As a Lector, would you ever

[deaconjohnO]

You can be an instituted lector or an un-instituted lector. You can be an instituted reader or an un-instituted reader.

Try this trick in Spanish or Italian or Latin and it simply won’t fly. There is only one word for “lector” in those languages.

You are incorrect. There exists an official and specific institution for Lector (and Acolyte). So it is not simply a play on words. But an actual title recognized officially by the Church.

Lectors can only be male. Up until around 1970 Lector was one of the 4 minor orders of the Priesthood (Porter, lector, Acolyte, exorcist.) Paul VI abrogated the minor orders retained and changed Lector and Acolyte to instituted roles. Lectors and Acolytes are instituted by the bishop in a ceremony. Men are usually instituted as Lectors and required to serve in that capacity for a period of time and then are instituted as Acolytes.

A lector should be performing the ministry the was instituted into if he is present at Mass,
Acolytes are permitted to do some duties that are not allowed by non instituted laypersons ie: ritually purify the sacred vessels after Mass.

ALL candidates for the Priesthood and Diaconate are instituted as Lectors and Acolytes prior to ordination. Very rarely (except in the diocese of Lincoln, NE during the Bruskewitz era) are men who are not on the path to ordination get instituted into these roles.
Lastly there was time several years ago where the Church discouraged the using the term “Lector” for readers. I’m too lazy to look it up but for some reason I want to attribute this to Cardinal Arinze when he was prefect for Divine Worship and the discipline of the sacraments.

 

[Phemie]

You are incorrect. There exists an official and specific institution for Lector (and Acolyte). So it is not simply a play on words. But an actual title recognized officially by the Church.

That’s only because the word “Lector” in Latin can be translated to either “reader” or “lector”. As far as I know, English is the only language in which this occurs. In other languages, such as French and Spanish, there is no word to distinguish between the instituted minister and the person acting in his stead.