altar servers?

[Trad_Julia]

In all the churches I’ve attended, Episcopal and Catholic, the groups of young people serving at the altar have been mixed. In one faith, we call them acolites, which I like better than “altar servers” as it sounds slightly fancier. I’d be interested in attending a church with a traditional boys’ choir, and only boys serving at the altar, though. How common is this latter practice, and do any of you prefer it over the mixed group at the altar and/or in the choir stalls?

 

[Sr_Sally]

The altar servers at my parish are all boys at the request of our Pastor. I do prefer it because, to my mind, it does help strengthen that dividing line that says duty at the altar is for men (boys) who might become priests. We call them altar boys, nothing fancy.

We do not have a traditional boys choir though. The children and teen choirs are both nixed and both fairly raggedy in terms of commitments and signing talent. Putting together a group of boys who sing well enough to do that would be a major undertaking and not something you are likely to see at your average parish.

 

[AJV]

In all the churches I’ve attended, Episcopal and Catholic, the groups of young people serving at the altar have been mixed. In one faith, we call them acolites, which I like better than “altar servers” as it sounds slightly fancier. I’d be interested in attending a church with a traditional boys’ choir, and only boys serving at the altar, though. How common is this latter practice, and do any of you prefer it over the mixed group at the altar and/or in the choir stalls?

I don’t think it’s very common - certainly less common, I would guess, for the all-male choir, than the all male servers. The connection of the choir with the altar and the priesthood is less than that of a server- and still dissociated in many people’s minds. Consequently, while you may find a lot of people epress a preference for male servers, it is much rarer for male choirs. Plus, it’s a rare Catholic church I’ve been too (not that I’ve been to many), that have the chancel choir stalls beloved of Anglo-Catholics and certain High Church Anglicans.

I currently attend a church that does have an all male choir and servers for daily and one Sunday Mass - though not because of any inherent conservatism in the parish (quite opposite actually, in some cases) - but simply because they have a boys school, and so the boys sing and serve.

At my former parish, for a long time, serving was restricted to males, until a relatively short while ago. That was because of the instructions of my former bishop (who still restricts it to females below a certain age). My friend from Nigeria tells me that the same practice [all male] obtained in his home diocese until about 2 years ago. I think in the US there is only one diocese which currently has this policy - Lincoln, Nebraska.

 

[BrokenFortress]

I think at all of the parishes I have visited for a length of time they’ve had mixed alter servers. And I will have to say I enjoy it. While it may be different for those who were brought up in the Catholic faith from the get go and are more used to having only male servers, I grew up in a Protestant faith where women were not allowed to do anything (and I am being serious, no ushering, no help serving, no voting, and were also not allowed to teach any religion classes to any age children, amongst other things). So for me, it was rather uplifting to see females being embraced in the Catholic faith.
This is just my experience though.

 

[PacoG]

In one faith, we call them acolites, which I like better than “altar servers” as it sounds slightly fancier.

In the Catholic Church, the difference between an “acolyte” and an “altar server” is not a matter of terminology. An acolyte is a member of a minor order. Acolytes are ministers instituted by the bishop. Altar servers are an “extraordinary” ministry. They serve at the altar in the absence of instituted acolytes.

Also, lay servers have always been referred to as servers. The older pre-Vatican II missals refer to them as altar servers.

 

[LilFranciscan25]

Acolytes wear this garment:

http://www.stmarys-stc.org/images/alter_servers.jpg

…more often than not.

Altar servers wear these simple garments:

http://au.geocities.com/marcpeyroux/images/Altar_Server.jpg

I know it can differ from Church to Church, but this is usually the norm.

 

[basenji]

At my parish some of the teenage boys serving have more jewelry and bigger earrings than a lot of the adult women who serve.

It saddens me to say the least.

 

[Sr_Sally]

At my parish some of the teenage boys serving have more jewelry and bigger earrings than a lot of the adult women who serve.

It saddens me to say the least.

Yes, but better that they be serving than not! Perhaps ask the priest to speak to them about toning it down when they serve–no big ‘bling’ necklaces, watches, rings, or earrings. And that goes for the women too.

 

[OhMalley]

In the Catholic Church, the difference between an “acolyte” and an “altar server” is not a matter of terminology. An acolyte is a member of a minor order. Acolytes are ministers instituted by the bishop. Altar servers are an “extraordinary” ministry. They serve at the altar in the absence of instituted acolytes.

Also, lay servers have always been referred to as servers. The older pre-Vatican II missals refer to them as altar servers.

The minor orders have been abolished in the Latin Rite of the Church.

Instituted acolytes and lectors are laymen.

Altar servers were typically called “altar boys” in years past.

Nothing “extraordinary” about altar servers.

 

[OhMalley]

At my parish some of the teenage boys serving have more jewelry and bigger earrings than a lot of the adult women who serve.

It saddens me to say the least.

**Yes, but better that they be serving than not! **Perhaps ask the priest to speak to them about toning it down when they serve–no big ‘bling’ necklaces, watches, rings, or earrings. And that goes for the women too.

I really do get tired of these false dichotomies. There are other options – like their parents tell them to leave their jewelry at home when they serve. How about the celebrant very tactfully telling them to remove their hardware?

 

[Anne1964]

My parish has only altar boys. We have 10-12 altar boys serve at Mass on Sundays, from 8 year olds to high school age. Most of the high schoolers have served for years and they are expected to help teach the younger boys how to serve. As they gain experience, they are given different responsibilities. In a sense, they grow up as altar servers. And they all take their service very seriously. Our parish is relatively small with about 1500 people, yet we have more religious vocations than many of the larger parishes. So yes, I prefer just having altar boys. There is a lot to be said for tradition.

 

[spellinggirl]

There is a lot to be said for tradition.

