after Communion. This should not become a regular practice, however. Furthermore, these instructions and testimony should not be of such a nature that they could be confused with the homily, nor is it permissible to dispense with the homily on their account [RS 74].

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live." View all posts by Jimmy Akin