Becoming an Acolyte

[Sir_Knight]

I read that link. “Acolyte” isn’t mentioned anywhere on that webpage.

 

[St.Eric]

Sir Knight:

I read that link. “Acolyte” isn’t mentioned anywhere on that webpage.

Sorry about that, I mentioned the wrong post. Try the link in post 12.

 

[Glennon_P]

I have been installed (that’s the term used on the certificates I received from the Diocese, both of which hang proudly in my office) as both a Lector and an Acolyte. I was installed in those ministries in 1983 and 1985 respectively and have served in those capacities in several different parishes since then.

Our late Bishop Flavin, in 1981, issued a decree that effective January 1, 1984, only installed Lectors and Acolytes could perform functions normally reserved to them at Masses in the Diocese of Lincoln. That is to say, to read at Mass, one had to be an installed Lector; to distribute Communion, one had to be an installed Acolyte. No readers, EMEs, etc. The only exceptions to this decree were for Masses at or for Catholic schools and at convents. He also stipulated that all men who wished to be installed as a Lector or Acolyte had to be at least 21 years of age, and if they had children of school age, that those children be enrolled in Catholic schools (if available in their area). Bishop Flavin was a tremendous champion of Catholic schools.

Since the ministries of Lector and Acolyte are reserved to men only, this of course meant all women were “moved off the altar”, so to speak. Naturally, this caused a huge controversy, but Bishop Flavin remained firm and the Diocesan policy remained unchanged through his retirement in 1992.

Sometime after Bishop Bruskewitz came to Lincoln that in 1992, he relaxed the decree somewhat - allowing for non-installed readers to read the Scriptures at Mass. However, he continued the Diocesan training classes for the ministries of Lector and Acolyte. Today, it is the pastor’s option to allow readers (non-installed) to read the Scriptures at Mass, or to require Lectors (installed). I believe that the Bishop requires that at Masses where he is the celebrant, that only installed Lectors be used.

The way the two ministries function in most parishes is that the Lector acts as a reader would in your average catholic parish - announcing hymns, reading the Scriptures, General Intercessions, etc.

A man must be installed as an Acolyte to distribute Communion. He also assists the priest in setting up the altar prior to Mass, preparing the altar at Offertory (unveiling the chalice, getting the Sacramentary ready, etc.). He will then distribute Communion (alongside the priest or priest(s). Following Communion, he will purify the sacred vessels and remove them from the altar. In most parishes, the Acolyte will also serve as a cross bearer if there is a procession at the beginning or end of Mass.

Bishop Bruskewitz has allowed for the use of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist (EMEs) to be trained and utilized in parishes, but only for the purpose of taking Communion to the homebound. Many Lectors and Acolytes are EMEs as well.

In my parish, the pastor has asked me to serve as a Lector, which I am happy and honored to do weekly (6:30 a.m. Mass) and on Sundays and Holy Days as scheduled. Occasionally, I “pinch hit” as an Acolyte, but that happens very infrequently.

Perhaps my best summation of what a Lector or an Acolyte does comes from the mouth of my four-year-old daughter. A couple of months ago, she asked me if I was going to work on Sunday. I was puzzled, since I never have to work on Sunday, so I told her no. Then she said, “But aren’t you going to work like you did last Sunday at church when you helped all the people pray?”

I can only hope and pray that I did what she said I did!

 

[St.Eric]

Glennon P:

I have been installed (that’s the term used on the certificates I received from the Diocese, both of which hang proudly in my office) as both a Lector and an Acolyte. I was installed in those ministries in 1983 and 1985 respectively and have served in those capacities in several different parishes since then.

Our late Bishop Flavin, in 1981, issued a decree that effective January 1, 1984, only installed Lectors and Acolytes could perform functions normally reserved to them at Masses in the Diocese of Lincoln. That is to say, to read at Mass, one had to be an installed Lector; to distribute Communion, one had to be an installed Acolyte. No readers, EMEs, etc. The only exceptions to this decree were for Masses at or for Catholic schools and at convents. He also stipulated that all men who wished to be installed as a Lector or Acolyte had to be at least 21 years of age, and if they had children of school age, that those children be enrolled in Catholic schools (if available in their area). Bishop Flavin was a tremendous champion of Catholic schools.

Since the ministries of Lector and Acolyte are reserved to men only, this of course meant all women were “moved off the altar”, so to speak. Naturally, this caused a huge controversy, but Bishop Flavin remained firm and the Diocesan policy remained unchanged through his retirement in 1992.

Sometime after Bishop Bruskewitz came to Lincoln that in 1992, he relaxed the decree somewhat - allowing for non-installed readers to read the Scriptures at Mass. However, he continued the Diocesan training classes for the ministries of Lector and Acolyte. Today, it is the pastor’s option to allow readers (non-installed) to read the Scriptures at Mass, or to require Lectors (installed). I believe that the Bishop requires that at Masses where he is the celebrant, that only installed Lectors be used.

