Pope Francis: Ministries of lector and acolyte to be open to women
With a Motu proprio released on Monday, Pope Francis established that from now on the ministries of Lector and Acolyte are to be open to women, in a stable and institutionalized form through a specific mandate.
There is nothing new about women proclaiming the Word of God during liturgical celebrations or carrying out a service at the altar as altar servers or as Eucharistic ministers. In many communities throughout the world these practices are already authorized by local bishops.
However, up to this point, this has occurred without a true and proper institutional mandate, as an exception to what Pope St Paul VI had established when, in 1972, even while abolishing the so-called “minor orders”, he decided to maintain that access to these ministries be granted only to men because they were considered to be preparatory to the eventual admission to holy orders.
Now, in the wake of the discernment which has emerged from the last Synods of Bishops, Pope Francis wanted to formalize and institutionalize the presence of women at the altar.
UPDATE: in a accompanying letter Francis makes clear that the Episcopal Conferences has the task of establishing criteria and formation of candidates, and also reminds us the Paul VI allowed conferences to institute others ministries, subject of course to approval by Rome
It will be the task of the Episcopal Conferences to establish adequate criteria for the discernment and preparation of candidates for the ministries of the Lectorate or Acolytate, or other ministries which they deem to be instituted, according to what is already disposed in the Motu Proprio Ministeria quaedam, subject to the approval of the Holy See and according to the needs of evangelisation in their territory.
This is a long overdo development in ending the discrimination of the Church against women.
However the question that it opens is whether it is wise to institutionalize being lector and acolyte, i.e.having some men and women have these roles for life and having them recognized throughout the diocese and the universal church rather than the present practice in which people have these roles for specific times periods in their own parish?
I am assuming that making some people permanent lectors and acolytes will not stop the present practice of allowing other people to assume the role of reader, servers, and eucharistic ministers without being formally instituted..
On the one hand I think it is valuable to give lay people recognition and roles that extend beyond their parishes and are relatively permanent. On the other hand this may promote another form of clericalism in which people compete for these honors, are treated differently than others, come to have vested interests, etc.
One little known aspect of the original Paul VI document is that it allowed bishops conferences to establish other stable ministries. I think he was thinking of catechists in missionary countries. I don't know if that has been done. The American bishops briefly informally thought about establishing a stable ministry of preaching. These more specific ministries do give some idea of the positive way in which stable ministries could be used.
What are your thoughts on this development?
Personally I have never regularly been a reader or Eucharistic minister, although I have done both a very few times on specific occasions when I have been asked. In the pre-Vatican II church I was an altar server and regularly did that in all sorts of places because it required knowledge of Latin, rubrics, etc. So I can understand how commissioning someone for certain roles that require some special talents would work. But I would cringe if there was an announcement before Mass "are there any commissioned lectors or acolytes here today?" The idea being that once you are commissioned you are given priority over others who are not so commissioned.
Part 1:
ReplyDeleteThis development is entangled, at least tangentially, with the idea of holy orders, so expect this to be controversial in traditionalist circles.
Among the things Vatican II reformed was Holy Orders. Prior to the reform, one traversed through seven orders to reach the priesthood:
The minor orders (in ascending order)
* Porter
* Lector
* Exorcist
* Acolyte
The major orders (in ascending order):
* Subdeacon
* Deacon
* Priesthood
Each of these minor and major orders represented a way station or step to the priesthood, and there were duties associated with each one. In the chapel at the Mundelein seminary, where candidates to the priesthood for Chicago and other dioceses are formed, the names of the old minor and major orders are literally inscribed on the steps which ascend to the sanctuary, one step per order. I can imagine school photos, and perhaps liturgical ceremonies, in which those who have achieved each order stand on their assigned step.
One aspect of these orders was that one needed to be a cleric to exercise the ministry. Thus, to read the epistle at mass, one would need to have reached lector (I think; Jack, perhaps you can correct if I am explaining these items incorrectly).
Pope Paul VI discontinued the four minor orders, as well as the major order of subdeacon. That means that, today, candidates for holy order aren't instituted into these minor orders (and major order of subdeacon).