And yet, if my church followed tradition, I would probably not be a Catholic anymore. Altar serving saved my faith and brought me back.

 

[Brendan]

My parish has only altar boys. We have 10-12 altar boys serve at Mass on Sundays, from 8 year olds to high school age. Most of the high schoolers have served for years and they are expected to help teach the younger boys how to serve. As they gain experience, they are given different responsibilities. In a sense, they grow up as altar servers. And they all take their service very seriously. Our parish is relatively small with about 1500 people, yet we have more religious vocations than many of the larger parishes. So yes, I prefer just having altar boys. There is a lot to be said for tradition.

Ours is a very similar parish. We have only altar boys and they range in age from as young as 6 to 18+. Most (almost all) of the boys in the parish are altar boys, and each altar boy serves at every Mass they attend (no schedule). So for the Sunday AM Masses we have about 40 boys serving.

Here is a link to a video of a typical Sunday Mass

cid-d48dbdc01a7e8a7d.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Altar%20Boys%20-sm.wmv (choose download)

And you are right about the vocations. We have about 900 families in our parish. We had 7 men in the seminary, but two were just ordained, so that drops us down to just 5.

Including the two just ordained, we have had 12 men ordained from our parish in the last 10 years.

So that is an average of a little over 1 a year.

And it really comes from our altar boy program. The boys grow up serving God at his altar and they therefore have little difficulty vowing to spend the remainder of their lives doing so.

 

[Phemie]

Altar servers were typically called “altar boys” in years past.

Yeah, my dad was one from 1925 to 1952. Gave up being an ‘altar boy’ when he got married at age 39.

 

[Sr_Sally]

I really do get tired of these false dichotomies. There are other options – like their parents tell them to leave their jewelry at home when they serve.** How about the celebrant very tactfully telling them to remove their hardware?**

That’s exactly what I suggested!

 

[PhilotheaZ]

At my former parish, for a long time, serving was restricted to males, until a relatively short while ago. That was because of the instructions of my former bishop (who still restricts it to females below a certain age) … I think in the US there is only one diocese which currently has this policy - Lincoln, Nebraska.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that Lincoln, Nebraska is one of the dioceses that has had plenty of priestly vocations in recent years. Altar service has long been considered a path toward vocations to the priesthood. Boys of a certain age don’t like to associate with girls, so when girls started serving at the altar, fewer boys were interested. I think this is linked to the shortage of priests.

 

[Phemie]

I don’t think it is a coincidence that Lincoln, Nebraska is one of the dioceses that has had plenty of priestly vocations in recent years. Altar service has long been considered a path toward vocations to the priesthood. Boys of a certain age don’t like to associate with girls, so when girls started serving at the altar, fewer boys were interested. I think this is linked to the shortage of priests.

I see this leap made all the time but this problem did not originate with female altar servers. For instance, I grew up in a very traditional parish. It was founded around 1848. In 150+ years the parish has produced 2 priests both of whom, though ordained decades apart, grew up under the tutelage of the same pastor (he was our pastor for ~35 years). They also belonged to families of less modest means so they didn’t have to quit school and their families could afford seminary.

In today’s world, where priests are often vilified in the media and even at the supper table, is it any wonder that few men are willing to answer the call?

 

[Irishmom2]

Has anyone taken a look at the video link from Brendan’s reply? While I was skeptical about what he was saying, after watching it, I was not. I found it both is beautiful and amazing. Please go back and look at this if you haven’t already. This parish is truly blessed.

 

[michaeldaniels]

Only men/young men/boys should be on the altar in the first place…I am not sexist…just someone that believes that since we have an ALL MALE priesthood, only males should be able to serve on the altar…as far as names, this wouldn’t be an issue really if females were not allowed on the altar…if the olden days, there used to be what they called steps to the Priesthood…not really sure if they still follow them or not…maybe someone more knowledgeable can help me. These are essential formation steps in preparing a priest. The steps were:

1. Tonsure
2. Porter
3. Lector
4. Exorcist
5. Acolyte
6. Sub-Deacon
7. Deacon
8. Priest

In all the churches I’ve attended, Episcopal and Catholic, the groups of young people serving at the altar have been mixed. In one faith, we call them acolites, which I like better than “altar servers” as it sounds slightly fancier. I’d be interested in attending a church with a traditional boys’ choir, and only boys serving at the altar, though. How common is this latter practice, and do any of you prefer it over the mixed group at the altar and/or in the choir stalls?

 

[Sparki777]

I live in the Diocese of Lincoln, and it’s true that we’re the last U.S. diocese to have only boy altar servers. The intention of our good bishop is to use the role of altar server as an opportunity to plant the seed for priestly vocations in each boy’s heart, but we don’t just sit around and wish for that to happen. Each priest, as they work with altar servers before and after Mass, is giving the boys specific instruction and actively inviting them to consider the priesthood. We have a special altar server camp each summer, where the boys are given additional instruction and encouragement. And our Knights of Columbus and Serra Club also do special things for the altar servers to encourage them to priestly vocations. So it’s not like they’re just limiting service to boys and hoping that they’ll get more vocations to the priesthood.

We were in a neighboring diocese last weekend for Mass, and there was two boy servers and two girl servers. While I understand that there is no problem having girls serve at altar – especially in diocese that are NOT using the role as an opportunity to invite vocations to the priesthood – I do think that they should have a dress code. The 11- or 12-year-old darling with the giant bow in her hair who was trying to serve while tottering around on spiky little heels that were slippery on the polished granite floor could barely hold a candle properly and was a serious distraction. It’s just as bad as the teen boys mentioned above with all the jewelry. Parents should be more concerned about this.

Of course, that wasn’t as distracting as the liturgical abuses foisted upon us by a priest who was visiting from an east coast diocese, but that’s another thread…