Homilies in the Catholic Liturgy

by YatPundit | Jun 24, 2026 | Uncategorized

The Vatican re-affirms that Homilies in the Liturgy are for the ordained.

Homilies to be preached by priests and deacons.

This is a point of doctrine in the Church I find interesting, as well as being an opportunity:

In a letter dated June 17, 2026 addressed to the President of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Heiner Wilmer, the Dicastery communicated that it is not possible to grant the indult requested on March 30, 2026. An indult is “a special (and often temporary) favor granted to a physical or moral person by the Apostolic See (or the local ordinary) which confers faculties contrary to or beyond the prescriptions of the law.”

The German Bishops had requested “to permit, in exceptional circumstances, a duly commissioned lay member of the faithful to preach in place of the homily during the celebration of the Eucharist.”

tl;dr – a homily at Mass may only be preached by an ordained minister, a priest or a deacon.

Opportunity?

The thing about this particular request from Germany is that it goes above simply having a lay person say something in church. It’s not uncommon for lay Catholics, shoot, even non-Catholics to speak to a congregation. What these bishops wanted was for a non-ordained person to preach about the Gospel.

I’m not sure what the Germans specifically wanted a lay person to talk about.
When I was a kid, I remember a visiting priest came to our parish to preach for Palm Sunday. He invited a pathologist to speak on the wounds and torture described in the Passion of Christ, from a forensic perspective. It was pretty gruesome, as you might imagine. I’m sure this was dismissed as “not preaching,” since it was quite technical. Why do it? Because the Eucharist is when you have the most ears listening to what the Church has to say. If you had this guy come to the men’s club to talk, elementary-school age me wouldn’t have that nightmare stuck with me, some sixty years later.

Women?

That’s no doubt what the Germans thought. Someone wanted to make a point better made by a speaker who’s not ordained. I can think of a very positive example of where this makes sense: have a woman preach.

Now, that’s the rub. A woman can’t be ordained. End of discussion? The Dicastery seems to think so, and that’s a shame. That’s why this could have been an opportunity. Even if they start with non-ordained men, it would open doors in a world where the number of men pursuing a vocation as deacon or priest is shrinking.

Clergy?

When I speak to groups about my book, Brothers of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, I often show a photo of a Mass in the Conlin Gym at Brother Martin High School where all the alumni of the school who now teach there came up after Mass and posed in front of the altar. While I don’t argue with the Institute on who is or isn’t a Brother, those men are, for all intents and purposes, the current generation of Brothers. They may not profess vows, but they have the vibe. They embody the Educational Charism of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.

The Church at large needs to find new ways to embrace the laity. While folks (rightfully) love Papa Leone for his positions on war and Trump, this decision is a reminder that Catholics need to keep pushing to improve how they express their faith.

UCMJ and Crusader NJROTC 1973

by YatPundit | Dec 6, 2025 | Uncategorized

We learned a lot from Mr. Adams in Crusader NJROTC 1973. Cross-posted to NOLA History Guy.

Crusader NJROTC 1973

Photo of the current Brother Martin Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) Color Guard. While these cadets are a much-newer vintage than when I was a cadet, the basics of what these guys learn and the activities they participate in are both similar and important.

There’s a lot of things in the news concerning Naval Aviation and The Naval Special Warfare Development Group( abbreviated as DEVGRU) in recent days that bring me back to my first semester of Naval Orientation at Brother Martin. Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CWO-4) Leroy Adams taught NJROTC I in 1973-74. I’m not sure what Mr. Adams (remind me to tell you the story of how Brother More, SC, always called him “Chief” sometime) did in the Navy before he retired. I’ll have to look that up, because he was great teacher. I want to share two things from Mr. Adams class that stuck with me.

NJROTC I

The first is outlining. I learned outlining the hard way, having received an F on a book report in English 8A (thanks, Brother Buddy). That pretty much kicked my ass and made me realize that a lot of my elementary school foundation wasn’t all that great. Then came baptism-by-fire with respect to outlining, when I competed in Extemporaneous Speaking in 9th grade. Mr. Adams approached teaching Naval Orientation the same way instructors approached training sailors in the fleet. He started with basics. While honor students chafed at having to read the textbook and outline what we read, the exercise worked. That training provided me with a solid foundation as I became an Education major at UNO.

That leads to the second thing I took away from NJROTC I. The course text, an incredibly thick Navy-issue book, included the Uniform Code of Military Justice in its entirety. A lot of us Debate Team kids aspired to be lawyers. It’s why many of us enjoyed cross-examination debate. So, when the day’s lecture wasn’t interesting, I would flip through to the UCMJ and read various sections. Those regs made it clear that joining the military wasn’t a choice that should be made lightly.

UCMJ, JAG, and Good Men

Fast-forward to adulthood. I didn’t join up (the Navy disqualified me because of my poor eyesight), but many of my friends and classmates did. All of them served honorably and did not run afoul of the UCMJ. Dramas like “A Few Good Men” and television shows like “JAG” always took me back to that reading I did in 10th grade. It’s why now, I find the present administrations rhetoric with respect to Captain Mark Kelly, USN (RET) so abhorrent. Now-Senator Kelly works hard to protect men and women in uniform by reminding them of their obligation to refuse unlawful orders. The UCMJ makes it clear that Senator Kelly is correct. Our NJROTC instructors would have agreed.