A reader writes:
At a meeting last week, a friend from my parish informed me that her Methodist husband (who attends Mass with his wife) has been asked by our parish priest to say the readings at Mass on a Saturday evenings (I attend Sunday morning Mass, so I wasn’t aware of this and I was a little suprised by it).
I want to know if it is in accordance with the Teaching’s of the Church, that a non Catholic can say the readings at Mass, or not. My friends husband does a great deal of work for the parish in other areas, playing the organ at Mass and making the parish web site accessable , which I’ve never thought to question…but when I was told that he is saying the readings, I wondered if this might be in error. Maybe I just ask too many questions, hope you don’t think this is a silly question.
Okay several things here:
First, who can do the readings at Mass isn’t a matter of Church teaching but of Church discipline. There is certainly a theological appropriateness for it to be a member of the faithful doing the readings, but the Magisterium hasn’t distinctly articulated that fact in a doctrinal statement to my knowledge.
It has, however, written its law in such a way that this is going to be indicated in the great majority of cases. The Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism states:
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.
Your bishop, therefore, could authorize the gentleman to read "on exceptional occasions and for a just cause" (e.g., in an ecumenical service of some kind), but not on a regular basis in a typical parish Mass.
One other note: If the gentleman has been involved at your parish as you say (attending Mass, doing other things), it might well be that the priest who asked him to read has simply forgotten that he isn’t Catholic (if he knew that to begin with, that is). I’ll never forget years ago when my wife was dying and our parish priest came to give her the anointing of the sick. While there he gave her Communion and started to administer Communion to me as well until I stopped him. I was not yet Catholic at this time, but I had been hanging around the parish so much (attending Mass, etc.), that even though the priest and I had had a tense confrontation at Easter Vigil when he refused to admit me to the Church, by this point a few months later he’d already forgotten that I wasn’t yet Catholic.
Something similar might well be happening in this case. If you show up, they tend to assume that you’re Catholic unless you’re constantly reminding them that you’re not.
I think it is generally assumed that people who take part in the Mass as Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors (readers), or the Cantor are Catholics in good standing.
I don’t think this holds as true for people who may handle hospitality duties or perhaps may help clean the church on assigned weeks.
I have seen people at funerals who are family members (but not Catholic) read. One time I witnessed this, some members of the family had apparently changed to a fundamental type Protestant faith which was obvious from the reading they chose. It didn’t happen during the funeral Mass per se, but after the funeral Mass presented as the “family’s last words” to the deceased.
I guess, ultimately, my question would be why someone who isn’t Catholic would want to read?
I’m wondering how this rule holds up on “non-regular” Masses, such as at a wedding Mass. Would a non-Catholic Christian be allowed to read the New Testament reading? Would a Jewish person be allowed to read the Old Testament reading or the Responsorial Psalm?
Not baiting – just curious, as I have seen some instance of this before.
I know that Britain’s Prince William read the Second Reading at his Catholic maternal grandmother’s funeral mass. I’d like to know how that was allowed.
According to the General Instruction to the Roman Missal an instituted lector should do the readings. Institutition of lectors is a ceremony performed by a bishop. Only in the absence of an instituted lector are others considered for proclaiming the readings. From the 2002 GIRM for the USA:
“99. The lector is instituted to proclaim the readings from Sacred Scripture, with the exception of the Gospel. He may also announce the intentions for the Prayer of the Faithful and, in the absence of a psalmist, proclaim the Psalm between the readings.
“In the Eucharistic Celebration, the lector has his own proper office (cf. below, nos. 194-198), which he must exercise personally.
“Other Ministries
…
“101. In the absence of an instituted lector, other laypersons may be commissioned to proclaim the readings from Sacred Scripture. They should be truly suited to perform this function and should receive careful preparation, so that the faithful by listening to the readings from the sacred texts may develop in their hearts a warm and living love for Sacred Scripture.”
While an instituted lector is to be used if one is present, in the vast majority of cases in the U.S. (and as far as I know, in the reader’s country, which was not the U.S.), an instituted lector is not present and thus other layfolk are used.