But ... simultaneously, Paul established new ministries, rather confusingly called Lector and Acolyte, that would allow faithful people to be instituted into these ministries of Word and Table. Note that these newly instituted ministries are not holy orders; one needn't be a cleric to be instituted into them.
Despite these new ministries of Lector and Acolyte not being considered minor orders anymore, candidates for the priesthood, as well as for the permanent diaconate, still are initiated into them as way stations on their way to their final ordination. So even though lector and acolyte are not considered clerical ministries anymore, clerics still are expected to exercise them. (As indeed we do in real life.)
Strengthening the (mistaken) impression that the new ministries of lector and acolyte are clerical states, for many years after Paul reformed the orders, few or no dioceses actually extended these two new ministries to laypersons. The only ones instituted into them were those in clerical formation. Most of us lived out our lives, happily oblivious to these ministries' existence. I am happy to report that this has changed in more recent years, and some dioceses now institute laypersons into these ministries.
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteI say "laypersons", but ... further strengthening the impression that these ministries are clerical in nature, canon law continued to require that only males could be instituted into these ministries.
This male-only requirement is what Francis has now abolished.
Opening up these ministries to women can only help to sever the mistaken "residual link" between these ministries and the old minor orders. Of course, on the other side of the coin, so to speak, those who either welcome or fear the possibility of genuine clerical states (deacon, priest, bishop in the post-Vatican II world) being open to women, will view this development as a step on the road to that outcome: either good news or bad news, depending on one's point of view.
Contrary to that understandable interpretation, these two ministries of lector and acolyte are permanent and stable, which means: they don't necessarily lead to a clerical state. They are not (necessarily) way stations for clerics in formation; they are ministries which laypersons can exercise without their leading to anything else.
You may be thinking, "Wait a minute ... women have been helping as readers, Eucharistic Ministers, acolytes, servers et al for many years ... why is Francis's action even a thing?" The answer is that, even though women have been exercising these liturgical ministries, until now they haven't been formally instituted into the ministries. (To be sure, many parishes may offer blessings to mark a volunteer's (re-)commitment for a three year period or something similar, but that is not the same thing.)
The idea is that formal institution is a sort of "permanent induction", meaning that the person being instituted should expect to exercise that ministry for the rest of her/his life. That is neither the spirit nor the practice of parishes around here; people, both men and women, serve as readers for a few years, and then drop out, either because they don't like it, or their busy schedule doesn't permit it, or they are mad at the Church Lady who runs the ministry, or some other reason. There is great freedom in being a volunteer! - one can do or not do these things as it suits one. But the idea of a permanent institution is that one is making a lifetime commitment to it.
I would hope that being instituted into these ministries happens because the candidate already has shown a deep and life-giving devotion to the ministry in question. I'd hope that an instituted lector is someone who not only proclaims the scriptures on Sundays, but sees herself/himself as a preacher of the Good News every day of the week, even in her/his daily life. I'd think that a person committed to the word engages in regular study and continuing education. And I am sure that part of a pastor's expectation is that this person engages in practical parish leadership: coordinating the reader ministry, helping the volunteers to improve in their ministry, giving occasional mini-retreats or days of recollection for the readers, etc.
To Jack's point about new clerisies: I agree that is a danger, and perhaps it's part and parcel of human nature. But ideally, service to the Word or Table is not a status, but rather a service. I'd like to see those instituted into these ministries approach it in the spirit of serving God's people. That is my deacon viewpoint :-).
"The idea is that formal institution is a sort of 'permanent induction', meaning that the person being instituted should expect to exercise that ministry for the rest of her/his life. That is neither the spirit nor the practice of parishes around here; people, both men and women, serve as readers for a few years, and then drop out, either because they don't like it, or their busy schedule doesn't permit it, or they are mad at the Church Lady who runs the ministry, or some other reason."
DeleteOuch!
I left lectoring when it was clear I needed to step away from the Table, but I certainly saw it as a holy calling harking back to the tradition of medieval monastic lectors.
