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."

LISTEN! The Hallelujah Chorus

Years and years ago, when I was a boy in the 1970s, I was watching Saturday Night Live and one week they had an all-female group as their musical guests. I don’t remember anything about their appearance except one thing: They sang the most beautiful version of the Hallelujah Chorus that I’d ever heard, made all the more striking by the fact it was sung a cappella.

The years rolled by, and that memory stayed with me. After the invention of Amazon.com, I did some searching and was able to find the song. It’s by The Roches, and it is absolutely stunning. I bought the CD, and was delighted by the song all over again. Unfortunately, the rest of the CD wasn’t so great. It has stuff on it that is morally repugnant, but this one song is window into heaven.

Because of the problems with the rest of the CD, and because of the inability to purchase just one song, I didn’t have a good way to recommend it to others.

Until now.

Wal-Mart now has an 88 cent per song music download service that is 100% legal, so let me encourage you to BUY THIS SONG!

First, to give you a taste of it, here’s a clip. The rest of the song is even better than what’s in the clip.

Now: BUY THE SONG! Click here to put it in your card, and Click here to view your cart afterwards.

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].

Foley Addresses Advertisers

A nice little story about Archbishop John Foley addressing a group of advertisers. Archbishop Foley is the president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and, as it happens, a REALLY funny guy. He came with on last year’s Catholic Answers Cruise to Alaska, and kept the attendees in stiches with his humorous reminiscences about his career in the Church. With the native talents to do stand-up comedy, he’s by far the least dry Church official I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet.

His address to a group of advertisers put me in mind of a line from the 1967 film Bedazzled, in which Peter Cook (playing the devil) explains to Dudley More what a rut he’s been in of late:

There was a time when I used to get lots of ideas. . . . I thought up the Seven Deadly Sins in one afternoon. The only thing I’ve come up with recently is advertising.

Vatican Ambassador Reportedly Makes Mistake

A correspondent writes:

“The Guardian” reported that the papal nuncio to Spain, Msgr. Manuel Monteiro de Castro, suggest that that nation should recognize same sex unions although not as marriage!!! Is this true?

I checked out the original Guardian story, and it looks like it’s accurate in its main details (though it’s phrased in the hostile-to-Catholicism manner that is so blatant in British newspapers).

Still, one would want confirmation from more than one source, so I did some checking and found lots of similar stories, especially in homosexual news sources. However, they’re all dependant on The Guardian as a source, so we don’t have independent confirmation. I also check some Spanish news sources, but couldn’t find anything.

My guess is that the story may be accurate but still too new to have generated enough collateral stories for me to turn them up easily.

I suspect that the pope’s spokesman, Navarro-Valls, will get asked about this and we’ll have confirmation or disconfirmation soon. Also, if the guy really said what he’s reported as saying, there may be disciplinary action.

I’ll keep y’all updated as I learn more.

——-

UPDATE!

Thanks to a reader posting in the comments box below, I was able to find a Spanish-language story from Europa Press linked on Amy Welborn’s site. Here’s a quick translation:

The papal nuncio in Spain, Monsignor Manuel Monteiro de Castro, said today that the legalization of homosexual unions is totally against the doctrine of the Church. With this declaration he forestalled the matter declared by the Alsina Forum of diocesan priests of Gerona, which has been in favor of the legalization of unions of people of the same sex.

Shortly after attending the inauguration of the Plenary Assembly of the Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Monteiro told a group of journalists that “homosexual unions are totally contrary to the doctrine of the Church. Such position (the legalization of these unions) is clearly contrary to the position of the Church.”

Monsignor Monteiro insisted that the family is constituted by a man and a woman, as is recognized in the Codes of Civil Justice of Spain and the remaining countries of Europe. “Marriage–I emphasize–is between a man and a woman. It is good that other forms of cohabitation are are recognized, but they are not the same thing. That is to say, marriage is to be what it has always been known as marriage and the other forms [of union] are not to have this name.” However, the nuncio showed his esteem for these people (the homosexuals), which he said the hierarchy of the Church also tries to help in their spiritual life.

My Spanish is a bit rusty, and I had to render part of the last paragraph a little idiomatically in English, so if anyone can provide a better reading, e-mail me.

This story ambiguates the situation somewhat, as the opening section makes it sound as if the Monsignor was opposed to legal recognition for all homosexual unions. However, note that in the second paragraph the phrase “(the legalization of these unions)” is added by the Europa Press writer. The Monsignor may have been expressing moral opposition to the unions but not legal recognition for them. In the next paragraph the Monsignor is quoted as saying that “It is good that other forms of cohabitation are recognized” (if I have translated correctly) but that they are not the same as marriage.

The new text adds ambiguity, but unfortunately it still is not clear to me that he took a line opposing all legal recognition for homosexual unions. Let’s hope that he did and that this will swiftly be established.

Lay Homilists

A correspondent writes:

Even after the Pope’s re-affirmation about only ordained deacons and priests giving the homily, our female RCIA director gave the homily again last week – in full view of the priest. So I finally found the Canon she says allows her to do this, and it is Canon 766 which apparently allows this in special circumstances – which in our church that would be, or say, Sunday for instance (she gives the homily at least once a month). So how about it, can Canon 766 be legitimately used here? My reading of it is that the lay faithful can preach, but it should not take the place of the homily.

No, canon 766 cannot be used in this way. Canon 766 reads:

Can. 766 Lay persons can be permitted to preach in a church or oratory, if necessity requires it in certain circumstances or it seems advantageous in particular cases, according to the prescripts of the conference of bishops and without prejudice to can. 767, §1.

Notice the last bit of that “without prejudice to can. 767, §1.” This means that 766 is non-operative when it comes to the matter specified in can. 767 §1. So what does that passage say?

Can. 767 §1. Among the forms of preaching, the homily, which is part of the liturgy itself and is reserved to a priest or deacon, is preeminent; 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.

You are therefore correct. Can. 766 permits lay preaching in limited circumstances, but not lay preaching of the homily.

This is underscored by Redemptionis Sacramentum, which states:

[64.] The homily, which is given in the course of the celebration of Holy Mass and is a part of the Liturgy itself, “should ordinarily be given by the Priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating Priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to a Deacon, but never to a layperson. In particular cases and for a just cause, the homily may even be given by a Bishop or a Priest who is present at the celebration but cannot concelebrate”.

[65.] It should be borne in mind that any previous norm that may have admitted non-ordained faithful to give the homily during the eucharistic celebration is to be considered abrogated by the norm of canon 767 §1. This practice is reprobated, so that it cannot be permitted to attain the force of custom.

[66.] The prohibition of the admission of laypersons to preach within the Mass applies also to seminarians, students of theological disciplines, and those who have assumed the function of those known as “pastoral assistants”; nor is there to be any exception for any other kind of layperson, or group, or community, or association.

[161.] As was already noted above, the homily on account of its importance and its nature is reserved to the Priest or Deacon during Mass. As regards other forms of preaching, if necessity demands it in particular circumstances, or if usefulness suggests it in special cases, lay members of Christ’s faithful may be allowed to preach in a church or in an oratory outside Mass in accordance with the norm of 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. All must remember besides that the faculty for giving such permission belongs to the local Ordinary, and this as regards individual instances; this permission is not the competence of anyone else, even if they are Priests or Deacons.