My Official Installation as Lector

Each year at the NAC there is a specific role in which each of the seminarians are elevated to. For the New Men it is the installation as Lector (Reader). This may seem interesting to many who have been or currently are a Lector and are thinking to yourself, 'Hmm, I was never installed I just volunteered or I was asked to do so.' This appointment which you may find yourself or others in is temporary and is more common than not and has its rational base in many different areas which the pastor decides; however common it may be, it is not a permanent designation. Whereas, when one is installed as a lector he is officially recognized by the Church, through the authority of and installation by a bishop, as entering into a permanent Lectorate.
I just learned from the direction of our liturgical coordinator here in the house that Pope Paul VI gave an apostolic letter on this very subject and its contents were eye-opening and educational. If you are interested you can google it by the name "Ministeria quaedam."
That having been said, it is proper to share with you my recent installation as Lector which commenced last Sunday the 14th of January, through the episcopal installation by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee, alumnus and past Rector of the Pontifical North American College.

[if you have never seen me this serious before...surprise! it happens]

This event is one which marks my liturgical induction into the calendar of the house and is the milestone marking the rank of a first year man. As I mentioned before, there are mile markers, if you will, each year as a NAC seminarian. [2nd year men become Acolytes, 3rd year men are ordained transitional deacons, and 4th year men are ordained priests] So these steps indicate and bring to the forefront through these ceremoniously liturgical celebrations the future reality of our approaching ordination with only 3 1/2 years until my classmates and I enter the presbyteral ranks of our respective dioceses. And as my classmate Jon said, "Hmm, for some reason 3 1/2 years seems to be much closer than 4 years did a few months ago." This is very true. When you are seeing the guys in your hall ordained deacons you can see the joy and the seriousness in their faces of this new ecclesiastical reality. You hear them nervously practicing the sung prayers of Community prayer in their rooms before their debut, they are cracking open their book of blessings for the first time so as to bless the font of water or rosary one of the underclassmen have just purchased...its the real deal! This goal of priesthood which I have been pointed toward over the past 6 years is right around the corner and I could not be more excited. And on a fraternal level, excited for my brothers who are being blessed through the exercise of their newly received order.

Remember us as we remember you in our Prayers,
Jeremy