However, the Church Ladies who ran the program saw it as simply "helping out so we don't have to read more than once a month in summer when we want to take vacations."
I think that formalizing this as a ministry with appropriate training and discernment is nothing but good.
My training consisted of a tour of the vestry so I knew where the books were and a lesson in how to troubleshoot the microphone and sound system.
As a lector, I kept up with the daily readings, read commentaries, and said a short prayer to St. Hilda before I read asking her to help me be an instrument of the Word.
I took it very seriously and was joyful in doing God's work for those few years.
Raber certainly sees it that way, and he was very moved when one of our late parishioners asked him to go the hospice house and read her the passages that would be read at her funeral.
Jean - that is wonderful! I think both you and Raber have internalized the spirit of what the ministry of Lector should be. I'd nominate both of you.
DeletePfft. No way you or those Church Ladies would even let me near the microphone anymore.
DeleteHaving well-trained lectors might be a decent idea, assuming they don't think they are acting in an off-Broadway play. Overly theatrical readers are as bad as the flat, monotone readers.
DeleteBut the charade that this is a big step for women is absurd. Women are still second-class in the church. This simply acknowledges the reality that women have performed these roles for more than 40 years now in the developed world. A lot of men in collars will be unhappy, but they will figure out ways to continue to shut out females from serving at the altar.
I like Francis for the most part. My biggest disappointment in him he that he as clericalist and patriarchal as most the rest of the men in collars in the RCC. I attribute this partly to his age and partly to growing up in a misogynist and patriarchal Latin American culture.
But Latin America is changing fast - it has had many women leaders as Prime Minister, Presidents, and other high level jobs. The bleeding out of the RCC is accelerating in Latin America too and women are leading the exodus.
So Francis may also be using this as an opportunity to throw out a few breadcrumbs, perhaps hoping to appease the discontented women who are leaving the church in droves, and taking their families with them. Including their children and future children.
I was used to women priests at the tail-end of our years in ECUSA, so some of these no-women-allowed rules strike me as idiotic. BUT, not sure what, realistically, Pope Francis can do about any of it other than nibble away at the edges and hope other popes will do the same.
DeleteI honestly think the Church's patriarchy is in its death throes. There are too few priests and too many other Christian denominations that have shown that women can be good ministers. My guess is that by the end of the century, you'll see the end of mandatory celibacy for priests, women deacons, and women priests, maybe in that order.
Our archdiocese has formally instituted both men and women into ministries of lector and EMHC for years. I was installed in the ministry of EMHC twenty years ago. It was for life, though the person is supposed to indicate whether or not they are still available for service. There is nothing to prevent stepping back for awhile, or permanently. All the deacons's wives had the opportunity to be installed in these ministries prior to their husbands' diaconal ordination, though it isn't confined to deacons' wives, most of the women in the ministries are not married to deacons. I elected not to be installed as a lector, because it isn't something I am comfortable with.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit to a little bit of schadenfreude that this pronouncement by the pope is jangling some nerves in our neighboring diocese to the south.
It has been the case that each diocese has had their own practices for these ministries. Not all are so formal about it; such as the Grand Island diocese to the west of us. My sister, who lives there, asked to be instituted as an EMHC so she could take communion to our dad, who is homebound. The church lady in charge of the program, said, "Okay, you're instituted", and told her how it was supposed to be done.
And I wonder if the title will change, up to now we are called "EMHCs", that is, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. They emphasized during the training session that it was not "ministers of the Eucharist", since that is reserved to priests. Since the pope made this change, which really isn't much of a change, will the title change to "MHC" since we are not extraordinary now?
Come to think of it, the real change is for "acolyte" which up to now has been understood as "altar server" here, and didn't mean that you were an EMHC. I wouldn't think that it included grade school servers being instituted formally as acolytes, though we do have adult altar servers, especially for funerals.
