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2.6 Diversification.

Whilst the Roman Catholic Church continued with the minor-order of lector or Reader, the role became increasingly marginalised and by the start of the twentieth century it was seen "merely a stepping-stone to the major orders, and a memory of early days, which involved no obligation of celibacy or of any other kind"

The marginalised role of the Readers led to a major change in the practice of the Roman Catholic Church in 1972 when Pope Paul VI decreed that all Readers were to be instituted to a ministry rather than ordained to a minor order and that their function would be limited to reading the scriptures except for the gospel at the mass and other sacred celebrations. The consequence of the decree is that today Readers are rarely instituted because "there are very few people who are solely lectors" and that the ministry "is now usually only used as a 'prelude' to ordination to the diaconate".

Click here for John Lilburne's pages on Roman Catholic lectors.