Journal about last Sunday and the discussion with Father Dowling
1415 K Sun 21 Jul 2002
Today Father Gerard Dowling faithfully followed the liturgical books on two points that I wrote about last Sunday. He stood for the Kyrie and Gloria and he made the announcements after the Prayer After Communion. I wrote to him about this during the week. He is to be commended for fixing these problems.
Unfortunately the problem of instituted readers not reading continued. Four of them were there today as altar servers:
Wayne Edwards
Joel Varias
Damian Styles
Matthew Thomas
They were instituted as lectors (with me) on 27 February 2000 by Archbishop Pell at St Patrick's cathedral in Melbourne. But a lay man and lay women did the readings today.
The hymn book we use at the cathedral is Catholic Worship Book. There is an explanation of instituted lectors at "hymn number" 111:
Orders and Ministries
For the constant growth of the people of God, Chirst the Lord instituted in his Church a variety of ministries, which work for the good of the whole body.
Divinely established ministry in the Church is exercised on different levels by those who from ancient times are called bishops, priests and deacons. These have received, in varying degrees, the sacrament of Order, and as such are set apart for the permanent and continuing ministry of building up the Body of Christ, which is the Church, and of preparing the members of the Church for their heavenly destiny.
Although all of the faithful are called to share fully and to undertake various roles in the acts of worship of the Church, those lay people who are deputed for the permanent ministries of reader and acolyte undertake special responsibilities.
When a person is called to a particular form of service in the Church, he is instituted into the ministry of reader or acolyte, while remaining a lay person, or is ordained by the laying on of hands as deacon, priest or bishop. Those ordained by the laying on of hands are sometimes described as clerics because they have received the sacrament of Order.
A special liturgical rite is used when ordination or institution into the ministries is conferred.
So at the cathedral we all use this hymn book which explains these things. At this cathedral people were instituted as readers. The rather obvious point that instituted readers should read is spelt out in the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
101. In the absence of an instituted reader, other lay people may be designated to proclaim the readings from the Sacred Scriptures. ...
But instituted readers were not used today.
Posted by J.R. Lilburne, 21 July 2002. Catholic Worship Book was published by Collins Liturgical Publications and E.J. Dwyer Pty Ltd.