Carrying the Book of the Gospels

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Are lay persons permitted to carry the Book of Gospels during the entrance procession? A parish I visited did this, but I’m not sure if they should have done this.
 
ACatholicWife said:
Are lay persons permitted to carry the Book of Gospels during the entrance procession? A parish I visited did this, but I’m not sure if they should have done this.
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Lectors carry the Book of Gospels in the procession and place it on the altar.

GIRM D. #194-195:
  1. In coming to the altar, when no deacon is present, the lector, wearing approved attire, may carry the Book of the Gospels, which is to be slightly elevated. In that case, the lector walks in front of the priest but otherwise along with the other ministers.
  2. Upon reaching the altar, the lector makes a profound bow with the others. If he is carrying the Book of the Gospels, he approaches the altar and places the *Book of the Gospels *upon it. Then the lector takes his own place in the sanctuary with the other ministers.
I can’t tell from your post if by ‘lay person’ you are referring to someone carrying the Book who wasn’t the one doing the first and second readings…is that what you mean?
 
YinYangMom said:
Lectors carry the Book of Gospels in the procession and place it on the altar.

GIRM D. #194-195:
  1. In coming to the altar, when no deacon is present, the lector, wearing approved attire, may carry the Book of the Gospels, which is to be slightly elevated. In that case, the lector walks in front of the priest but otherwise along with the other ministers.
  2. Upon reaching the altar, the lector makes a profound bow with the others. If he is carrying the Book of the Gospels, he approaches the altar and places the *Book of the Gospels *upon it. Then the lector takes his own place in the sanctuary with the other ministers.
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Can a lector be a female?
 
thistle said:
Can a lector be a female?
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Canonically speaking, a lector can only be male. Those lay persons who proclaim the 1st and 2nd readings are more appropriately called “Readers.” Readers may be male or female.
 
LilyM said:
Can readers carry the book though?
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Since the Book of Gospels is to be processed into the sanctuary when there is no deacon or lector the reader carries it. For this purpose there is no distinction between the role of the lector and the role of the reader.
 
Thanks to everyone who responded.
YinYangMom said:
I can’t tell from your post if by ‘lay person’ you are referring to someone carrying the Book who wasn’t the one doing the first and second readings…is that what you mean?
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The person who carried the Book was the person who did the first reading.

Another related question. If there is a deacon, should ***he ***be the one to carry the Book of Gospels instead of the reader?
 
ACatholicWife said:
Thanks to everyone who responded.

The person who carried the Book was the person who did the first reading.

Another related question. If there is a deacon, should ***he ***be the one to carry the Book of Gospels instead of the reader?
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Yes, if there is a deacon he should carry the Book of the Gospels. This is clear from the 2002 General Introduction to the Roman Missal (GIRM) which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :

“194. In coming to the altar, when no deacon is present, the lector, wearing approved attire, may carry the Book of the Gospels, which is to be slightly elevated.”

So if there is a deacon he should carry it. An instituted lector carries it if no deacon. A reader who has not been instituted carries it if no deacon or instituted lector.

According to the 2002 GIRM, the Book of the Gospels is carried in procession, but not the lectionary. It is to be at the ambo at the start of Mass.

From n. 120(d): "A lector, who may carry the Book of the Gospels (though not the Lectionary), which should be slightly elevated; "
"118. The following are also to be prepared:
a. Next to the priest’s chair: the Missal and, as needed, a hymnal;
b. At the ambo: the Lectionary; "
 
also, the deacon is meant to exercise his ministry at any form of Mass at which he assists. If there is no other minister present, he fulfills the duties of others where necessary. He normally stands
on the right of the celebrant. Therefore, he should have a chair to the right of the presidential chair or the bishop’s cathedra. Unless he carries the Book of the Gospels, he walks on the right of the celebrant in procession. As already noted, the deacon should wear his own vestment, the dalmatic, at least on Sundays and major occasions.
CEREMONIES OF THE MODERN ROMAN RITE
By Msgr. Peter Elliott suggests the deacon carry it.
**
**
 
I’m thoroughly confused. :confused: I attend, what I believe to be, a rather orthodox (in practice) Catholic church. The Deacon attends one Mass, therefore he is not present to carry the Gospels at the other four Masses. The reader of the Gospel is the priest and he doesn’t carry it. The reader of the first scripture reading does not come in with the procession at the beginning of Mass. That leaves one of the altar servers. Quite honestly, I don’t remember because I usually have my head buried in a hymnal when they walk by.

In all of the above references to Church documents, I don’t see a clear indication of who can and cannot carry the Gospels.
 
LeahInancsi said:
I’m thoroughly confused. :confused: I attend, what I believe to be, a rather orthodox (in practice) Catholic church. The Deacon attends one Mass, therefore he is not present to carry the Gospels at the other four Masses. The reader of the Gospel is the priest and he doesn’t carry it. The reader of the first scripture reading does not come in with the procession at the beginning of Mass. That leaves one of the altar servers. Quite honestly, I don’t remember because I usually have my head buried in a hymnal when they walk by.

