It’s cool to be an altar server.” That’s what the girls and boys from St. Bartholomew Parish, 3601 N. Lavergne, say. They believe that they not only help the priest but God himself.

Altar servers have a privileged position in the church — they are present in the sanctuary, close to the altar where the miracle of transfiguration happens each time the priest celebrates the Holy Eucharist. They are busy with meaningful actions and their hands are full of symbolic items. They carry the cross, the processional candles and the incense and censer; they hold the Mass Book; they present the bread, wine and water to the priest; and they assist him when he receives the gifts from the people. They also pour the water so the priest can wash his hands and they ring the bell at the consecration.

Who can be a server?

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Servers should be mature enough to understand their responsibilities ... (and) they should have already received Holy Communion.”

The ages of altar servers and the ways of preparing them vary depending on the parish. “Everyone who is in fifth grade through high school who is willing to commit showing up on the schedule and to the training is invited,” said Father Jason Malave, St. Bartholomew’s pastor.

Servers also must be enrolled in the parish school or religious education program.

The parish currently has 64 altar servers assisting the faith community. Malave said he goes from classroom to classroom at the parish school each year to recruit them, and he gets 15-18 to join each year.

After attending four training sessions, each about two hours long, the altar servers are ready to go.

“We work on understanding the Mass and on the vocabulary,” Malave said, learning words like sanctuary, sacristy, ambo, alb and cingulum. They also have to learn the differences between Sunday and daily Masses and funerals and weddings.

At St. Ferdinand Parish, 5900 W. Barry, altar servers for Polish Masses attend six months of training.

“We meet once a week for the training. They have to learn everything that is happening on the altar,” said Father Michal Rosa, the associate pastor. Rosa is responsible for training and coordinating the 43 altar servers.

What about the girls?

Girls have not always been allowed to serve at the altar. Rules allowing them to serve were issued in 1994, with the decision left up to the bishop of each diocese.

The number of boys and girls among the altar servers at St. Bartholomew is balanced.

The duties of boys and girls who serve are the same, he said, but he admitted that girls are more gentle, attentive and sometimes more effective than the boys.

There are no girls among the Polish altar servers at St. Ferdinand.

“Girls are in the phase of their life when they like to compete,” Rosa said. “I’m afraid that it would be too chaotic at the altar and in the sacristy.”

He believes that in the Gospel the prototype for the altar servers was the boy who brought loaves of bread and fish to Jesus, who multiplied them to serve the crowd. “It was not a coincidence that it was a boy not a girl,” said Rosa.

Motivation

Young people become altar servers for different reasons. Mikaela Lozano, an eighth-grader at St. Bartholomew, is one of three servers in her family She saw other kids helping the priests.

“I thought it was very cool for me to do that. I get to see the priests a lot of times,” she said.

She set an example for her younger brother, Marcelo. “I saw my sister doing that and my father is a part of the parish community so I wanted that for myself too,” said Marcelo, a seventh-grader.

Tiare Mendez, a fifth grader at St. Bartholomew said she likes to serve God because, she believes, it will help her to get a good life in heaven.

Sixth-grader Matthew Enriquez saw pictures of his dad and uncles being altar servers. “I thought it would be good to be one of them,” he said.

Malave, who was an altar server from fourth through eighth grade, believes that serving at the altar connects servers to the mystery of God and helps to celebrate Eucharist.

The parents of the altar boys at St. Ferdinand are convinced it also helps to create a cohesive and supportive environment. Altar servers there play soccer, go to movies, and go on trips together.

“We drive our kids to swimming, music, language classes, so why shouldn’t we be bringing them to the church?” said Anna Piotrowska.

For Beata Andreasik, mother of two altar servers at St. Ferdinand, it is important that her sons interact with boys whose families share similar values. “A cohesive environment that reinforces common values is very important for growing up,” she said.

Malave makes sure that there is also some fun and a friendly atmosphere in the sacristy at St. Bartholomew, so they play games. Their favorite game is the questions game played before funerals. “I ask questions about the person who died. What street she/he lived on, how old they were, how many children they had, if they had brothers and sisters, what nationality they were,” he said.

He helps with hints. “I want to get the altar servers to be connected to the family. If you feel disconnected you won’t serve well,” said Malave.

Eyes watching

Asked if they feel comfortable being in the center of the church visible to hundreds of people, they all said that sometimes they get a little nervous.

Tiare gets nervous all the time, she said. “But I like it more than I’m scared. I feel that God is coming closer and closer to my heart when I serve,” said Tiare.

Marcelo gets the nervous feeling only before the Mass. “When I get nervous, I don’t look at the people because that makes me feel even worse, I just look at the wall,” said Marcelo. This solution came to him on the first day when he was serving.

Matthew does what his father used to do as an altar boy.

“I say a couple prayers. After Mass, I usually pray more so God will help me through my entire life to make it perfect,” he said.

Father Malave is grateful for each and every one of his altar servers. “We know each other, we track each other, we have close connections,” he said. He believes that it is absolutely the way to get to know the kids better and to build a special bond with them and their families.

He said, “For them it is a pretty good chance to know the priesthood life and the parish life.”