Altar Servers and Lectors… Any Volunteers?

A young lady approached Marcia last week and asked to be trained as an altar girl. I am grateful that she has come forward. Very grateful. And her request reminded me that I need to ‘put out the call’ for a new group of young ladies and gentlemen to be trained as altar servers. I have asked Fr. Ridley, our Parochial Vicar, to head this up and to do the actual training. We need to bolster our ranks of servers, because we need more depth and also, as our older servers ‘graduate’ and move on, we need to replace them. Any young person in the 4th grade on up is welcome.

We are also in need of lectors (readers) at Mass. I don’t know what it is about reading out loud in public, but lots of people get this certain horrified look on their faces when approached and asked to read. For many, getting up and speaking in public is hugely difficult. I respect that, but if none of us ever challenged ourselves, how can we expect to grow? Lectoring is a privilege and a ministry; if you are even mildly considering it, please call the rectory. Just give it a try! Believe it or not, I was for most of my younger years almost pathologically shy. It’s strange how God works: shy and introverted I was, but I also liked music, and wanted to play bass guitar. I did this for years in various bands, and getting up there in front of people playing bass gave me confidence to preach and proclaim God’s word. In other words, I got used to being up in front of people with practice over time. I didn’t say ‘I can’t do that!’ Instead I said, ‘Let’s at least give it a try.’ You can, too. God puts us into situations where we may grow little by little, usually enjoying ourselves along the way. Maybe he’s asking you to grow, too?

Several people have voiced concerns about some developments. A few have pointed out that they’d like to light candles but ‘there are none.’ One hinted that it might be a cost-cutting measure. Let me assure you that the temporary moratorium on candles is not financially motivated. It is safety motivated. Perhaps you’ve noticed that the candles come in blue plastic (which means flammable) containers. Now, I don’t know what rocket scientist thought that it was a good idea to try to contain fire inside a flammable cup, but several of those blue containers have caught fire in the few months I’ve been here. I asked our sexton to order glass containers for the candles, and as soon as they come in, we’ll be back to normal.

And several have asked about the bulletins. People are used to picking their bulletins up on the way into Mass. That’s fine, but I’ve also noticed (and from the altar we can see everything!) that lots of people are using the bulletins as ready reading material during Mass. That’s not courteous, of course. Would you bring a newspaper to the dinner table if you were invited to someone’s house? Of course not! And even more important, the homily is NOT a time to zone out: it is time to listen to God’s Word explained. I experimented with asking the ushers to hand the bulletins out after Mass, but that hasn’t worked out particularly well, either. (One person, seeing no bulletins on the table on his way in, asked if I was ‘too cheap’ to provide them) So please, take a bulletin, but please, don’t read it during the Mass. Thanks.