More Re: Altar Servers

[CatholicZ09]

In reading the other thread about Mass service, I realized I don’t know much about altar servers. For example, I had no idea that adults could serve as “altar boys.” We have both altar boys and altar girls, and they don’t do a whole lot during the mass aside from process in with the priest and then out again at the end. Then it got me thinking about the “old way” - where only young males were allowed and I realized the following had happened without my even noticing it:

-We no longer use patens for reception of communion. The altar servers do not participate in any way with distribution of the Holy Eucharist.

-Where did the ringing of the bells go? We haven’t done it in ages.

-Why are our altar servers wearing hideous, ill-fitting brown albs with flip-flop sandals and long stringy hair or sloppy ponytails?

-Why do our altar servers spend 90% of the mass seated in chars in the congregation?

Is this typical now? I remember when altar servers sat near the altar.

• I would LOVE to use patens for the reception of Holy Communion. I have never seen a parish use patens EVER.
• I believe that the ringing of the bells during the consecration is currently an optional thing, so most parishes opt out of doing it. We haven’t done this in years, and a few years ago the practice was brought back.
• My parish has white albs with colored cintures for the different liturgical seasons. I kind of have a problem with them because they get dirty easily, especially if you are the one doing incense! Flip-flops are not permitted on the sanctuary at my parish.
• The servers at my parish have reserved seats on the sanctuary. I would find it kind of “sloppy” if they were seated in the congregation. The servers are doing a special service, so they have a special seat during Mass. The servers have plenty to do. Things such as carring the cross, candles, incense (when needed), holding the book for Father, dressing the altar, following Father with the holy water during the sprinkling rite, etc.
• Older men are servers because of the fact that when kids are in school, there would be no one to serve. Most funerals happen during the week, so it would be hard to get young kids to serve. Also, Daily Mass at my parish starts at 8:00 a.m., and school starts at 7:30.

 

[Phemie]

• Older men are servers because of the fact that when kids are in school, there would be no one to serve. Most funerals happen during the week, so it would be hard to get young kids to serve. Also, Daily Mass at my parish starts at 8:00 a.m., and school starts at 7:30.

It should be remembered that children altar servers are replacement for the persons who are the ordinary ministers: instituted acolytes.

 

[EasterJoy]

Because… you didn’t pay close attention…

It was a Mass held at my sister’s house. And yes, the Priest and my family treat me as Catholic because I was baptized Catholic at one point in my life, even if they know I attend the LDS church now.

And yes, my family is awesome. What can I say…

The seal of your baptism is indelible, but that doesn’t mean that your choice to become an apostate is utterly without consequence. Yet the actions at this Mass imply that those present don’t think that an adult’s choice to accept or reject the Catholic faith she received at baptism are of much consequence at all.

That the priest and your family choose to ignore your choice to leave the Church trivializes your choice a bit, though, don’t you think? To participate in (rather than simply to witness) a Catholic act of worship that you don’t believe in does not show a lot of respect for its meaning, either.

It’s as if it does not matter much to those present whether the True Presence is fact or fiction. Yet if it is fact, ought someone who publicly and flatly denies that truth be assisting at the altar? If it is not a fact, but a fiction, how is it that you, who believe the Mass to be false, are treating it as a real thing? Isn’t that an act of idolatry?

What do you believe? Is the Blessed Sacrament really the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Risen Christ, the unique presence of his risen humanity in this world, or isn’t it? I don’t want to attack you, but I do want to challenge you to consider this: Why don’t you insist that your actions back up your beliefs?

Neither the Catholic Church nor the Church of Latter-Day Saints believe their baptisms to be mere rituals of social belonging. They signify the acceptance of a faith and the rejection of that which is contrary to the faith. Think about that.

 

[Califman831]

That the priest and your family choose to ignore your choice to leave the Church trivializes your choice a bit, though, don’t you think? To participate in (rather than simply to witness) a Catholic act of worship that you don’t believe in does not show a lot of respect for its meaning, either.

It says volumes about the current state of the church when priests no longer care that souls of the faithful flock to false churches.

 

[EasterJoy]

It says volumes about the current state of the church when priests no longer care that souls of the faithful flock to false churches.

There was a time when doctors thought it was more kind to give a falsely optimistic prognosis to their patients, instead of the truth. I think it is like that: that is, that they mean well by minimizing the true situation, but instead fail those errant souls by skirting the reality of their condition.

Again, pinay: Mormonism and the faith you were raised in are incompatible. It is impossible that both are true, and God does care about what is true and what is false. I’m not saying that a person in either might not have equally good intentions, or that both may not at the same time be full of people that mean to serve the one true God. In that, there is hope for mercy. That does not mean that it does not matter whether we worship truly.

The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth. " The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” John 4:19-26

Now read John 6 and tell me that it makes no difference whether or not Jesus is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. It makes all the difference in the world:
"Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it? " Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.” John 6:53-64

What does he say when they say “this saying is hard; who can accept it?” Does he say, “Oh, you misunderstand, I don’t really mean real.” No. He says, “Does this shock you?..the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Think about that