If you’re planning a lector meeting soon, do a little research first, talk with several lectors face to face about their sentiments and needs. Then put something together - just for them. (Read On)

When two lectors are assigned the Sunday readings and one of them doesn't show, is it all that catastrophic? In some parishes it may not be a big deal to simply grab any lector in the pew 10 minutes before Mass; but in others with higher standards, it's a practice ito avoid.

Is the lector ministry in your parish or diocese set up for a fixed number of years? I hope not. To decide who goes out based on their time in service is short-sighted, especially among the best lectors who make an impact on their listeners.

Unlike the quality and professionalism parishes demand from their musicians or cantors, few make similar demands on their lectors, leaving them on their own to find sources of self-development and enrichment.

Pope Francis’ recent amendment to Canon Law allowing women to be instituted as lectors and acolytes has caused more media attention than church action. In most American dioceses, formal installment of these ministries has not been common. And since it’s only been open to men in the past, the extent to which women will pursue this accreditation will remain to be seen.  

Hidden beneath the visible crises in our church that garner the most attention such as sex abuse, runaway Catholics, plummeting numbers of priests, etc.; there’s also an unseen crisis in the Ministry of Lector.

So you’ve been a lector for 25 years? Or one year 25 times? At my church’s annual lector workshop, about eighty-percent of our lectors always show up.  Another ten-percent usually have valid reasons for not coming, and the remaining ten-percent are either not committed or just feel they’re experienced enough to not need it.