Dear Friends,
A few decades ago, the eminent Catholic theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles wrote a very interesting piece which addressed the question of whether it is possible to define the term "lay ministry" in the Church. This was coming out of a time in which the previous general understanding had been that the clergy were the possessors and "dispensers" of ministry and the laity were the recipients of it. It's only been since the 1970s that we've seen this enormous flourishing of lay people engaged in dedicated, stable, long-term, publicly-recognized church service. So it's still a relatively new question: what makes a person a "lay minister" rather than someone who happens to have a job at a church?
It's still a muddled question because it's still somewhat common for people to define the "laity" as "those who are not ordained." That's not a definition; it's an explanation of what a person is NOT, and it is clearly no longer sufficient to describe the rich experience of lay men and women who act in the name of a Catholic community in carrying out the mission of the gospel.
At about the same time that Cardinal Dulles was writing, Pope Paul VI further pressed the question. Prior to that point, the path to the priesthood for candidates consisted of receiving a series of "minor orders," including Acolyte, Porter, Exorcist(!), and Reader. All these were conferred by formal public acts with the bishop presiding, and they were limited to seminarians en route to ordination. And they were permanent offices. Pope Paul did away with that system and instead decreed that there would be two formal "ministries," namely Acolyte and Lector. They too were permanent public statuses, imparted by the bishop, but they were now open to lay people too, who might never be ordained. Well, male lay people.
This may help clear up some of the confusion about Pope Francis' recent decision to admit women to these formal ministries. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of lay Catholics who serve as acolytes and lectors in their parishes, male and female, have not been formally installed as such in a public ceremony. They just carry out the task. So what's the difference between an "official" lector and any other kind? Come to think of it, this doesn't clear up much confusion at all.
As happens so often, our actual pastoral work on the ground outruns our theology and institutional traditions. Pope Francis is just trying to catch up.
Fr. Mike
LENTEN RECONCILIATION SERVICE
Tuesday, March 9, 7:00pm, Live Streamed and In-person
The Lenten Reconciliation Service will be Live Streamed on our website at 7:00pm -
CLICK HERE to view. In-person attendance will be limited to 125 attendees. Registration for this service will open today, March 2 at 1:00pm -
CLICK HERE to view our Mass Registration page.
CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW FOR A VIDEO MESSAGE FROM FR. MIKE