On the Ministry of Reader

My parish is blessed to have a man preparing for the diaconate: Thomas Jorge. I’m serving as his mentor during formation; he is on track to be ordained, by the grace of God, in 2017.

Last Friday night, my diocese installed Tom and his classmates into the Ministry of Reader (or Lector).

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What does that mean?

Glad you asked. There’s some interesting history. Here’s a very good summary, from the website of the Diocese of Fall River: 

Before Vatican II, there were FOUR MINOR ORDERS: lector,  exorcist,  acolyte and porter. There was also subdiaconate.   These were required before one could receive the Sacrament of Orders as a deacon or priest.   Vatican II called for the revision of sacraments and liturgy.  The revisions came about because almost no one performed the ministries of  porter, exorcist, and indeed, even lector.  Pope Paul VI  issued the defining document in 1972, the Motu Proprio  entitled Ministeria Quaedam.   This eliminated minor orders completely, eliminated tonsure and subdiaconate. He established two “offices”  of reader and acolyte, which will include the functions of the subdiaconate.

Paul VI – Norms regarding the Holy order of Deacons.  1972

“It is especially fitting that the ministries of reader and acolyte should be entrusted to those who, as candidates for sacred orders, desire to devote themselves to God and to the Church in a special way.  Both by study and by gradual exercise of the ministry of the word and of the altar, candidates for sacred orders should through intimate contact understand and reflect upon the double aspect of the priestly office.  In this way, candidates are to approach holy orders fully aware of their vocation, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, constant in prayer, and aware of the needs of the faithful.”

“Candidates for the permanent diaconate and for the diaconate leading to the presbyterate, as well as candidates for the presbyterate itself, are to receive the ministries of reader and acolyte, unless they have already done so, and are to exercise them for a fitting time, in order to be better disposed for the future service of the word and of the altar.

According to Pope Paul VI, these are not so much a share in the priesthood of ordained priests,  but  ministries for the laity, who by Baptism share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. They are seen as  a good preparation for priesthood, but not so much as a stage in the process towards ordination.   They do have canonical status, and have a special Rite of Installation.   In some ways, Paul VI  was dismantling a clerical system that had existed for centuries  by emphasizing non-clerical, lay ministries.   But the surprise or irony is that these two ministries are very rarely given to laity, and almost exclusively are given to seminarians on the path to ordination.  While there are many lay men (and women) serving as readers and ministers of Communion,  they are usually commissioned in a parish, by a parish priest. They are not officially installed by the ordinary (bishop).

How does one become a Reader?  

It is conferred  By “institution”  rather than “ordination.”  One does not become a cleric by being instituted as a Reader. “ministries may be committed to lay Christians; hence they are no longer to be considered as reserved to candidates for the sacrament of orders.”   As a matter of fact, very few strictly lay persons are  readers or acolytes in the sense of  “instituted”.  Many serve in those capacities (altar servers, lay readers,   through simple commissioning by the parish priest, or even without that commissioning.    The Rite of Institution would be not a sacrament (as is Orders) but a sacramental.   The ministries are conferred by the ordinary (the bishop, and in clerical institutes, the major superior).

That’s for starters. Visit the website to learn more. 

Some may remember that a few years ago there was some buzz that Pope Benedict might make the ministry of reader open to women. Far as I know, nothing came of it.

Meantime, congratulations to Tom and his lovely wife, Olga! May God who has begun this work in you bring it to completion!

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Photos: Deacon Greg Kandra