Q: Father Turner, thank you for your excellent blog and service to the Church and its liturgy. I could not find the answer to this question in your archive. My apologies if you have already answered it. My question is whether a deacon must preach from the ambo? I have been told this in my classes but cannot find a reference for it. I understand the guidance to a priest given in GIRM 136 for a “Mass without a deacon, ” but the guidance for a deacon in GIRM 171.c “Mass with a deacon” seems silent with regard to location. Thanks again.
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A: In the absence of further direction at GIRM 171c, I presume that GIRM 136 applies to deacons as well. The locations cited there have to do with the homily, not with the minister.
I can see where the presider’s chair has a different presence than the deacon’s chair because it is, after all, the presider’s. But “another worthy place” would surely include the deacon’s chair or someplace from which the deacon may be effectively seen and heard.