In all of the above references to Church documents, I don’t see a clear indication of who can and cannot carry the Gospels.
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Since the proclamation of the Gospel is not a presidential function, the priest should not read the Gospel if there is a deacon present (note that even in papal Masses the deacon reads the Gospel, not a priest or bishop or even the pope).

As has been noted, the GIRM says the book of Gospels should be carried by the deacon or the lector/reader. In my parish even when I serve at Mass a lector carries the book of Gospels (after surgery on my left shoulder it’s hard to carry the book, even from the altar to the ambo, and the entrance procession would be too much).

Deacon Ed
 
Deacon_Ed said:
Since the proclamation of the Gospel is not a presidential function, the priest should not read the Gospel if there is a deacon present (note that even in papal Masses the deacon reads the Gospel, not a priest or bishop or even the pope).

As has been noted, the GIRM says the book of Gospels should be carried by the deacon or the lector/reader. In my parish even when I serve at Mass a lector carries the book of Gospels (after surgery on my left shoulder it’s hard to carry the book, even from the altar to the ambo, and the entrance procession would be too much).

Deacon Ed
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That doesn’t really address my comment. At the Mass I attend, we don’t have a deacon. The priest doesn’t carry the Gospels eventhough he reads it. That leaves the altar boy/girl to carry the Gospels at the beginning of Mass.
 
LeahInancsi said:
That doesn’t really address my comment. At the Mass I attend, we don’t have a deacon. The priest doesn’t carry the Gospels eventhough he reads it. That leaves the altar boy/girl to carry the Gospels at the beginning of Mass.
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if there is no reader or lector to carry the book of Gospels in the absence of a deacon, it would seem appropriate that the book be placed at the place it will be read before Mass, and this action not be part of the procession. If there is no deacon to read the gospel, than the little procession of the book from the altar to the pulpit will also not take place.
 
puzzleannie said:
if there is no reader or lector to carry the book of Gospels in the absence of a deacon, it would seem appropriate that the book be placed at the place it will be read before Mass, and this action not be part of the procession. If there is no deacon to read the gospel, than the little procession of the book from the altar to the pulpit will also not take place.
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I’ll watch this Sunday. There are three altar servers and one carries the crucifix, but I’m not sure what the other two carry. Perhaps, it’s not the Gospels.

Thank you
 
LeahInancsi said:
That doesn’t really address my comment. At the Mass I attend, we don’t have a deacon. The priest doesn’t carry the Gospels eventhough he reads it. That leaves the altar boy/girl to carry the Gospels at the beginning of Mass.
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puzzleannie is correct – the priest should never carry the Book of Gospels. If there are no lectors/readers and no deacon simply place the Book of Gospels on the altar (there should still be a Gospel procession).

If you have three servers two should carry lit candles (thus they are sometimes called acolytes) and one should carry the cross.

Deacon Ed
 
Deacon_Ed said:
puzzleannie is correct – the priest should never carry the Book of Gospels. If there are no lectors/readers and no deacon simply place the Book of Gospels on the altar (there should still be a Gospel procession).

If you have three servers two should carry lit candles (thus they are sometimes called acolytes) and one should carry the cross.

Deacon Ed
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Now, I have it straight. The lead altar server is carrying the crucifix, the other two altar servers are behind carrying candles and the priest follows carrying a hymnal singing.

Thanks to all who helped me with this.
 
The Deacon should carry the book of the Gospel (depending on the Church have Deacon or not)
 
At our church, whoever does the first reading is asked to carry the Book of the Gospels in procession at the start of Mass and that is often myself. When we reach the foot of the altar I have always genuflected along with the priest (the tabernacle is in the sanctuary). Now a new priest has asked me not to genuflect, saying that it is not appropriate for one carrying the Lord’s Gospel Word to genuflect before the tabernacle. The GIRM seems unclear on this: it says all ministers should genuflect before the tabernacle at the start of Mass ‘except those carrying the ceremonial cross or candles’, who should bow. That would seem to imply that the person carrying the Gospels should genuflect, since he is not excluded, but it isn’t clear. I’d be grateful to hear people’s thoughts on this. Thank you and God bless.
 
richard_elmore said:
At our church, whoever does the first reading is asked to carry the Book of the Gospels in procession at the start of Mass and that is often myself. When we reach the foot of the altar I have always genuflected along with the priest (the tabernacle is in the sanctuary). Now a new priest has asked me not to genuflect, saying that it is not appropriate for one carrying the Lord’s Gospel Word to genuflect before the tabernacle. The GIRM seems unclear on this: it says all ministers should genuflect before the tabernacle at the start of Mass ‘except those carrying the ceremonial cross or candles’, who should bow. That would seem to imply that the person carrying the Gospels should genuflect, since he is not excluded, but it isn’t clear. I’d be grateful to hear people’s thoughts on this. Thank you and God bless.
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To answer from custom, not law, the general rule is that people carrying things do not need to genuflect.
 
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