Special to The Message
Five Diocese of Evansville seminarians are among a group of 16 seminarians from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology who received the ministry of acolyte Feb. 16 in the seminary’s St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel. Archbishop Charles C. Thompson of Indianapolis installed the acolytes.
Seminarians receiving the ministry of acolyte include Nicholas Biever, Bradley Gehlhausen, Keith Hart, Aaron Herrenbruck and Clint Johnson from the Diocese of Evansville; Charles Delano, Diocese of Springfield, Illinois; Alexander Houston, Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee; Timothy Khuishing, Aaron Noll and Isaac Siefker, Archdiocese of Indianapolis; André Nadeau, Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire; Michael Oguizu and Matthew Smyser, Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky; Benedictine Brother Michael Reyes, Saint Meinrad Archabbey; and Luan Van Tran and Giang Dinh Vu, Diocese of Burlington, Vermont.
An acolyte assists a deacon or priest, primarily in the celebration of Mass. He attends to the needs of the altar and may distribute Communion as an auxiliary minister. He also may be entrusted with the public veneration of the Blessed Sacrament, but does not give the Benediction, which is reserved for a priest or deacon.
Also Feb. 16, 22 Archbishop Thompson installed 22 seminarians to the ministry of lector in the seminary’s St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel.
Seminarians receiving the ministry of lector include Lance Tony Antony Samy, Diocese of Palayamkottai, India; Carmelite Brothers Elias Bar-Shimon, John Black, Paul Marie Castieau and Seraphim Mary Hefferman of the Carmelite Monastery of Wyoming, Powell, Wyoming; Daniel Cooper and Robert Denne Jr., Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee; John Gardiner, Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama; Kristofer Garlitch, Samuel Hansen and Khaing Thu, Archdiocese of Indianapolis; Raphael Kavita, Evarist Mukama, Alex Omari and Aloysius Ssennyondo of Glenmary Home Missioners, Cincinnati, Ohio; Stephen Matthew McClain and Bruce Sander, Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky; Felix Pesce, Diocese of Memphis, Tennessee; Benedictine Brother Symeon Rubbleke, Assumption Abbey, Ava, Missouri; Guillaume Temkkit, Diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire; and Andrew Wentworth, Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama.
The ministry of lector is conferred upon those who prepare and proclaim readings from Scripture at Mass and other liturgical celebrations. A lector also may recite psalms between the readings and present the intentions for the general intercessions.