Question about altar servers and Communion?

[PraiseChrist]

Would an altar server who is absent from the Sacraments and never receives Communion at Mass be allowed to serve at Mass ever?

Thank you

 

[ProVobis]

Would an altar server who is absent from the Sacraments and never receives Communion at Mass be allowed to serve at Mass ever?

Thank you

AFAIK, absence from the Sacraments does not disqualify altar serving.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Would an altar server who is absent from the Sacraments and never receives Communion at Mass be allowed to serve at Mass ever?

Thank you

Your question is a bit too broad to admit of an easy answer.

Presuming you are in the United States, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued guidelines about serving at Mass, which may be supplemented by norms enacted in a diocese by the diocesan bishop. Obviously, applicable guidelines should be complied with.

usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/frequently-asked-questions/guidelines-for-altar-servers.cfm

Beyond the norms and guidelines, the Presider has broad latitude in determining who present in the liturgical assembly will fulfill the various functions to be discharged at a liturgical celebration. Thus, even non-Catholics who are baptised could certainly be invited to assume the role of lector. It not infrequently happens that even non-baptised persons fulfill a role in music ministry. I shall leave the desirability of that practice without comment.

It must be remembered, however, that the Council Fathers at Vatican II declared in paragraph 29 of Sacrosanctum Concilium that “Servers, lectors, commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function.” Suitability must not be taken lightly therefore.

You don’t specify why the hypothetical server is “absent from the sacraments”. It would not be seen in contemporary liturgical thought to be desirable for the server not to communicate at the Mass at which s/he serves. Although it certainly can happen. It is one thing in a particular instance and another if it is normative or, more problematic, invariable.

If, moreover, the person is ineligible to receive the sacraments for one or more reasons, that would present its own issues and also presents a situation that the Presider/Parish Priest would have to consider from a variety of perspectives. This is true for any situation in which the person is given a mandate – whether that is serving at Mass or being an Extraordinary Minister or serving on a Parish’s various councils.

You do note, however, if it could “ever” happen. If I had, for example, a former server who, after childhood, had entered an irregular marriage situation and, visiting me in my retirement, wished to simply serve my daily Mass that I offered in a private oratory, even though s/he would not receive Communion, I expect I would not say no. The justification would rest on several premises distinct from what a parish priest could arrive at for a public situation, I would have to add however.

If this concerns someone you know, the person who could best assist them would be a priest who is directly involved in their lives and who would know the actual situation…as well as the options available, wherever it is they are.

 

[PraiseChrist]

Your question is a bit too broad to admit of an easy answer.

Presuming you are in the United States, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued guidelines about serving at Mass, which may be supplemented by norms enacted in a diocese by the diocesan bishop. Obviously, applicable guidelines should be complied with.

usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/frequently-asked-questions/guidelines-for-altar-servers.cfm

Beyond the norms and guidelines, the Presider has broad latitude in determining who present in the liturgical assembly will fulfill the various functions to be discharged at a liturgical celebration. Thus, even non-Catholics who are baptised could certainly be invited to assume the role of lector. It not infrequently happens that even non-baptised persons fulfill a role in music ministry. I shall leave the desirability of that practice without comment.

It must be remembered, however, that the Council Fathers at Vatican II declared in paragraph 29 of Sacrosanctum Concilium that “Servers, lectors, commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function.” Suitability must not be taken lightly therefore.

You don’t specify why the hypothetical server is “absent from the sacraments”. It would not be seen in contemporary liturgical thought to be desirable for the server not to communicate at the Mass at which s/he serves. Although it certainly can happen. It is one thing in a particular instance and another if it is normative or, more problematic, invariable.

If, moreover, the person is ineligible to receive the sacraments for one or more reasons, that would present its own issues and also presents a situation that the Presider/Parish Priest would have to consider from a variety of perspectives. This is true for any situation in which the person is given a mandate – whether that is serving at Mass or being an Extraordinary Minister or serving on a Parish’s various councils.

You do note, however, if it could “ever” happen. If I had, for example, a former server who, after childhood, had entered an irregular marriage situation and, visiting me in my retirement, wished to simply serve my daily Mass that I offered in a private oratory, even though s/he would not receive Communion, I expect I would not say no. The justification would rest on several premises distinct from what a parish priest could arrive at for a public situation, I would have to add however.

If this concerns someone you know, the person who could best assist them would be a priest who is directly involved in their lives and who would know the actual situation…as well as the options available, wherever it is they are.

Dear Father,

Thanks to you and Provobis. From the link you posted by the USCCB, a part of it stated:

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.

So since they should normally receive the Eucharist, does this stop anyone in this situation from serving?

Thank you

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Dear Father,

Thanks to you and Provobis. From the link you posted by the USCCB, a part of it stated:

So since they should normally receive the Eucharist, does this stop anyone in this situation from serving?

Thank you

Yes…I expected that you would find that passage.

I always taught my students that guidelines, like law, are to be given their broadest reading when it is permissive and their strictest reading when it is restrictive.

Here, the qualifier “normally” is added for good reason. Normally the server should receive…but clearly is it not necessary for the individual to receive in order to serve. One could say that if all the servers but one received Communion, then one could argue the servers normally do receive Communion. If I were still in a chancery rather than a retirement home, I would find that reading of “normally” a bit strained at best, but…

Again…it is really impossible for me to answer the question in a definitive way because different situations would prompt different responses.

Let us suppose two extreme examples.

A young man or young woman, baptised in another Christian confession, is in the process of coming into full communion with the Church and had the desire to serve Mass; the parish priest is, in fact, in need of the help. It would be of benefit to the liturgy as well as to the young person studying to be Catholic. Yes, they are in a situation where they are precluded from the sacraments. However, even though s/he could not receive Communion and moreover would likely be known in the parish as not yet Catholic, I could see the parish priest allowing him/her to serve at the Mass.

This would be a different scenario from inviting someone to serve at the altar who is living a married life while not being married in the Church, for example.

The reason(s) the person is not approaching the sacraments very likely would affect the answer to your question.

It is really a matter that has to be asked by the person in question to the priest who is of the parish wherever the person wishes to serve Mass.

Also, frankly, this is the case because we are in a very different situation from when I was young. In those days, long past, only young boys served “normally”…and that up to a certain age. Today, some parishes only want boys…some want only young people…some want only men…some want only adults…there are so many variables that even without your specific question, the person would still need to consult the parish priest since they may be in a category that he does not accept.

Which brings up a final point. Even if I knew all the particulars – which I am NOT asking for – I could only answer as far as my own diocese. And even then, I can’t oblige another priest to agree. At most, he might concede that the hypothetical person could serve…but for the fact that they were precluded because he had decided only boys not yet of university age would fulfill this ministry in his parish – which he could legitimately decide.