Trading their albs for T-shirts and
shorts on the first sunny day in a week, diocesan altar servers attended the
annual altar server picnic at Lake Fairfax Park in Reston July 26. The event
was sponsored by the Office of Vocations.
Throughout the park, priests pitched in
pick-up games of baseball while frisbee, cornhole, soccer and other games kept
everyone entertained before and after lunch.
Members of the Cathedral Council of the
Knights of Columbus cooked up hamburgers and hot dogs, while the seminarians
helped everyone fill their plates with food.
Knight Larry Cerruti said he’s been
coordinating the picnic for about 25 years. “It is a privilege to serve the
servers,” he said. “They don’t get thanked enough. They do a lot of work behind
the scenes that people don’t see, spending a lot of time at church when they
could be doing something else.”
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge asked the
altar servers to pray for the seminarians. He then asked the youths to do him a
favor. “Just keep your hearts open for the possibility that God may call you
one day to be a priest or a sister,” he said. “That is really a possibility and
make sure you have a joyful ‘Yes’ for the Lord.”
After lunch, Bishop Burbidge picked
names from a jar for door prizes provided by the Knights, as the kids crouched
closer and closer to the tent, screaming out in excitement — then
disappointment — when the numbers didn’t match their tickets. Bishop Burbidge called
out celebrity “autographs” the youths might see on the signed
basketball or football prizes, each autograph garnering cheers or boos
depending on the athlete.
The grand prize, a $100 Visa gift card,
went to Michael Williams, an altar server at St. James Church in Falls Church.
The altar servers appreciated having the
opportunity to meet others who serve across the diocese. Luke Schwartz has been
an altar server for five years and hopes to serve at least through high school.
“I always enjoyed it when I was younger, and I like serving the parish,” he
said. One of his most memorable Masses was serving at a confirmation with
Bishop Emeritus Paul S. Loverde.
Sigrid Embert said it is inspiring to see
her son, Cristian Jimenez-Embert, as an altar server at St. John the Baptist
Church in Front Royal. “It means that he’s involved in his faith in a living
way,” she said. “It is not something he does as a check mark.”
Many of the seminarians and priests said
being altar servers in their youth influenced their vocations.
Father Christopher P. Christensen,
parochial vicar of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington was an altar
server. His role took away some of the mystique of the Mass, but also broke
down some of the barriers, and he got to know the priests he served.
He said altar servers can add a
particular sense of reverence. “They are striving to focus on the service to
Our Lord,” he said. “It forms in them a sense of devotion which is really
important, and it helps them to enter into the Mass.”
Seminarian Tim Courtney said being an
altar server at St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Clifton helped him understand
and even fall in love with the Mass. “It also helped being comfortable being up
on the altar and appreciating what the priest does,” said Courtney. “It’s good to appreciate altar servers. They
do a lot and it’s often unnoticed.”
