What are the requirements for Altar Servers?

[Apryl]

Just curious, and really don’t know where to look this up:

What are the requirements for being an Altar Server?

Does one HAVE to be a Baptised Catholic, or can you be in the preparation for the sacrament?

Do you have to be a member of the church where you regularly serve? How does one get to serve at a church where visiting?

What about age? I noticed that there are a number of younger children serving. Is there some age where you are ‘asked to move along’?

I never had a chance to be an Altar Server as a child. When I was growing up, they didn’t allow girls. Even if they did, my family didn’t really practice, but I think I would have enjoyed the opportunity.

Still, today, I look at the children, and I have questions. I don’t want to say to a child, ‘you should be an Altar Server’, and have them get all excited and ask to do it, only to be told ‘you can’t’

Where do we get the rules on this? Is it in the CCC? Or Canon Law? We hear about everything else.

What about other partipants (I mean that in the stritest sense, as I think that every one of the congregation is a participant in the mass). What are the requirements for Lectors? and EME?

Other than training, of course… but what makes one ‘qualified’ to seek instruction?

 

[adrift]

Each parish has there own set of qualifications.

In our parish, the child has to be at least third grade, baptized and received his first communion. The Lectors and EEMs volunteer and then are trained.

My husband serves as altar server since my boys stopped when they graduated from high school and moved away.

 

[John_Lilburne]

If there are enough instituted acolytes, then only these should be used.

From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) approved for the USA, which can be accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html :
“100. In the absence of an instituted acolyte, lay ministers may be deputed to serve at the altar and assist the priest and the deacon; they may carry the cross, the candles, the thurible, the bread, the wine, and the water, and they may also be deputed to distribute Holy Communion as extraordinary ministers.”

To become an instituted acolyte one must be male. Another requirement given in the 1972 Motu Proprio Ministeria Quaedam: “b.a suitable age and special qualities to be determined by the conference of bishops;”.

The parish priest chooses who does the ministries, from the GIRM:
“107. The liturgical duties that are not proper to the priest or the deacon and are listed above (cf. nos. 100-106) may also be entrusted by a liturgical blessing or a temporary deputation to suitable lay persons chosen by the pastor or rector of the church. All should observe the norms established by the Bishop for his diocese regarding the office of those who serve the priest at the altar.”

 

[Vittorio23]

At our parish you must be male and have received First Communion. I don’t know if there is an official “cut-off” age, but you don’t see anyone out of high school, lest it is a seminarian.

 

[MusicMan]

My parish allows boys and girls, and they usually can start in the summer before 5th grade. Father usually trys to suppliment their training by having them serve at daily Mass before they can serve a Sunday Mass, but attendance lately has been so poor that he’ll take what he can get these days.

Usually, they serve through Confirmation, and then they are gradually “put out to pasture,” although a high school senior who is now involved with music served last Sunday due to someone not showing up.

Usually, once they are Confirmed, Father has them move to other lay ministries such as reading, music, and serving as emHC.

 

[jpjd]

What are the requirements for being an Altar Server?

In our parish, a boy or girl who has made his/her First Communion is eligible, and dare I say expected, to start serving. Servers continue through high school graduation, at which time they are removed from the server schedule.

Does one HAVE to be a Baptised Catholic, or can you be in the preparation for the sacrament?

Well, look at it this way. You certainly have to be Catholic to be a server. This would mean being baptized Catholic; or being a convert who was baptized in another faith but became Catholic by going through RICA and making his/her First Communion and Confirmation. As far as serving while being in preparation, I would guess probably not, since the person still isn’t yet Catholic.

Do you have to be a member of the church where you regularly serve?

Yes. If you participate intimately in the parish, you will be required to be a member. And why would you not want to be a member? With privileges come responsbility.

How does one get to serve at a church where visiting?

Ask the pastor of that church.

What about age? Is there some age where you are ‘asked to move along’?

See my answer to the first question, above. The age to begin and to “move along” may vary parish by parish.

Where do we get the rules on this? Is it in the CCC? Or Canon Law?

I would start by asking your pastor.

What are the requirements for Lectors? and EME?

Again, I believe it’s at the pastor’s discretion. But certainly they look for registered members, who have a deep faith, who partake of the sacraments, and who would be capable of carrying out this ministry with the proper diligence and reverence.

 

[gvaladezortiz]

I am a Deacon candidate and on Saturday 23 of us were installed as Acolytes. What can we do as Acolytes that altar servers cannot do? I do not want to step on any toes, so how is being an Acolyte different from being an altar servers?