Altar Servers
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Invitation to the Altar Server Ministry
Altar Servers have an awesome opportunity to assist directly in the celebration of the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Servers assist at Sunday Masses and on Holy Days. Servers who attend the parish school also serve at school Masses.
What: New server training starts this month. Servers will attend 3 training sessions and then be scheduled approximately two Masses per month. When:
- Monday - July 22 at 6:00 pm
- Thursday - July 25 at 6:00 pm
- Tuesday - July 30 at 6:00 pm
- Thursday - August 1 at 6:00 pm
- Monday - August 5 at 6:00 pm
- Thursday - August 8 at 6:00 pm
- Saturday - Aug. 10 at 9:30 am
- Saturday - Aug. 17 at 9:30 am
Who: All students in 5th grade or older who have received their First Eucharist and who are attending Mass each week and have a desire to serve God and the parish in this ministry.Interested students should reflect on what a gift it is to be so close to the presence and activity of the living God. During the Mass, servers take part in the entrance and exit as well as the preparation of the altar. In this they play an important role in helping the priest and community to offer sacrifice to God. Serving as an altar server is also a wonderful way to grow closer to the Lord.
Contact Anne Bolin at [email protected] for more information or to let us know that you will attend.
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Dear young people, the service you carry out faithfully enables you to be particularly close to Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. You have the enormous privilege of being close to the altar and close to the Lord. Be aware of the importance of this service to the Church and to you yourselves. May it give you the opportunity to develop a friendship, a personal relationship with Jesus. Do not be afraid of communicating to those around you the joy you receive from his presence! May your whole life shine with the happiness of this closeness to the Lord Jesus! And if one day you hear his call to follow him on the path of the priesthood or the religious life, respond to him generously!
Benedict XVI General Audience 29 August 2012
Altar Servers assist the priest in leading the people at Mass to worship God. Serving at Saint Andrew’s is a special privilege that requires reverence, teamwork, prayer, commitment, responsibility, and a willingness to be a leader of God’s people. Saint Andrew’s strives to have the best altar servers anywhere! This excellence requires their dedication, special training, and diligence.They assist the sacristans before and after the Mass; they lead the liturgical processions; they accompany and assist the priests during the Mass and serve at the altar as candle-bearers, cross-bearers and as incense-bearers.
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(filmed at Saint Theresa Catholic Church in Sugarland, Texas)
Requirements for Saint Andrew’s Altar ServersBoys and girls who have received their First Holy Communion and are in the 5th grade or older are invited and encouraged to become altar servers. Many of our servers continue in this ministry throughout their high school years. High School Altar Servers serve the Midnight Mass at Christmas, the Easter Triduum services, and Corpus Christi.
Altar Servers should be practicing Catholics who attend Sunday Mass each week and all Holy Days of Obligation, go to Confession regularly, and strive to live a moral and faithful life.
They should be mature enough to understand their responsibilities and carry out them out with appropriate reverence.
The servers are required to attend training sessions and occasional meetings.
For Current Servers
It is expected that all servers have completed the Altar Server training program and are familiar with the Guidelines for Saint Andrew’s Altar Servers and Words to Know. Please review the Guidelines and Words to Know prior to serving, if necessary. These Guidelines contain information on the requirements and dress code for serving at Saint Andrew’s.
Resources
Guidelines for Saint Andrew’s Altar Servers
USCCB Guidelines for Altar Servers
Preparation Prayer/Prayer Before Serving