Chapa installed to Ministry of Lector

On Jan. 15, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Military Services, installed 66 men, including Eric Chapa from the Diocese of Corpus Christi, to the Ministry of Lector. The men are seminarians at the Pontifical North American College and the installation took place in the North American College's Immaculate Conception Chapel.

Candidates for the presbyterate petition, at the end of the second year, for admission and if selected receive the Ministry of Lector. This calls them to be servants of the Living Word of God.

In proclaiming the readings at liturgy, the reader does more than simply read. Those who exercise the ministry of lector must be truly suited and carefully prepared, so that the faithful may develop a warm and living love for Sacred Scripture from listening to the sacred readings.

Before anyone is promoted to the permanent or transitional diaconate, he is required to have received the ministries of lector and acolyte and to have exercised them for a suitable period of time.