Wednesday Liturgy: Using Deacons as Readers and Servers
ROME, JAN. 10, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: This year our superiors said that due to the large number of transitional deacons at the seminary, we will be scheduled to serve as readers and altar servers. Is it appropriate? I have never seen something like this. -- (initials withheld) Denver, Colorado.
Q: Please speak about a layperson participating in more than one ministry during any given Mass (for example, a member of the choir being an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist) and the situation of one person being in two or more ministries (for example, both a lector and an usher) during the same pastoral year. -- M.B., The Hague, Netherlands.
A: As both questions dealt with ministries I opted to deal with them together.
Since, apart from my professorial duties, I am also a spiritual director in Rome's largest international seminary for future diocesan priests, I can appreciate the superior's genuine concern for finding an adequate liturgical role for a large number of deacons (a blessed problem indeed). The proposed solution, however, is not the most liturgically appropriate.
It is a general principle in liturgy that each one of the different ministries perform its proper role. And those who have received a ministry have, so to speak, precedence in undertaking this ministry over those who have not received this ministry or even over those who have received the sacrament of holy orders.
As the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Nos. 98-99, say in dealing with the roles of lector and acolyte: "In the ministry of the altar, the acolyte has his own functions (cf. below, nos. 187-193), which he must perform personally." And "In the Eucharistic Celebration, the lector has his own proper office (cf. below, nos. 194-198), which he must exercise personally."
Certainly all deacons have received both ministries and may perform the tasks of lector and acolyte if the need arises and no other ministers are available.
However, since there are also many seminarians who have received the instituted ministries, they should be called upon to serve at the ambo and the altar, reserving the deacons for their proper liturgical role.
The solution might be found in a change of system in organizing diaconal service. It is possible to design a rotation so that every day different deacons serve at Mass and preside over the Divine Office.
Also, full use of all the possibilities of using deacons in the liturgy may be adopted even on ordinary days. For example, by habitually using two deacons at Mass, and by having a deacon expose the Blessed Sacrament and accompany the priest for Benediction and even, if necessary, give the benediction himself.
The second question does not involve so much instituted ministers as lay people who are delegated to perform some of the functions of the instituted ministers or other necessary functions in the course of the celebration.
In principle there is no difficulty whatsoever in such a person fulfilling more than one ministry providing they are physically and temporally compatible.
It is difficult, for example, to serve as part of the choir and simultaneously serve as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, but since only people who are duly prepared may serve in the latter capacity it is not impossible.
Sometimes it is necessary for lay people to generously undertake several functions that others are unable and unwilling to share.
More than the number of offices, what is important is the spirit that is brought to these acts of service. They should be carried out simply and truly from a desire to serve and give glory to God and never from a vain desire to be a protagonist.
A person who carries out a ministry with such a spirit is always delighted to receive help and cooperation from others and never worries about who does what.
Q: This year our superiors said that due to the large number of transitional deacons at the seminary, we will be scheduled to serve as readers and altar servers. Is it appropriate? I have never seen something like this. -- (initials withheld) Denver, Colorado.
Q: Please speak about a layperson participating in more than one ministry during any given Mass (for example, a member of the choir being an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist) and the situation of one person being in two or more ministries (for example, both a lector and an usher) during the same pastoral year. -- M.B., The Hague, Netherlands.
A: As both questions dealt with ministries I opted to deal with them together.
Since, apart from my professorial duties, I am also a spiritual director in Rome's largest international seminary for future diocesan priests, I can appreciate the superior's genuine concern for finding an adequate liturgical role for a large number of deacons (a blessed problem indeed). The proposed solution, however, is not the most liturgically appropriate.
It is a general principle in liturgy that each one of the different ministries perform its proper role. And those who have received a ministry have, so to speak, precedence in undertaking this ministry over those who have not received this ministry or even over those who have received the sacrament of holy orders.
As the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, Nos. 98-99, say in dealing with the roles of lector and acolyte: "In the ministry of the altar, the acolyte has his own functions (cf. below, nos. 187-193), which he must perform personally." And "In the Eucharistic Celebration, the lector has his own proper office (cf. below, nos. 194-198), which he must exercise personally."
Certainly all deacons have received both ministries and may perform the tasks of lector and acolyte if the need arises and no other ministers are available.
However, since there are also many seminarians who have received the instituted ministries, they should be called upon to serve at the ambo and the altar, reserving the deacons for their proper liturgical role.
The solution might be found in a change of system in organizing diaconal service. It is possible to design a rotation so that every day different deacons serve at Mass and preside over the Divine Office.
Also, full use of all the possibilities of using deacons in the liturgy may be adopted even on ordinary days. For example, by habitually using two deacons at Mass, and by having a deacon expose the Blessed Sacrament and accompany the priest for Benediction and even, if necessary, give the benediction himself.
The second question does not involve so much instituted ministers as lay people who are delegated to perform some of the functions of the instituted ministers or other necessary functions in the course of the celebration.
In principle there is no difficulty whatsoever in such a person fulfilling more than one ministry providing they are physically and temporally compatible.
It is difficult, for example, to serve as part of the choir and simultaneously serve as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, but since only people who are duly prepared may serve in the latter capacity it is not impossible.
Sometimes it is necessary for lay people to generously undertake several functions that others are unable and unwilling to share.
More than the number of offices, what is important is the spirit that is brought to these acts of service. They should be carried out simply and truly from a desire to serve and give glory to God and never from a vain desire to be a protagonist.
A person who carries out a ministry with such a spirit is always delighted to receive help and cooperation from others and never worries about who does what.
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