The sentence above is perhaps the most striking in Archbishop Hebda's letter. He almost appears to imply that a homily given during Mass might be improved by enabling a "member of the assembly … to offer alternative points of reference." The man had plainly left his sensus catholicus in his other suit when he wrote the letter.
Plus the nonsense of citing the GIRM that a sermon should only be about a Gospel passage (as though there aren’t hundreds of priests preaching liberation theology, gαy rights, racial justice, and rank heresy of every stripe in the Archdiocese).
Apparently, even a pro-life sermon would be grounds for censure, according to this rule.
Interesting then, that Fr. Altier should merit being reminded of this “norm,” while the rest of the Archdiocese does whatever it pleases from the pulpit.
Note too, the oddity of an Archbishop writing to the State Health Department to convey the arguments of his priest.
Sounds to me like it was really the Department who was notified about the sermon from a third party (probably one of the 1 million who have viewed it on JєωTube) who put the screws to the Archbishop, saying, “You will help us debunk your priest’s sermon, or we will tell the Governor to shut you down.”