Altar servers help the priest during the Mass. Through helping the priest at Mass the altar servers help the congregation enter fully into the sacred liturgy. Altar servers should be reverent and respectful in carrying out their duties.
Servers at St Joseph's are affiliated to the Guild of St Stephen, the patron saint of altar servers. After some initial training and a time as a regular altar server, new servers are enrolled in the Guild with a Guild Medal. See here for more information about the Guild.
The dedicated team of altar servers at St Joseph's is diverse: from older servers with over 30 years’ experience, to very young servers who have only just made their First Holy Communion. Some churches operate a rota for altar servers, but this is not the case at St Joseph's; instead, servers are encouraged to serve at all Masses when they are present.
The mainstay of the altar servers' duties are around serving weekly Sunday Mass, including the preparation of the credence table and offertory gifts before Mass and clearing up and tidying at the end of Mass. In addition, servers will be on hand for special occasions such as baptisms, weddings, and funerals, and also events such as visitations from the Bishop, confirmations and other significant services throughout the year.
Recent special services have included the priestly ordination of Fr Long and Fr Pat’s Golden Jubilee celebration. For the second half of 2018, when we had no resident parish priest, our servers welcomed different priests and served for all of them with care and humility.
Altar servers wear a simple cream alb with red cord cincture.
Our MC, Edd Hogan, has been an altar server since 1985. He has been MC here in Malvern for the past 15 years. Edd leads regular training sessions for new servers and is always welcoming of those who want to give altar serving a try (no matter how old you are!) Please contact the parish office if you are interested or would like to know more - (01684 574 250) or office.stjoseph.malvern@gmail.