Michael Haynes at LifeSite has done a good job outlining the recent formal “installation” of a batch of ladyfolk in the “ministry of lector” by Francis the Scourge in Rome.

That this still amounts to a “tectonic shift” in papal legislation is entirely accurate; and, one might add, it runs contrary to the entire catechetical tradition of the Church.

How would one teach, for instance, on the hierarchical nature of the Church as a mystical body, the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, or the signification of the same in her structured worship, with all this gender-fluid flip-flopping going on in the sanctuary?

One expects that may be precisely the point.

On the other hand, those looking for solid footing find comfort in the unbroken testimony of 1,000 years of catechisms. Take this simple Question/Answer from the Master Catechism, citing four different catechisms from the last several centuries on the question:

Can women ever serve as lectors?
According to the teachings of the Church, women are not permitted to serve as lectors. The documents emphasize that women are commanded to be silent in the churches and are not permitted to speak, as stated in 1 Corinthians 14. This prohibition extends to preaching and holding positions of authority within the Church, which includes the role of lector, as it involves reading the Scriptures publicly during liturgical celebrations.

The clarification on “why” is even more remarkable:

Women cannot serve as lectors because the roles of lector and acolyte are considered minor orders, which are rooted in the diaconate—a sacrament reserved exclusively for men. The Church’s unbroken and universal practice prohibits women from receiving minor orders or exercising the liturgical service of lector and acolyte.

The theological reasoning behind this restriction is that the male sex serves as the last link connecting inferior liturgical ministers with the diaconate, reflecting the Levitical or diaconal ministry that is ordered and subordinated to the priesthood, which is also reserved for men.

Furthermore, the services of lector and acolyte have never been understood as part of the common priesthood of the laity, and those fulfilling liturgical roles in the sanctuary represent Christ, which is traditionally performed by ordained men.

Among the many classical counter-examples given in Catholic catechesis for explaining the Church’s hierarchical nature against errors and heresies, the great work of St. Peter Canisius stands rather apart. In his Large Catechism, Canisius handily rejects the typical Protestant assertion of his time regarding the “universal priesthood of believers,” offering a beautiful illustration that we will end with:

As in the Church triumphant there are angels different in order and power, who, with decent disposition, do faithfully execute and fulfill the offices imposed upon them; so also the Church militant, which is the house of God and, as it were, a certain camp set in battle array, hath her peculiar ministers distinct from other Christians and disposed in godly order amongst themselves, for the prosecuting of the public and common functions of the Church upon earth, to wit, that for the benefit of the Christian people, they may even, by public profession and with due comeliness and majesty, bestow their labors in those things which belong unto God and the health of souls.

O Lord, send us more zealous and faithful priests and teachers like Peter Canisius; and deliver Thy Church from the deceivers and false shepherds of our time!