Delete"It has been the case that each diocese has had their own practices for these ministries. Not all are so formal about it; such as the Grand Island diocese to the west of us. My sister, who lives there, asked to be instituted as an EMHC so she could take communion to our dad, who is homebound. The church lady in charge of the program, said, "Okay, you're instituted", and told her how it was supposed to be done."
DeleteHi Katherine, I assume your husband went through a formal ceremony of institution to the permanent ministries of Lector and Acolyte as part of his preparation for the permanent diaconate? There are official liturgies, IIRC, for this purpose. We were given Bibles, I think, when we were instituted as Lector.
As discussed here, those *permanent* ministries wouldn't have been open to women, even deacons' wives who have gone through all the very same formation as their husbands (and whose gifts, in some cases, exceed their husbands' in this regard!). Universal canon law wouldn't have permitted it. It's possible your bishop was able to get some sort of particular exception to canon law for your diocese, but personally I'd be surprised if that happened.
Your sister's experience in Grand Island wouldn't have been being instituted into the permanent ministry of Acolyte. She's a volunteer minister to the homebound (your dad), and the church lady gave her permission to bring communion as part of that ministry.
Re: "Acolyte" - at least around here, and I think elsewhere, there isn't really a volunteer ministry called "acolyte". There are EMHCs (to use your diocese's terminology - our diocese may use the same term, but in our parish, we just call them "EMs") who give communion; sacristans who set up the liturgical space; and altar servers (i.e. altar boys and altar girls). Acolyte encompasses all of these, I believe.
DeleteHere is the GIRM's description of an acolyte's duties. As you can see, it encompasses several different common volunteer ministries. It may also be clear that an acolyte really is a sort of servant position - the priest's personal Jeeves.
DeleteC) The Functions of the Acolyte
187. The functions that the acolyte may carry out are of various kinds and several may occur at the same moment. Hence, it is desirable that these duties be suitably distributed among several acolytes. If, in fact, only one acolyte is present, he should perform the more important duties while the rest are to be distributed among several ministers.
The Introductory Rites
188. In the procession to the altar, the acolyte may carry the cross, walking between two ministers with lighted candles. Upon reaching the altar, however, the acolyte places the cross upright near the altar so that it may serve as the altar cross; otherwise, he puts it away in a dignified place. Then he takes his place in the sanctuary.
189. Through the entire celebration, it is for the acolyte to approach the Priest or the Deacon, whenever necessary, in order to present the book to them and to assist them in any other way required. Thus it is appropriate that, in so far as possible, the acolyte should occupy a place from which he can easily carry out his ministry either at the chair or at the altar.
The Liturgy of the Eucharist
190. In the absence of a Deacon, after the Universal Prayer and while the Priest remains at the chair, the acolyte places the corporal, the purificator, the chalice, the pall, and the Missal on the altar. Then, if necessary, the acolyte assists the Priest in receiving the gifts of the people and, if appropriate, brings the bread and wine to the altar and hands them to the Priest. If incense is being used, the acolyte presents the thurible to the Priest and assists him while he incenses the offerings, the cross, and the altar. Then the acolyte incenses the Priest and the people.
191. A duly instituted acolyte, as an extraordinary minister, may, if necessary, assist the Priest in distributing Communion to the people.[99] If Communion is given under both kinds, in the absence of a Deacon, the acolyte administers the chalice to the communicants or holds the chalice if Communion is given by intinction.
192. Likewise, after the distribution of Communion is complete, a duly instituted acolyte helps the Priest or Deacon to purify and arrange the sacred vessels. In the absence of a Deacon, a duly instituted acolyte carries the sacred vessels to the credence table and there purifies them, wipes them, and arranges them as usual.
193. After the celebration of Mass, the acolyte and other ministers return together with the Deacon and the Priest in procession to the sacristy, in the same manner and in the same order in which they entered.
Jim, you are correct that my husband went through a formal ceremony of institution to the ministries of Lector and Acolyte prior to ordination. And that wasn't at the same time as the rest of us were inducted into lector and EMHC. But ours was also a ceremony, at the cathedral or designated church. I am sure that the archbishop didn't make an exception to canon law for us. It was just a formal touch. I hope we won't have to get re-installed now that the rules have changed.
