New Lectors and Acolytes in the Church

On Saturday, November 8, the Prior Provincial of the Province of St. Joseph, the Very Reverend Kenneth R. Letoile, O.P., installed the fourteen first-year brothers to the Ministry of Lector. They are Brothers Augustine Marogi, O.P., Jordan Zajac, O.P., Thomas Martin Miller, O.P., Irenaeus Maria Dunlevy, O.P., Jonah Mary Teller, O.P., Ephrem Maria Reese, O.P., John Mark Solitario, O.P., Paul Mary Clarke, O.P., John Thomas Fisher, O.P., Hyacinth Grubb, O.P., Ambrose Arralde, O.P., Constantius Sanders, O.P., Albert Thomas Dempsey, O.P., and Anthony Michael Van Berkum.

Father Letoile also installed the eight second-year brothers to the Ministry of Acolyte. They are Brothers Isaac Augustine Morales, O.P., Nicholas Schneider, O.P., Antoninus Maria Samy, O.P., Justin Mary Bolger, O.P., John Paul Kern, O.P., Joseph Martin Hagan, O.P., Norbert Keliher, O.P., and John Dominic Bouck, O.P.

Blessed Paul VI describes the spiritual responsibilities of the lector and the acolyte in his Motu Proprio Ministeria Quaedam:

Aware of the office he has undertaken, the reader is to make every effort and employ suitable means to acquire that increasingly warm and living love and knowledge of Scripture that will make him a more perfect disciple of the Lord. […] As one set aside in a special way for the service of the altar, the acolyte should learn all matters concerning public divine worship and strive to grasp their inner spiritual meaning: in that way he will be able each day to offer himself entirely to God, be an example to all by his gravity and reverence in church, and have a sincere love for the Mystical Body of Christ, the people of God, especially for the weak and the sick.

For Fr. Letoile’s homily, click here. May the Lord bless the ministries of our brothers!