Guild of St Stephen

Servers exercise a genuine liturgical ministry. They ought therefore to discharge their office with the sincere piety and decorum demanded by their ministry and rightly expected of them by God’s people. They must have a deep sense of the spirit of the liturgy and be trained to perform their functions in a correct and orderly manner.

Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy 29

Altar Servers have a special ministry in the Church. It is a privilege to assist the priest at the Altar. Being a server means serving God and all his people at Mass. That is what makes serving at Mass worth doing, and worth doing well. The altar servers form a very important part of the church and our parish is enriched through their dedication and service.

All altar servers receive training from the older, experienced servers to ensure they know what they are doing. Once trained and having served regularly for approximately 18 months servers are enrolled into the Guild of Saint Stephen and receive a Bronze Medal. 10 years on from this, those who continue to regularly serve, are entitled to wear the Guild’s silver medal, and having served for 50 years a Gold medal may be worn.

The aims and objectives of the Guild of Saint Stephen are:

  • To encourage, positively and practically, the highest standards of serving at the Church’s liturgy and so contribute to the whole community’s participation in a more fruitful worship of God.
  • To provide altar servers with a greater understanding of what they are doing so that they may serve with increasing reverence and prayerfulness and thereby be led to a deepening response to their vocation in life.
  • To unite servers of different parishes and dioceses for their mutual support and encouragement.

If anyone, who attends Mass regularly and has made their First Holy Communion, is interested in becoming an Altar Server then please come to the sacristy to see us after Mass either on a Saturday evening or a Sunday morning to find out more.

The Guild Medal

In the centre the letters XP are the first two letters of the name 'Christ' in Greek. At the top is the crown of victory given by God to everyone who overcomes evil, especially those who die for him. At the bottom are the palm branches, traditional signs of martyrs who died for Christ. Around the edge are the Latin words of the Guild motto:

CVI SERVIRE REGNARE EST.
TO SERVE CHRIST IS TO REIGN.