DeleteWhat you describe as acolyte duties are what the deacons have been doing, especially lately, when we don't have the kid servers due to virus precautions.
Francis change is pretty much the official church catching up with the practical pastoral church. Women have been taking part in these ministries since Vatican II, although it did take a while for the practice of altar girls along side of altar boys to develop. And a lot of these ministries have essentially become permanent in some parishes, although they are more flexible in others.
ReplyDeleteThe questions I ask about this change are how will it become institutionalized. Once you go through the formal institutional ceremony, usually done by the bishop, you are a lector or an acolyte not only in your parish, but in your diocese and around the world. What will be the implications of that? If you get a new pastor, or move to a new parish, you will still be a lector and eligible to do what lectors do. In the case of acolyte those things are not so clear. The new acolyte is more like the old subdeacons who could do many things short of the deaconate, e.g. subdeacons could read the epistle.
Jim, actually pre-Vatican II a seminarian could do any of the minor orders, including being a subdeacon and reading the Epistle once they were tonsured, or entered a religious order. That is as novices a few of us, not myself, did do the epistle at a Solemn High Mass. So there was general recognition that the minor orders, unlike the priesthood and the episcopate did not give new powers, rather they just committed people to doing certain things for the rest of their lives.
I think Aquinas viewed all the minor orders and the subdeaconate as flowing from the deaconate; of course we now view them as flowing from baptism.
My interest as a social scientist is how institutions change, and this certainly documents an institutional change that has been a result of institutional changes and will like catalyze further institutional change whether intended or unintended.
Of course this is a catastrophe for the traditionalist who really believe that old minor orders were not abolished just suppressed and therefore could be brought back. They are saying at the same time that Francis is throwing a bone to women because he does not intend to do anything about the deaconate, and that he is also preparing the way for a successor to approve women deacons.
Actually back around 2009 at the Synod of the Word, a majority of bishops asked Benedict to open the commissioned roles of lector and acolyte to women. He did nothing. The Synod of the Amazon asked again, and so Francis moved forward. That is the usual slow but study peace of change.
"If you get a new pastor, or move to a new parish, you will still be a lector and eligible to do what lectors do?"
DeleteIt's my understanding from reading the WaPo article that these are permanent ministries. A priest or bishop cannot unilaterally ban women lectors and acolytes.
It also sounded like discernment and training at the diocesan level would be required. I am assuming that instead of the parish Church Ladies handling this that the parish would send candidates for these ministries to the diocese.
Who actually gets tapped for these ministries would make an interesting study. In my experience both ECUSA and RCC deacons tend to be white-collar conservatives--bankers, judges, retired elected officials--people who have wealth and status to confer.
I'm sure these deacons are good sorts of prople, too, but my guess is that a blue-collar worker who's broke and is a bit of a sartorial muddle is not going to be tapped for a more formalized ministry as lector or acolyte.
When we lived in the Lincoln diocese they were very restrictive, as you said, as to which men got picked for the lector classes. The pastor had to pick you. My husband wanted to (this was of course way before he was a deacon). The pastor told him, "Maybe next time." I guess we were too much newcomers.
DeleteBut here the deacon formation classes were much more diverse. K had a classmate who was an immigrant and had only completed 5th grade, and also a classmate who had an EdD and was a public school superintendent. Not to mention a farmer and a diesel mechanic. Don't know what the formation classes are like now for demographics, that was a long time ago.
Actually I do know that they want a prior college degree now. Which K would have had, but it was in mathematics, not really a related field.
DeleteIf acolytes and lectors have to be nominated by the pastor, that likely means that pastors who don't want women at the altar can just decline to nominate any.
DeleteKatherine, in my view, requiring a four year degree is a mistake. It screens out many good and holy men.
DeleteI read once, somewhere (maybe in Commonweal) that some women's religious orders made distinctions between the 2nd order nuns, who typically were from wealthier and more educated backgrounds, and would be the ones to administrate the order, do fundraising, etc; and the third-order sisters, who were often from common backgrounds - but who often brought spiritual gifts and charisms which the nuns lacked. Ideally, both sets of contributions were valued (there are many gifts but the same Spirit, etc.).
