Father is counting on you.
You’re part of an ancient and holy rite.
Now, try and relax.
Phew, that’s a lot to ask of a fourth- or fifth-grader. But if you go to a service at a Roman Catholic church, you’ll see young altar servers filling their roles with competence.
Local young people said the experience of serving has helped deepen their faith and provided them with a tangible way to serve their parishes.
Hailey White, 10, put it best.
“It’s something I can do for my parish because my parish does so much for my school,” said White, a fifth-grade student at St. Mary’s School in Janesville. “It does help my faith because I have to pay attention so much more.”
In my parish we were drafted. The bulletin would announce next week’s altar boys and when your name was listed you were up. Nervous OJT, pre-VatII. That Paten would get heavy after one circuit of the communion rail and I remember knocking a few of the faithful in the adams apple. Good times.
I served my first service as an Acolyte at Trinity Cathedral in Omaha Nebraska in 1971. It was Christmas Eve! I have been active in serving at the Altar ever since. I have had the great joy of seeing first my daughter and then my son become acolytes. It is a long tradition in my family. My dad was my Acolyte Master; his dad was his Acolyte Master and I was the Acolyte Master when my daughter started. Since I am ordained, I can’t be my son’s Acolyte Master, but it is a wonderful joy to serve with him.
Acolytes are one way that young people can minister in the Church. May God bless all those who are willing to serve and those who lead them.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
I’m in charge of the acolytes for my parish, and I really enjoy it. Some of the kids are quite into it, some less so, but I trust that they’ll all get something rewarding out of it before they’re done.
“..and a child shall lead them…”
An important note (this will likely offend some) is that this is about altar *girls*. Look around. You may notice that as altar girls proliferate, altar boys disappear. You may also notice that >50% of Episcopalian seminarians are women. You may have noticed a whole bunch of other things in the past 30 years or so….
being an acolyte was a neat experience for me. i think i took the whole experience a lot more seriously than had i always had the “refuge” of the pews….
My wife was the first girl acolyte at the parish she was raised in. I don’t know if it caused a stir or not, however.
I never served at the altar until I was a teenager in 11th grade.
This morning I heard a barbershop chorus singing ‘Little Altar Boy”, which is written in an early polyphonic style, and gave me chills.
There’s something about the words that rubs me wrong, and I’m not quite sure what, though.