Q. At our parish, there seems to be more female servers than male. I thought girls were to be used as altar servers only if there weren’t enough boys? Is this approved by the Church?
— E. M., Elgin

A.  Years ago some people did get the impression that somehow girls were not worthy to serve. That was not the reason.

Boys served at the altar to become more familiar with the role of the priest. An altar server was a ministry called acolyte, an institution reserved to lay men.

In 1994 guidelines were prepared by the Committee on the Liturgy and presented to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (now the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) at their meeting that year. Those guidelines allowed for girls to be “servers” if approved by the local bishop.

Having been for the last 15 or 20 years subjected to both, I don’t see any great advantage or disadvantage to having children of both sexes serve Mass, as long as somebody is there.

Again, because the original intent of a male altar server was to increase vocations to the priesthood, it might be a good idea to talk more openly about vocations and to encourage more young men to follow the example of the girls and get more involved with the parish, especially at Mass.

The full USCCB guidelines for altar servers is available at" target="blank">http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/frequently-asked-questions/guidelines-for-altar-servers.cfm"> " target="blank">http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/frequently-asked-questions/guidelines-for-altar-servers.cfm">

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