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Eight seminarians from the dioceses of Birmingham, Columbus, and Ogdensburg were installed as lectors or acolytes at the Pontifical College Josephinum on December 8, 2022, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The Most Reverend Jeffrey J. Walsh, Bishop of Gaylord, was the principal celebrant of the Mass held in Saint Turibius Chapel.

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Lectors

Zachary Goodchild (Columbus)
Collins Hess (Birmingham)
Dennis Ombongi (Ogdensburg) (at right, middle)
John Stepnowski (Birmingham)
Andrew Vickery (Birmingham)

 

Acolytes

Patrick DePew (Birmingham)
Max Gallegos (Birmingham)
Samuel Severance (Columbus) (at right, bottom)
 

Lectors are commissioned to proclaim the Word of God in the liturgical assembly and to instruct children and adults in the faith to prepare them to receive the sacraments. Acolytes are entrusted with attending to the altar, assisting the deacon and priest at Mass, and distributing Holy Communion during the liturgy and to the sick.

 

In the rite, each candidate is handed a symbol of the ministry to which he is being instituted. Lectors receive a Book of the Gospels and acolytes are presented with a chalice, as the bishop encourages the men to fulfill the ministry faithfully.

 

Institution to these ministries are pivotal steps on the journey toward priesthood. Typically, seminarians are instituted as lectors in their first year of theological studies and as acolytes the following year.

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