The way the two ministries function in most parishes is that the Lector acts as a reader would in your average catholic parish - announcing hymns, reading the Scriptures, General Intercessions, etc.

A man must be installed as an Acolyte to distribute Communion. He also assists the priest in setting up the altar prior to Mass, preparing the altar at Offertory (unveiling the chalice, getting the Sacramentary ready, etc.). He will then distribute Communion (alongside the priest or priest(s). Following Communion, he will purify the sacred vessels and remove them from the altar. In most parishes, the Acolyte will also serve as a cross bearer if there is a procession at the beginning or end of Mass.

Bishop Bruskewitz has allowed for the use of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist (EMEs) to be trained and utilized in parishes, but only for the purpose of taking Communion to the homebound. Many Lectors and Acolytes are EMEs as well.

In my parish, the pastor has asked me to serve as a Lector, which I am happy and honored to do weekly (6:30 a.m. Mass) and on Sundays and Holy Days as scheduled. Occasionally, I “pinch hit” as an Acolyte, but that happens very infrequently.

Perhaps my best summation of what a Lector or an Acolyte does comes from the mouth of my four-year-old daughter. A couple of months ago, she asked me if I was going to work on Sunday. I was puzzled, since I never have to work on Sunday, so I told her no. Then she said, “But aren’t you going to work like you did last Sunday at church when you helped all the people pray?”

I can only hope and pray that I did what she said I did!

Great info. I really appreciate it!

 

[Brendan]

Glennon P:

I

Bishop Bruskewitz has allowed for the use of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist (EMEs) to be trained and utilized in parishes, but only for the purpose of taking Communion to the homebound. Many Lectors and Acolytes are EMEs as well. !

There is no such thing as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist

The Minister of a Sacrament is the one who confects it. For the Eucharist, the only one who can confect the Eucharist is a validly ordained priest.

No matter how hard a deacon or a layperson try, they can never confect the Eucharist, so they can never be a Minister of the Eucharist, Ordinary or not.

What a deacon can do is to COMMUNE the Sacrament, to distribure it to the faithful.

A deacon is an Ordinary Minister of HOLY COMMUNION, but not an Minsiter of the Eucharist.

If you read just about any Vatican document, you will see that they refer to the Minstry of distributing the Eucharist as a Minister of Holy Communion.

Redemptonis Sacramentum #154 claried the issue even more.

1. The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion

[154.] As has already been recalled, “the only minister who can confect the Sacrament of the Eucharist in persona Christi is a validly ordained Priest”.[254] Hence the name “minister of the Eucharist” belongs properly to the Priest alone. Moreover, also by reason of their sacred Ordination, the ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are the Bishop, the Priest and the Deacon,[255] to whom it belongs therefore to administer Holy Communion to the lay members of Christ’s faithful during the celebration of Mass. In this way their ministerial office in the Church is fully and accurately brought to light, and the sign value of the Sacrament is made complete.

[155.] In addition to the ordinary ministers there is the formally instituted acolyte, who by virtue of his institution is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion even outside the celebration of Mass. If, moreover, reasons of real necessity prompt it, another lay member of Christ’s faithful may also be delegated by the diocesan Bishop, in accordance with the norm of law,[256] for one occasion or for a specified time, and an appropriate formula of blessing may be used for the occasion. This act of appointment, however, does not necessarily take a liturgical form, nor, if it does take a liturgical form, should it resemble sacred Ordination in any way. Finally, in special cases of an unforeseen nature, permission can be given for a single occasion by the Priest who presides at the celebration of the Eucharist.[257]

 

[Glennon_P]

There is no such thing as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist

Please pardon the imprecision of language in my earlier post.

The term “Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharitst” is one utilized by the Chancery in administering the program. I will forward your information on to them.

 

[Andreas_Hofer]

JB.:

I’m not sure what you mean by Acolyte. I thought the Minor Orders had been abolished by Pope Paul VI.

The minor orders *were *abolished by HH Paul VI, but in the same document he retained/reformed the orders of acolyte and lector into instituted ministries. They are no longer clerics, but are still male-only ministries that retain much of their older function.

 

[JamesS1996]

I’m not sure what you mean by Acolyte. I thought the Minor Orders had been abolished by Pope Paul VI.

    "In 1972 Pope Paul VI published an apostolic letter, "Ministeria Quaedam," in which he announced his decision to abolish the erstwhile "minor orders" of porter, lector, exorcist and acolyte and the "major order" of subdeacon, hitherto received in steps by all candidates to the priesthood. Paul VI replaced these orders with the two ministries of lector and acolyte. The new ministries were no longer reserved to seminarians. But because of the historic connection of the ministries with the sacrament of orders, the Holy Father decided that they would be open only to laymen."

–http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur209.htm