Non catholic lector during a wedding?

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Im getting married on aug18; my fiancé and I are both catholic, however most of my family and friends who will be attending are not. We haven’t yet decIded whether we’re going to do the full nuptial mass or not yet. My being catholic is somewhat of a sore spot with my folks.

M question is related to lectors though: is it permissible to have non catholic Christians do some of the readings?

Thanks!!
Geoff
 
Thanks Mark - i suppose I’ll just need to speak to our priest about that anyway.

Just wanted to start thinking about who we can ask. 🙂
 
MarkThompson said:
The rule stated in the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism is:
133. The reading of Scripture during a Eucharistic celebration in the Catholic Church is to be done by members of that Church. On exceptional occasions and for a just cause, the Bishop of the diocese may permit a member of another Church or ecclesial Community to take on the task of reader.
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I teach in a Catholic school, but most of my students aren’t Catholic or even Christian. We have a weekly school Mass, which includes the daily Mass goers. Most of my readers are not Catholic and that is fine, so I’m sure it’s fine for a wedding Mass as well.
Ask the priest. That situation is quite common now.
 
aschaefer said:
I teach in a Catholic school, but most of my students aren’t Catholic or even Christian. We have a weekly school Mass, which includes the daily Mass goers. Most of my readers are not Catholic and that is fine, so I’m sure it’s fine for a wedding Mass as well.
Ask the priest. That situation is quite common now.
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Is it ok because you have permission or because nobody cares?
 
If I remember it correctly from when we planned our wedding, the priest has the final say so on whom may or may not do the readings. Some priests require the readers to be Catholic, some do not. Check with the priest that will be your celebrant.
 
When we had our marriage convalidated, my parents and one of our sons did the readings. My dad is not catholic and at that time our son wasn’t either, and our priest allowed it. He’s usually one who’s quite serious about the rules, so I know he wouldn’t have allowed it if it was not okay. We did not have a Mass, just the liturgy of the word portion. At the time my husband and the priest were the only fully initiated Catholics present at the ceremony.
 
BettyBoop416 said:
Maybe it’s because the words are going to sound exactly the same no matter whose mouth they come out of.
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Disagree. There is HUGE difference between someone that understands they are reading sacred scripture and the Catholic liturgy and someone that just thinks it words on a page that they are reading out loud.
 
PatriceA said:
Disagree. There is HUGE difference between someone that understands they are reading sacred scripture and the Catholic liturgy and someone that just thinks it words on a page that they are reading out loud.
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Hogwash. If two people were reading a passage from scripture, one an atheist and the other a Catholic, you’d have no way of knowing who was who.
 
aschaefer said:
I teach in a Catholic school, but most of my students aren’t Catholic or even Christian. We have a weekly school Mass, which includes the daily Mass goers. Most of my readers are not Catholic and that is fine, so I’m sure it’s fine for a wedding Mass as well.
Ask the priest. That situation is quite common now.
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The rules doesn’t say “according to the priest.” The rule says that unless the Bishop says otherwise, the lectors must be Catholic. The proper advice therefore is to ask the Bishop, not the priest. Actually, I’d say the proper advice is to say no, the lectors must be Catholic, since that is the rule. A non-Catholic lector is the exception, and must be approved by the Bishop.

We have a major problem in the Church today of assuming that exceptions are the rule, that because something is permissible in some places it can be allowed in all. It is the slippery slope to liturgical abuse.
  • PAX
 
BettyBoop416 said:
Hogwash. If two people were reading a passage from scripture, one an atheist and the other a Catholic, you’d have no way of knowing who was who./QUOTE

Why would an atheist want to be a reader of sacred scripture? Why do we have rules in the Catholic Church about who can and can’t receive the Eucharist? Why can’t a divorced person that hasn’t received an annulment remarry in the Catholic Church? Etc,Etc.

You wouldn’t ask that question if you actually understood why its the priest that has the final approval of readers at a Catholic wedding ceremony.
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At the Funeral Mass presided over by the bishop of our late parish priest the local Anglican priest read the second reading .
 
EcceAgnusDei said:
The rules doesn’t say “according to the priest.” The rule says that unless the Bishop says otherwise, the lectors must be Catholic. The proper advice therefore is to ask the Bishop, not the priest. Actually, I’d say the proper advice is to say no, the lectors must be Catholic, since that is the rule. A non-Catholic lector is the exception, and must be approved by the Bishop.

We have a major problem in the Church today of assuming that exceptions are the rule, that because something is permissible in some places it can be allowed in all. It is the slippery slope to liturgical abuse.
  • PAX
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The priest can advise and assist if a bishop needs to approve a situation. My priest is a Canon lawyer and understands the rules. Calm down!
 
While the directory gives the Bishop the power to make this decision, in practice many bishops leave it up to the priests to make that decision in their own parish.
 
Though anecdotal, I have been the lector at Catholic weddings (I’m Greek Orthodox) and at my own Catholic wedding ceremony I had Greek Orthodox lectors.

I do remember when I asked the priest if it’s ok for me to be a lector since I’m not Catholic he said that it’s not a problem because I’m Greek Orthodox.
 
BettyBoop416 said:
Hogwash. If two people were reading a passage from scripture, one an atheist and the other a Catholic, you’d have no way of knowing who was who.
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I think that maybe you do not have a clear understanding of what the Liturgy of the Word is about. Without that understanding your point makes completely sense. It would be the same of receiving the host without consecration because it still looks and tastes like bread; however, a person with an understanding of the Liturgy of the Eucharist knows the difference. Because such understanding of the Liturgy of the Word is critical the Church puts specific instructions in the liturgical documents.
 
Cristiano said:
Because such understanding of the Liturgy of the Word is critical the Church puts specific instructions in the liturgical documents.
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Personally, I think the requirement is due to the fact that it would be scandalous to have somebody exercising the ministerial function of proclaiming the readings who was known to be a non-coreligionist. I am inclined to the view, however, that by and large nobody could tell the difference between an average reading at Mass done by a Catholic versus by a Protestant or a non-believer. I suppose this could easily be put to scientific proof, though!
 
Why would any non-Christian want to proclaim the word of God? Why would Christians allow it? At a wedding it is a unique situation, normally at a Mass there are plenty of Catholics available to read. At a nuptual Mass protestants at least believe and have respect for the Bible, if no Catholics are comptetant to read.
 
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