The first ever Limerick Diocese lay-led liturgies of the Word will take place this Tuesday, April 25.
Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy has confirmed that, with priests across the diocese attending an important in-service formation gathering, there will be lay-led public prayers in Churches across the diocese on Tuesday morning.
The move is on foot of a range of proposals voted for at last year’s Synod in Limerick which acknowledged the need to move towards lay-led prayers given the decline in vocations and the greater appreciation, since Vatican II, of the priesthood of the baptised.
The Synod was attended by 400 delegates, over 300 of them lay, and saw 97 proposals endorsed across a range of themes that will provide a pathway forward for the diocese as it meets the challenges and opportunities of the future. Among the specific lay led liturgy proposals adopted at the Synod were to develop and support lay leadership in public prayers.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s initiative, Bishop Leahy said, “It’s inevitable with the fall off in vocations that we need to explore new and exciting opportunities to celebrate the Word and one of the ways will be through lay-led times of public prayer.
“Our Diocesan Synod last year strongly encouraged this. As we move forward, we need to prepare for a time when, even though priests are not available, each local community will be prepared to arrange for moments of public prayer for various occasions. No parish should find itself in a position where it is not prepared for such a possibility so it makes sense for us to begin right now.”
Bishop Leahy said that communion will not be distributed on Tuesday next, though he stressed that this is not to suggest that it might never be at future lay-led liturgies, especially, for instance, on Sundays in nursing homes.
He said, “All over the world, when priests are not available, the liturgy of the Word is celebrated in parishes without the distribution of communion. We are, in many respects, going back to the future as not that long ago people would attend weekly Mass without receiving communion, which was largely a sacrament received only occasionally.
“I would like to see us moving to a space where we celebrate public prayer more in its own right rather than it being synonymous only with Mass and receiving Holy Communion. The Church has, of course, many forms of public prayer already, be it the official morning and evening prayer of the Church, the Rosary, Holy Hours of Adoration, reading of Scripture or Benediction. Lay-led prayers will not be an ‘alternative’ or ‘mini’ Mass but, instead, a moment of public prayer that is thoroughly valued in its own right.”
He added: “We are facing many challenges due to the decline in vocations but we must view these as opportunities and explore through these how we can encourage more lay engagement and participation in liturgy. Increasingly, we will see lay people lead prayers in funeral homes, and at the reception of the remains in the Church or other moments when public prayers are required.”
