12 St Stephen's Medal - Sign of service

St Stephen: Te Deum Window

Last week we celebrated St Stephen's feast day which is on  26^th December.  He was a deacon in the early Church and spent his time helping the apostles attend to the needs of widows and the poor. He was put to death because of his faith in Jesus and he was the first martyr - sometimes known as the protomartyr.

CCC 1143 For the purpose of assisting the work of the common priesthood of the faithful, other particular ministries also exist, not consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders; their functions are determined by the bishops, in accord with liturgical traditions and pastoral needs. "Servers, readers, commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function."


Called to serve
What is it like to serve? This week the Wednesday Word of Witness is from the Cathedral's Master of Ceremonies Kirsten Grove, click here to read, and below a memory from Ellen who is a server who has received the ten years silver medal of St Stephen.

Ellen altar server at the Cathedral,  writes with enthusiasm about the honour of serving God:

I've been an altar server now, for ten years and I really do enjoy it. As a child, I loved it because mass can often be a stretch to understand at such a young age, but with altar serving, the servers actually get to be involved and become a part of the mass. My mum keeps telling me, she always wanted to become a server when she was younger, but at the time they didn't allow girls to be 'altar boys,' so in many ways, I feel blessed to be allowed to serve God in that way.

See Cathedral blog for the Hilton family of servers from St Joseph's who served recently at the ordination of Fr John Millar in September 2012.