Institution of Lectors

The Rite of the Institution of Lectors took place at Notre Dame Seminary in the chapel on Wednesday, October 25. Bishop Mark J. Spalding of the Diocese of Nashville presided at the Mass for the Institution of Lectors. The Rite of Institution of Lectors is one of the ministries a seminarian must receive before ordination to the Diaconate and Priesthood. Those given the ministry of Lector are entrusted with reading the Sacred Scriptures during Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. Each seminarian receiving the ministry of Lector were instructed by Bishop Spalding, “Take this book of holy Scripture and be faithful in handing on the word of God, so that it may grow strong in the hearts of his people.” In his homily, Bishop Spalding first reminded those to be instituted of the prayers of the people of God for them in their vocation and reminded the seminarians that they can never give the laity enough sincere thanks for all their efforts and prayers. He then exhorted them to come to know more Jesus Christ more deeply by daily prayer with the Scriptures so that the seminarians can build up the people of God. There were 40 seminarians installed as Lectors:

From the Diocese of Alexandria, David Keran and Grant Rabalais.

From the Archdiocese of Atlanta, Dan Fitzgerald, Kevin Nguyen, Viet Pham, Tony Ramirez, Steven Shlapak, and Kyle Simonis.

From the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Joseph Bergan.

From the Diocese of Biloxi, Adam Frey, Leszek Kwasniowski, and Tomasz Powroznik.

From the Diocese of Birmingham, Charles Deering.

From the Diocese of Dallas, Kevin Kolker, Ismael Martinez, Dennis O’Donnell, Jedidiah Preble, James Rians, Miguel Sotelo, Eugene Udemba, and Francis Vu.

From the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Stephen Castille, Nick Lecompte, and James Rome.

From the Diocese of Jackson, Andrew Bowden.

From the Diocese of Lafayette, Brent Didier, John Dugas, Cade LeBlanc, and Nick Ware.

From the Diocese of Lake Charles, Scott Chester.

From the Diocese of Memphis, Sam Andereck

From the Diocese of Nashville, Sam Browne, Patrick Held, Anthony Romeo, and Malachi Walker.

From the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Jody DiMaggio, Cory Ford, Andy Gonzalez-Gomez, and Jeff Merritt.

From the Diocese of Shreveport, Nicholas Duncan.