Documentary note: I have examined a photograph of a Jesuit letter, not the physical original. The names, offices, and parish information appearing on it correspond with public records. The letter itself confirms permission for monthly “lay commentary.” The additional claim that the practice involved a woman delivering what functioned as the homily rests on a reader’s firsthand account.
The sentence is buried midway through a letter dated February 4, 2026:
“You should know that the Cardinal has given permission for lay commentary once a month at Holy Trinity.”
The letter appears on Jesuit provincial letterhead. It is signed by Father James Casciotti, S.J., who is publicly listed as the USA East Province’s assistant for pastoral ministries. Copies were sent to Provincial Joseph O’Keefe, S.J., and Father Kevin Gillespie, S.J., the pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. Those names and offices match the Jesuits’ and parish’s current public directories. (Trinity Church)
At the time of the letter, the cardinal governing Washington was Robert McElroy. Thus, although the letter refers only to “the Cardinal,” the natural inference is that it means Cardinal McElroy. He was appointed archbishop of Washington in January 2025. (AP News)
A reader says the euphemism concealed the reality he witnessed: a woman delivering what functioned as the sermon, with the priest announcing that Cardinal McElroy wanted the practice to continue.
The photographed letter does not independently establish every detail of that account. It does something narrower, and in some respects more significant. It places in writing an assertion that the cardinal authorized a recurring lay intervention at Mass at one of the most prominent Jesuit parishes in the nation’s capital.
The wording is carefully chosen.
It does not say “homily.”
It says “commentary.”
That single word contains the operating method of the postconciliar revolution.
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