Knights of the Altar
At a very important time in Jesus’ life, He accepted the services of a young boy. This young boy provided five loaves and two fishes for that very momentous miracle with which Jesus launched his teaching on the Holy Eucharist. The Sacred Writers do not tell us the name of the young boy, only his deed, and his act of service.
Similar to the boy, Altar Servers also perform a great deed of service; they have the important role of assisting the priest at all liturgical celebrations of the parish by preparing the Altar for the celebration of the Eucharist throughout the Mass.
In the use of the term knight, the Altar Server is reminded of his duty to serve the Lord of lords with loyalty and honour, to treat others with respect and justice, and to live an upright personal life, defending always the rights of God and His Holy Church.
Altar Servers are required to attend on-going training, annual retreats, camps and monthly meetings (every 1st Sunday of the month). These provide them the opportunity to improve on their skills, to be more familiarised with their responsibilities as well as to learn new skills.
On the lighter side of things, BBQ‘s are organised for them to interact with each other, and games, soccer & other sporting activities to build fellowship and teamwork. At parents’ meetings, the priests get to know the servers’ parents better and obtain feedback.
To be an Altar Server, you have to be 9 years or older and must have received your first Holy Communion. All new Servers will start off as apprentices after which they are promoted to the rank of page, in which name, the server is reminded of the years of practice and study that went into the training of a knight and should consider with what devotion and perseverance he should attend to his own training in the service of the Altar.
After months of training and preparation, new Altar Servers will initially serve at weekend Masses. On successful completion of the probation period, they would then be assigned to serve at weekday Masses and at other Solemn Masses.