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Can the deacon’s wife preach the homily?
May 20th, 2010, Promulgated by Choir
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I'm as traditionally-minded as the come, but frankly that letter was weird. That is, I have a hard time believing that someone who says they go to the Tridentine Mass and refers to the other as a "runaway novus order mass" doesn't already know full well that laity can't give the homily.
I think sometimes people know what feels right and what feels wrong out of intuition, and logical reasoning. I know, in my own experience, I was just complacent (not apathetic) for many years. I knew that my parish was "good" and not an extreme on either end of the spectrum. Then there was a change-up in the leadership, and questions began to be asked – Is it right for Fr. ____ to do _____? Is it alright if Sr. ______ gives reflections and/or homilies? If so, why, and if not, why not?
It was the answers to these questions, and others like it, that drove me to more Tradition-minded parishes and communities. I may not have known exactly what was right or wrong, but I knew that it "felt" right. There wasn't tumult – just piety. No politicking – just Church teaching.
Liberals would have you believe that the Church is too beaurecratic, too stringent, containing too many outdated rules. However, everything's so simple – just go to Mass and do what you're supposed to. If you're a priest, act like a priest. If you're a nun, act like a nun.
Orthodoxy is intuitive – liberalism isn't. The former is a virtue embodied in the outward presentation of obedience. Liberalism owes no allegiance and has no loyalty, save to self and to fleeting pleasure.
I tend to think that this person is in a metaphorical "formation" as it were. The individual may not have a clear or profound realization of the Faith, but they've got a sure foundation in the Traditional Latin Mass, the Extraordinary Form. There is no more definite source of fidelity than that.