St Werburgh's Catholic Parish, Chester
Ministry of the Word – Our Readers
What We Do
Our team of trained readers commit to proclaiming scripture at our weekend Masses, Saturday at Rowton and Sunday St Werburgh’s. A quarterly rota is use to schedule readers for those Masses.
How you can join us
If you are interested in joining this Ministry all you need is a clear voice and the confidence to have a go! Training is provided.
Process for appointing new readers
To give our Sunday readers the opportunity to practice their ministry, the rota is designed to allow them to read 2 or 3 times in every quarterly period. As such, we only train and appoint new readers on an annual basis or when there is a need.
The process runs as follows:
- Contact the reader co-ordinator through the email readers@stwerburghchester.co.uk
- The co-ordinator will add your name and contact details to the waiting list.
- The co-ordinator will invite you to the training session which includes a practice microphone session reading from the pulpit a passage from the Lectionary. We will advise you of the passage beforehand so that you can practice before
attending. - Providing this proves successful, you will then be added to the reader list and
included within the next quarter's rota. Please don't be put off if all this sounds very formal - you are joining an important ministry and undergoing the training will help you gain confidence ready to become a render.
About the group
The Ministry of the Word, the proclamation of scripture, is a key element of the whole Mass, and is so much more than simply reading the designated scriptures for the day. St Werburgh’s readers are trained to proclaim scripture clearly and expressively so that the congregation is able to best understand the readings.
There is an annual, mandatory review for all readers when any changes to our procedures, and exchange of ideas and comments are addressed.
The quarterly Readers Rota is available below. It is also displayed on the volunteers notice board in the porch.
Link to Readers Rota
A set of ‘Guidelines for Readers’ is available below. This should be kept handy and referred to regularly as an aide memoire!