Suzanne Ryder: A Hopeful Embrace
Carina Roseingrave’s surname is what could be seen as Dickensian in its personification of her distinctive character. In her powerful talk about grief, as the keynote speaker for this year’s Ecumenical Remembrance Service in the Church of the Holy Rosary in Abbeyleix, she brings new life into the cavern of loss. As she spoke, on 28 June, the camera showed an assembled congregation, rapt in attention. It is an attention that recognised the truth in each syllable, and the way each one can know her/his own sorrow. Carina spoke from the core of her heart to the essence of experience, yours and mine.
As I listened to Carina, I thought of the recent “clarifying text” that emerged from the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the discipline of the Sacraments, in response to the German Bishops’ Conference. They had requested quite simply that they might, “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.” The request was summitted on 30 March 2026, and the reply was published on 17 June. (I would like to hope that the three-month delay occurred because of deep discernment rather than because of an ante-diluvian recalcitrance in the face of an alternative way of being Church.)
It comes as no small wonder that the Dicastery “reaffirmed that the current discipline cannot be dispensed from by means of an indult, since the reservation of the homily to a priest or deacon is not a merely disciplinary norm but derives from the very nature of the liturgy.” In a sop to Cerberus, they concede “appreciation for the pastoral concerns that inspired the request.” However, the central underlying point is that, “the homily, which forms an integral part of the Liturgy of the Word, is intrinsically linked to the proclamation of the Gospel and constitutes an exercise of the munus docendi entrusted to ordained ministers through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.” I feel like a Rip Van Winkle being, reading this short-sighted edict from a pre-Vatican II mentality.
The ground shifted for me when Pope Francis came out on the balcony of Saint Peter’s for the first time. His South American origins, his choice of name, his humble appearance and his respectful request for prayer, rather than giving an initial blessing, all spoke of graceful change. Francis went on to shower blessing on the many who had been side-lined heretofore. He was a pope who transformed the Roman Catholic Church, and I have never fallen out of love with him. I hope he is still smiling that infectious smile from the Communion of Saints, where he might be even more efficacious in bringing about change at the root of the Church, to which I still struggle to belong. I wonder if he feels a little ashamed that it took an ecumenical setting, albeit in a Roman Catholic building, for Carina Roseingrave’s address to be given. The need for an indult was bypassed!
Carina put a symbolic rose into the grave of bereavement, giving all present a moment to remember all they had lost, and to explore some meaning in their sorrow. I appeal to the naysayers in Rome to open their eyes to the life of the so-called laity, their ears to the cry of the unheard, and their hearts to all those who would love to contribute to their own bouquet into possibilities of a new way of being Church. The fact that Carina is a woman makes another obvious want in clerical circles more glaring. Please Pope Leo, bring all the good work you have done so far to another dimension, where all God’s children have a place in the Choir!
Suzanne Ryder RSM