Altar Server and Lector at the same time?

  • Thread starter Thread starter fan312
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

fan312

Guest
Is it possible for a lay person to be an altar server, and yet, be the lector for the same mass?
Or is it not permitted to mix these roles?
 
I did both at the same time, long ago. When I was an altar server back in the 1970s, one of our priests would also have me do the readings at the daily 6:30am Mass. I was 10 or 11 years old, did not really enjoy public speaking, and my knees would shake from nerves. Looking back, I’m not sure the dozen or so pious seniors in the congregation knew how nervous I was. This priest taught at the junior seminary too, so I guess he would have known if it was permitted or not.
 
It does happen, for one reason or another, that one must fulfill more than one role in a given liturgy because of circumstance. Yes, an altar server could also be a lector. More common for me, I’ve had it happen where the lector helped me with the offertory and the purification after Communion because the altar server did not show up.
 
I usually do that at our 6:00am Weekday Mass.

For our regular Masses, a senior altar boy ( high school aged) is generally designated to read.

He vests as an altar boy in Cassock and Surplice, but generally does not have any other altar duties. So in that case, he is simply the Lector

( Our pastor does that as he treats our altar boy program as a priestly formation program, it gives the boys an opportunity to proclaim God’s Word at the lectern, as he would have to do with the Gospel if he was a priest)
 
Don_Ruggero said:
Yes, an altar server could also be a lector. More common for me, I’ve had it happen where the lector helped me with the offertory and the purification after Communion because the altar server did not show up.
Click to expand...
Similarly, I’ve done both when the priest and I are the only two people at the Mass. (Note that this is rare; I can recall three occurrences in the past two years.)
 
Daily Mass next door to my work where I served was the server and the priest.

So yes you can do serving and reading, and eo.
 
It’s not optimal but sometimes a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

-Tim-
 
When you have Mass off the back of a truck in a sand storm in the middle of nowhere, or on a mountain, you quickly see the difference between what is necessary vs what is normal (traditional) for Mass.
 
ffg said:
When you have Mass off the back of a truck in a sand storm in the middle of nowhere, or on a mountain, you quickly see the difference between what is necessary vs what is normal (traditional) for Mass.
Click to expand...
That’s certainly putting things into a different perspective. 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top