Along those lines, I'd like to think that there is room in the diaconate for accomplished professionals, and for factory workers, janitors, food service workers, etc. There are a few postal workers in Chicago's diaconate.
Jean, your observation of deacons being judges, lawyers etc., and blue collar men being excluded, may well be a comment on the larger church. At least among Anglos, I fear we have become a church by the upper middle class for the upper middle class. At least here in suburbia, that is the case.
DeleteThe Spanish-speaking church should be a corrective for this, if the Anglos will ever take the outstretched hand of brotherhood.
Jim, I agree with you that requiring a four year degree is a mistake (it may be that it is a "soft" requirement rather than a hard and fast one). The classmate of my husband's who was an immigrant with limited education has gone on to do rather amazing ministry in his parish, which is in a town with a big packing plant and lots of people whose first language isn't English. It would be the church's loss if he wouldn't have been able to be a deacon.
DeleteRaber is very fond of the story of Solanus Casey, who became a "simplex" priest. Not sure what that means exactly, but he was a holy man who did not have a lot of intellectual gifts. He was beatified recently. Not everyone is going to get tapped for these ministries, but anyone can be a saint! Even women!
DeleteAside: Among Anglican nuns there were the "choir" sisters and the "kitchen" sisters. Their status in the convent was not always dictated by their social status in outside world. There is a hilarious kitchen sister in "In This House of Brede" who comes from a pedigreed family who becomes a kitchen sister. She drives the novice mistress crazy because she talks back all the time and has never done any menial work and is terrible at it. I need to re-read that book.
The Carmelites and other cloistered RC orders used to also have the "choir" sisters, and the kitchen and extern sisters, who were the ones who did errands for the community outside the convent walls. These so-called lay sisters were in simple vows, rather than canonical ones. I believe nowadays they have done away with the distinctions, which were at least in part class based.
DeleteKatherine, the college I attended in California had an order of nuns divided into two castes - the professors with PhDs, and the "little nuns" (as we students referred to them). The little nuns were little - mostly short and petite, of Mexican heritage. They not only cooked and cleaned for the professor nuns, they cleaned all the college buildings (it was a very small college with only 5 buildings) - including the students' dorm rooms and bathrooms as well.
DeleteAs college professors (and teachers in high schools and elementary schools), this order was obviously not cloistered. The professor nuns were often sought out as conference speakers and guest lecturers at other colleges and universities, often traveling around the world for these events. Not cloistered!
Anne, were the "little nuns" considered professed religious, in solemn vows along with the ones who were teachers, or were they considered "lay sisters"?
DeleteI don’t know, Katherine. We never knew there might be a difference. The little nuns wore exactly the same habit as the professor nuns and were there at the 6:00 am mass with them. Believe it or not I was a daily early mass goer during my freshman year.
DeleteHopefully they weren't treated as "less than" the others. One group of nuns who taught me in school had a sister who was their cook and gardener. She told my mother that that was her choice, and those things were her charism. One of my brothers and his friends would help her in the garden and she would give them cookies. He still says she was his favorite nun.
DeleteI never saw any mistreatment of the little nuns by professor nuns or by students. We students liked them.
DeleteIt will take awhile to see what the practical effects of this might be.
ReplyDeleteSince the Bishop's conference is in charge, they are certainly likely to take a look at what is now on the books (largely for seminarians), how it has been used, and any changes needed.
They are likely to spend some time deciding how much uniformity across the country they want versus how much freedom each bishops wants to do his own thing.
Then each bishop will have to decide how to do it in their own diocese.
While it could end up being as simple as each pastor deciding for his parish people who are acknowledged in this fashion, both the national conference and individual bishops are likely to have their own agenda.
It could result in making parish life more rigid and less flexible, but it could also result in upending parish life to bring it into line with national and/or diocesan agenda.
