B
Bill.Y
Guest
One of the requirements to be an altar server is that you must have already made your First Holy Communion. Does anyone know the Church document or instruction which specifies this - and other - requirements?
- Status
G
gentlemanvalentine
Guest
Check with you Priest or your parish office they should have the information you need.
1
1ke
Guest
The following canons govern liturgical roles including altar servers. As you can see there are no requirements listed as to age, sacraments, etc. That is totally in the purview if your pastor. He can establish his own requirements.
Can. 230 §1. Lay men who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte.
Nevertheless, the conferral of these ministries does not grant them the right to obtain support or remuneration from the Church.
§2. Lay persons can fulfill the function of lector in liturgical actions by temporary designation. All lay persons can also perform the functions of commentator or cantor, or other functions, according to the norm of law.
§3. When the need of the Church warrants it and ministers are lacking, lay persons, even if they are not lectors or acolytes, can also supply certain of their duties, namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside offer liturgical prayers, to confer baptism, and to distribute Holy Communion, according to the prescripts of the law.
B
Bill.Y
Guest
I have tried but no-one in our parish - and other parishes I’ve asked - have any idea. The Canon Law entries on acolytes and female servers don’t address the question either.
B
Bill.Y
Guest
Can 230 §1 mentions those who possess the age and qualifications established by decree of the conference of bishops but I’ve searched on line without success. And, of course, lectors and acolytes are not the same as young altar servers.
1
1ke
Guest
An altar server does the acolyte functions in absence of an acolyte. Canon 230.1 is talking about the qualifications of instituted lectors and acolytes, which is reserved to men and the bishop will have established criteria.
Canon 230.2 and 230.3 speak to these ministry duties in absence of instituted acolytes and lectors, in which case lay people (male and female) can fill those roles. There are no criteria beyond what is outlined here. So it’s up to the pastor how he wants to run his altar servers as far as age, training, etc.
Most don’t start before FHC age, 8ish, because before that they are just too young to serve. Some parishes even have an older age such as 3rd or 4th grade to start serving.
It’s up to the pastor.
Last edited:
B
Bill.Y
Guest
I agree but there is nothing about what qualifications altar servers need to meet. [or, rather, which document(s) specify these]
1
1ke
Guest
There aren’t any!
There are no documents with requirements or qualifications.
It’s up to your pastor.
B
Bill.Y
Guest
Thanks 1ke. That seems to suggest non-baptised children could be invited to serve never mind those who have not received the sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion.
It seems possible that the Age of Reason would be a consideration, too, which has been defined as the ‘… age Christians come under the operation of ecclesiastical laws, such as the precept of assistance at Mass on Sundays…’.
It’s odd that the Church has not seen fit to be clearer about such an important issue as assisting at the altar during the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - the very source and summit of the Catholic Faith?!??
It seems possible that the Age of Reason would be a consideration, too, which has been defined as the ‘… age Christians come under the operation of ecclesiastical laws, such as the precept of assistance at Mass on Sundays…’.
It’s odd that the Church has not seen fit to be clearer about such an important issue as assisting at the altar during the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - the very source and summit of the Catholic Faith?!??
A
Angel_Bradford
Guest
The Church utilizes the principal of subsidiarity.
B
Bill.Y
Guest
Many thanks CajunJoy! I hoped there would be something in writing. After all the Church has had 2,000 years to sort out something as important as who may serve at the altar during the Eucharist! 
T
tradcathconvert
Guest
Some of it may come from the older times when as a rule boys didn’t become altar boys until they had made their first holy communion. There have been boys at our EF chaplaincy that the priest has allowed me to start training before they actually received our Lord for the first time.
G
gentlemanvalentine
Guest
Bill.Y,
When I was an alter sever 30 some odd years ago there was a great book that explained all that was required and all that was expected in being an alter sever. I wish I could remember the name of it.
When I was an alter sever 30 some odd years ago there was a great book that explained all that was required and all that was expected in being an alter sever. I wish I could remember the name of it.
