Dear Parents,

Your son has been selected for the Knights of the Altar at St. Joseph’s, and has been given a divine privilege above all earthy honors in being permitted within the sanctuary to serve at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at which the Church gives to God, officially and in the name of all, the worship that is due to Him alone.

        In earlier times, only ordained acolytes, that is, clerics in the fourth minor order conferred upon candidates to the priesthood, were permitted to serve at Mass.  Today, when the number of clerics in minor orders is smaller, custom has tolerated specially selected men and boys to substitute in these duties.

        As an altar server, your son should reflect the same attitude as the priest in celebrating Holy Mass.  Specifically, he should perform his liturgical duties worthily, attentively, and devoutly, in body, mind, and heart.  His sacred duties require of him the greatest reverence in the sanctuary, the deepest attention to his duties, and the most zealous preparation of all his liturgical actions.

        Servers should always conduct themselves worthily in their position, a position to which even the angels of heaven cannot aspire.  If they serve with care and devotion, they will edify the congregation, who look to them as an example for the proper disposition of assisting at Mass.  If, however, they perform their duties with haste, carelessness, and inattention, they will degrade "the most beautiful thing this side of heaven," the worship of Almighty God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

        I ask that you as parents do what you can to assist your son as he learns how to serve. The most important thing in learning is that he needs to attend the classes. Class will be held on select Sundays after the 9:30 am Mass, and on average will last for about 30-45 minutes. The dates of these classes will be announced ahead of time so that you can make sure he is able to attend. He will need to learn his Latin, which we will work on in class, but will require some work at home too. He will be given the Servers Handbook, a sheet with the Latin responses he will need to learn and a CD that will help him with the pronunciations of those responses.

        The vestments that your son will wear, the cassock and the surplice, are actually clerical vestments that by exception those specially selected men and boys assisting at the altar are permitted by custom to wear.  They should always be kept neat and clean.

        Devout altar servers have been the cause of conversions to the faith. On the other hand, careless servers have been the cause of the failure of souls to come to the faith.  It is said that the great English poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was kept from the Faith by the irreverence he witnessed of altar servers near the presence of Our Lord in the Tabernacle.  The French poet, Paul Claudel, on the other hand, was won back to the Church when he observed the reverence of those at the altar in Notre Dame Cathedral.

Your son was chosen to serve for a reason. At times, he may feel it’s too hard and he can’t do it, but if we thought that he couldn’t, then he wouldn’t have been selected. It’s important to encourage him in this endeavor and assist him when possible. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at servers@stjosephschurch.net

May your son at all times conduct himself worthily, attentively, and devoutly, and by his actions and example at the altar bring glory to God and many souls to the one true Church.