Yes, I see your points, Jack, especially, "It could result in making parish life more rigid and less flexible." If I had to make a bet, it would be that any new requirements will be applied to new lectors and EMs only.
DeleteAs far as I know, those who converted to Catholicism by taking private instruction from the priest were never required to do it all over and go through RCIA. Maybe that's not the greatest analogy but ...
It would also be good to see some RCIA reforms, especially for those doing adult faith formation. As I have been reading lately, catechumens and candidates (already baptized Christians) are not supposed to be lumped together, and the Easter Vigil rites are not appropriate for candidates. Those of us who are already Christians do not need "Christian initiation."
The Church Ladies in my parish said as much, but they said they did not have time to set up two different programs and that "it wouldn't hurt" us candidates to be required to go through the same program as the catechumens.
I think most parishes would find it hard to field two programs. In my experience the RCIA programs rely too much on videos, and not enough on discussion.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI don't want to belabor this because it's off-topic, but the thinking among some is that candidates really don't belong in a "program," but in a something that sounds like accompaniment with a parish sponsor. First Confession and Communion would take place when the sponsor and priest felt the candidate was ready. I don't know how widespread this thinking is, but about 90 percent of RCIA was review for me.
DeleteWe didn't have a lot of videos, just readings that came from I don't know where. We were given these as homework to read, then asked if we had questions the next week. No, we didn't. Then the Church Ladies would tell us about their mothers saying rosaries while making breakfast and about going to Catholic school with nuns, or listening to Latin Mass. Then we'd get another article. I think I brought in a Commonweal article one time about the Prodigal Son, which the Church Ladies said they struggled with because it didn't make sense to them. When they saw it was from Commonweal, they said I should only read things they had given us.
DeleteI suppose every parish has their own way of doing things. What you describe as accompaniment sounds a lot like how my mother had individual instructions with the priest when she joined. An Episcopalian would probably feel that it was more of a review than a Baptist would.
DeleteMaybe. My sense is that any Trinitarian Christian is 90 percent "there." The doctrinal sticking points tend to be transubstantiation, Confession, and the balance of tradition and Scripture. Helping candidates understand the Scriptural basis for these and other differences should not take six or seven months.
DeleteMom's instructions took a lot less than that, and she didn't have to wait until Holy Saturday to join.
DeleteShe would now in most parishes. Examination by a priest or deacon seems sufficient to me. The Church requires converts to be (re)confirmed, so why not celebrate that sacrament with them when they are deemed got to sign on?
DeletePoor Raber is a little concerned that he might not make the cut if they start adding a lot of expensive and time-consuming training/requirements for lectors. I pointed out that all these changes occur at a glacial pace and that we would likely to be dead before anything changed in the local parish.
ReplyDeleteRaber need not worry.
DeleteThe earliest the Bishops could do anything about this would be in November, probably there will be a preliminary report then with a document up for vote in November 2022, could easily stretch out to November 2023 before any action is taken.
If there are a lot of expensive and time consuming training it will probably take another three years to put all that into place to begin any program at the diocesan level. So we are looking at least two years more likely five years before anything begins to happen at the parish level.
I have a lot of doubt that the bishops will try to replace the present lectors. More likely that they will put in place a system for new lectors and have them slowly replace the old lectors. That may take a decade or two. IN the meantime old lectors are likely to be "grandfathered."
It is also very possible that some or maybe all the bishops may want to limit the numbers of permanent lectors and acolytes until they see how the system works. Gradual change over two decades is a likely scenario.
I don't think this new canon law change would have any effect at all for people who volunteer as lectors now. Most of them wouldn't become permanently instituted - and that should be fine.
DeleteOver at the PrayTellBlog, Paul Inwood has posted some thoughts about this development. He makes a distinction between charism and office which is a good one.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2021/01/12/lectors-and-acolytes-we-need-to-reflect-first/
I can’t start a new thread on my iPad.
ReplyDeleteNCR has a nice story about Tom Blackburn today.
Anne, thanks for calling that out. I created a new post with a link to the NCR piece.
Delete