Non Nobis: Some Thoughts on Forming Altar Servers

Today, I spent the morning and early afternoon on Vashon Island training altar servers at our sister parish of Saint John Vianney. This past Wednesday evening, I trained new altar servers at Saint Frances Cabrini Parish in Lakewood. Tomorrow, at my own parish, I will lead a training/retraining session for the Saint Patrick altar servers.

Bear in mind that I am an adult convert, and I did not begin serving at the altar of the Lord until I was in my forties. Now I am nearly 60, and I have formed servers in half a dozen parishes, written a book on altar serving, and made some small contributions to another book on the subject by Bishop Peter Elliott. I have bootstrapped and led server programs in three parishes. One of my earliest Master Servers is now a deacon.

I don’t say this to boast; I say it with a sense of wonder and profound gratitude. None of this is rocket science, and I certainly didn’t set out to do any of this.

It’s funny what the Lord calls us to. When I began this ministry, I was effectively voluntold to do it. The priest who did this clearly had a better idea of my charism than I did.

The Lord just kept pulling me along from one thing to the next, and somehow now I’ve been doing this for more than a dozen years. Frankly, some days I’m still mystified at how this has all developed.

When our parish of Holy Rosary was shut down, I led servers at (then) Saint Ann while Francine and I discerned which parish to call home. We had a real discussion about joining Saint Joseph, the local FSSP Latin Mass parish. Both of us deeply love the Vetus Ordo.

But Francine rightly pointed out that it very much seemed that the Lord was calling me to serve him in fostering vocations through the training of servers, and that this was something that the FSSP parish had pretty well covered. The final decision came on our 2022 Camino, where we were discerning this. I found a four-leaf clover. Saint Patrick it was, then. I can take a hint. Eventually.

And of course, Francine was right.

The reverent and effective service at the altar at the Novus Ordo has become a passion. Training servers has become a mission. Why? I’ve no idea. There’s absolutely nothing in my background up to that point that would have led me to expect it.

Honestly, serving well isn’t difficult. It requires a bit of discipline and a bit of training. And it requires that the server become steeped in the spirit of the liturgy. This takes time. It’s why we begin all of our servers as apprentices following their initial training session.

Yes, you are trained. Yes, there’s a book you can reference. But these are just the externals. The prayerful core of serving is something you learn by doing and by following good examples, all while praying the Mass as a server. And that takes time.

Eventually, you fall into the rhythm of it. At some point, you can begin to make appropriate judgments when dealing with unexpected situations. You enter more deeply into the liturgical prayer.

So many kids you would think were unlikely servers have absolutely thrived in this ministry. Kids who, in their initial training, were disinterested or squirrelly can suddenly blossom on the altar. I can usually tell which servers will rise to Senior Server by how they mentor and coach apprentices. And I can always tell when a server is actually praying the Mass and has caught that ephemeral spirit of the liturgy.

Hopefully, some of these servers will find their vocations in the religious life or in the priesthood or diaconate. For those who don’t, I’m very much content that they pass on what they have learned to their families in due time. And the Church can definitely use more altar server trainers.

Non nobis domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam!
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy Name give glory! (Psalm 115:1)