When I was a young girl attending Mass with my family at St. Mary's Catholic Church in the 1960s and '70s, I don't ever remember wanting to be an altar server. So the fact that I ended up becoming one ...

The Diocese of Palayamkottai in India launched its first altar server training program, teaching 1,570 children across five parishes more about the sacred role. With the support of the Diocese of ...

When I signed up last year to be an altar server at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Vienna, it was easy. But two years ago, that would have been impossible for any girl. One day when I was 6 years ...

As I sit and wait, thousands of thoughts are running through my mind. Where is everyone? What if I have to do this all by myself? Will I remember my cues? That was how I felt on my first day of altar ...

Pope Francis talks with Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, Sri Lanka, during an audience with pilgrims from Sri Lanka after a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 8, 2014. (Credit: Paul ...

Sri Lankan Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has mandated that girls are not permitted to serve as altar servers in parishes within the Archdiocese of Colombo. “No girls should be invited to serve at the altar ...

Altar server Shaniah Chavez holds a candle as she participates in the opening procession during the Easter Vigil at St. John the Evangelist Church in Center Moriches, N.Y., April 8, 2023. (OSV News ...

Altar servers take part in a Good Friday service at a church in Gora Kalwaria, Poland, in this April 10, 2020, file photo. Being an altar server should be a “profession of faith” to the entire parish ...

Sam Oyer of Randolph was recently honored at the 53rd annual Bishop’s Altar Server Award Ceremony at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Buffalo. Submitted photo Samuel Oyer 16, of Randolph was honored at the ...

TOLEDO, Ohio — For 12-year-old Greg Metcalf, being an altar server is “a guy thing.” And he and his fellow servers at St. Joseph Parish here want to keep it that way. Although other parishes in the ...

The Diocese of Palayamkottai in southern India encompasses the Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Tenkasi districts with a Catholic population of nearly 138,500. Altar servers attend a training session in ...