1
1ke
Guest
Well, no. The laity means they are baptized and members of the Catholic Church.
Yes these could serve if the pastor allowed it. In children they are generally too young, but older Catholics could if they hadn’t completed the sacraments of initiation.
Consideration, yes. Requirement, no. Commonsense, yes because young children under the age of reason really can’t serve at the altar because they can barely walk and sit still at mass, and need to be with their parents.
Um, that’s because pastors know how to pastor.
T
TomH1
Guest
I think there may be two reasons why altar servers have to have made first Holy Communion or rather there is a reason why it happens that way. First, I simply believe that boys too young to make first Holy Communion are also too young to be able to properly fulfil the role of altar server. Secondly, and this is definitely secondary, I assume most priests think it would look rather strange if the altar servers were not receiving Holy Communion.
B
Bill.Y
Guest
Not a requirement? Really!?! Understanding what their role is and the significance of serving on the altar must surely be a requirement. Having children serving on the altar with no real concept of the mysteries they are involved in makes no sense. The following provides the guidelines I’ve been looking for:
The following guidelines were prepared by the Committee on the Liturgy and presented to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops for discussion at the June 1994 Special Assembly on Thursday, June 16, 1994. The suggested guidelines have been slightly revised according to the third edition of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. They may be used as a basis for developing diocesan guidelines.
- Although institution into the ministry of acolyte is reserved to lay men, the diocesan bishop may permit the liturgical functions of the instituted acolyte to be carried out by altar servers, men and women, boys and girls. Such persons may carry out all the functions listed in no. 100 (with the exception of the distribution of Holy Communion) and nos. 187 - 190 and no. 193 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
- No distinction should be made between the functions carried out in the sanctuary by men and boys and those carried out by women and girls. The term “altar boys” should be replaced by “servers”. The term “server” should be used for those who carry out the functions of the instituted acolyte.
- Servers should be mature enough to understand their responsibilities and to carry them out well and with appropriate reverence. They should have already received holy communion for the first time and normally receive the eucharist whenever they participate in the liturgy.
- Servers should receive proper formation before they begin to function. The formation should include instruction on the Mass and its parts and their meaning, the various objects used in the liturgy (their names and use), and the various functions of the server during the Mass and other liturgical celebrations.
(my comment: none of this could reasonably occur before the ‘age of reason’.)
Servers should also receive appropriate guidance on maintaining proper decorum and attire when serving Mass and other functions.
Last edited:
1
1ke
Guest
I really don’t know any other way to say that there aren’t canonical or written requirements other than “there are requirements”. It is the pastor’s purview… I don’t know of any that would allow a young child that age to serve.
Last edited:
1
1ke
Guest
I don’t disagree with those guidelines. But they are guidelines. They are not “requirements”.
I don’t think it would be regarded as strange at all. Before the massive liturgical and disciplinary changes of the 1950s-1960s, I’m sure it was very common for altar servers not to receive simply because they hadn’t been able to fast from midnight onward. They might have already received communion that day, or for whatever reason judged themselves spiritually unworthy to receive (a reason that would, or should, hold true now as then). I don’t think their failure to receive would have raised any eyebrows then, and frankly, I don’t think anyone would notice (or care) even in this day and age. It’s not something I have ever paid any attention to.
Last edited:
B
Bill.Y
Guest
1ke, thanks. The reason for the question is precisely because a pastor with a parish of 3 churches wants to do exactly that.
Perhaps he will reflect on this when he reads the guidelines from the bishops.
In carrying out any ministry in the Church it is only proper that we need as full an understanding of the role as possible. Being younger than the ‘age of reason’ obviously prevents this.
Thanks to all who have contributed to the discussion. I’m very grateful.
Pax vobiscum
Perhaps he will reflect on this when he reads the guidelines from the bishops.
In carrying out any ministry in the Church it is only proper that we need as full an understanding of the role as possible. Being younger than the ‘age of reason’ obviously prevents this.
Thanks to all who have contributed to the discussion. I’m very grateful.
Pax vobiscum
- Status