How many people typically are at the altar in your parish?

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mardukm said:
At St. Mary’s Coptic Catholic Church in Los Angeles, there are 2 priests, at least 7 deacons, and at least 2 altar servers at any given Mass on Sunday.

I just recently moved to the Philippines with my wife (we’ll be here for about 2 years). I just went to my first NO Mass here. It was very beautiful. There was a priest, a deacon, and 8 altar servers. As brother Ciero said, makes for a good Procession.😃

Btw, I am staying with my wife’s family in the countryside, and we don’t have I-net service at her house. I will only be able to post here on CAF maybe once or twice a week, and even less (depending when I can make it to the city to an I-net cafe).

Blessings,
Marduk
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Wow! I hope you enjoy your stay there! Let me know if you need any help or any suggestions where to go.
 
At the beginning of the Mass service One Priest, 4 to 6 Altar Boys/Girls, Two Lectors.

The Lectors leave the Sanctuary after the second Reading. After the consecration of the Eucharist eight EMHC’s come up to the Sanctuary and congregate eight to ten feet behind the Priest at the Altar to join the Priest in the Our Father and then assist the priest as needed in parceling out any remaining consecrated host into separate ciborium as with the flagon of consecrated wine into separate chalices.
 
ciero said:


  1. A cathedral without a deacon is a disgrace! Why no deacon at the cathedral Constantine? Maybe it’s time for you to head off to the seminary. 😃
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  1. If it was that easy. There are no Eastern seminaries in Western Canada (maybe because it is the West? 🤷:D). Our priests either came from Winnipeg or Eastern Canada, or from Ukraine. Unless a Roman Catholic seminary will do…
 
At my old mission in Charlotte we had 3-4 servers, a deacon and a Priest for Divine Liturgy (As in when a Priest could make it down from Raleigh or up from Colombia, SC). Here 5Loaves already described the Russian Catholic parish. At the Ukrainian parish in San Francisco there is one priest and one server.

EDIT*

Constantine, not to involve myself in such a personal matter as discernment to the Diakonate, I imagine that your Bishop could work out some way for you to learn what is needed to be a deacon (which from my pov, most deacon training seems to be of the “on the job” type) without having to send you off to Eastern Canada for seminary. I at least know my old Bishop back in the Parma eparchy was very flexible about things like that for diakonate candidates.
 
Formosus said:
At my old mission in Charlotte we had 3-4 servers, a deacon and a Priest for Divine Liturgy (As in when a Priest could make it down from Raleigh or up from Colombia, SC). Here 5Loaves already described the Russian Catholic parish. At the Ukrainian parish in San Francisco there is one priest and one server.

EDIT*

Constantine, not to involve myself in such a personal matter as discernment to the Diakonate, I imagine that your Bishop could work out some way for you to learn what is needed to be a deacon (which from my pov, most deacon training seems to be of the “on the job” type) without having to send you off to Eastern Canada for seminary. I at least know my old Bishop back in the Parma eparchy was very flexible about things like that for diakonate candidates.
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Thanks. I’m still in the process of moving to the Ukrainian Church, officially that is. I haven’t really started discerning but I said that is something I would consider in the future. My first concern right now if my first vocation, my marriage and family. But if it is God’s will, it will happen when He desires for it to happen. I open myself to His will.
 
At ours, of the metropolia formerly known as Ruthenian, we have our priest, and probably average a co-celebrant once a month (sometimes retired Fr. Robert sometimes a friend of Fr. Marcus visiting, and sometimes another priest just visiting or vacationing). We have no deacons, although I think we have two seminarians (diaconal).

As far as the location of seminaries, unlike our own, the ukranian seminary in CT (?) does a couple/few weekends a year, rather than the two-week run. Our diaconal seminarian there was raised Protestant, but marked a ukranian catholic (this iPad keyboard is driving me nuts!).

Anyway we have one or occasionally two priests, no deacon, and usually 2 to 4 altar servers. It was just me a couple of weeks ago. When we get five, we go out and rummage for a sixth, so a we can carry everything in the Great Entrance 🙂

We have more men than boys serving. Never,ever girls; women simply do not enter the Holy Place.

For matter, lay men don’t either, except when filing in for the subdeacons (which nooone has these days) that should be serving. (that is, I’m not a subdeacon, but I play one o Sunday :))

As far as discernment, I’ve never felt a calling to the diaconate, although I think I was called to the presbyterate. But I was also called to marriage. Had I learned of the East decades earlier . . . But at my age, attending a seminary while somehow keeping kids in Catholic high schools and college appears to be a non-issue, while I’ll be in my mid 50s by the time I’m done paying college tuition, so . . .
 
dochawk said:
As far as discernment, I’ve never felt a calling to the diaconate, although I think I was called to the presbyterate. But I was also called to marriage. Had I learned of the East decades earlier . . . But at my age, attending a seminary while somehow keeping kids in Catholic high schools and college appears to be a non-issue, while I’ll be in my mid 50s by the time I’m done paying college tuition, so . . .
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If it helps, we have a priest here who didn’t get ordained until he was in his 60s
 
We are incredibly blessed. We just lost our permanent deacon (argh!) to seminary (yay!), but we still have a semi-retired priest and a permanent priest.

Plus, we usually always have at least two altar servers (if not more). Good Friday, we had eleven, I think. On a good Sunday we’ll have enough altar boys to carry two candles, two ripidia, and the Cross. Again, it depends on the Sunday.

So anywhere from two (our semi-retired priest cannot always come to liturgy because of health problems. May the Lord have mercy upon the servant of God the priest Chris!) up to twelve or so.

At my Latin Rite parish we usually have three altar servers, a priest, and a deacon. The “Solemn High Mass” Novus Ordo style (not really a solemn Mass but resembling one according to the new rite) has six altar servers and a priest and two deacons.

The Maronite mission I’m a part of usually has a priest and four or five altar servers (young Roman or Byzantine men). Our Byzantine deacon who left us used to assist too.
 
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