Talk:Altar server

message: When adding this section I realized that I may have introduced a problem in Acolyte.  I claimed there that Orthodoxy no longer had a separate office of "taper-bearer" based on the service books available to me, but these all reflect the Slavic tradition.  I knew that Greek altar boys were ordained to something, but as I wrote this it occurred to me that I didn't know exactly what.  I said Reader (minor orders) here in the event, but it may be that the Greeks still have a distinctive "taper-bearer" and that's what their altar boys are ordained as.  I would appreciate it if someone who knows for sure would fix this. TCC (talk) (contribs) (old comment)
:the whole section needs a reference or two.  E.g.  in some places teen boys cannot serve because they are not considered innocent enough.  And the bit about vesting during Communion - why then do deacons adjust the orar to the style of a Sub-Deacon?  Not to argue about the points, just needs references. --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 17:51, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Eastern Orthodox

message: As a former altar server as well, I can tell you for a fact that there was formal training involved. After your training, you received your cassock and surplus from the parish priest. --209.244.30.235 (talk) 18:59, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  comment at the beginning of RC altar boy 

message: 'Many altar servers see themselves usually not as priesthood candidates, even if the church sometimes tries to influence them in this direction.'
This i think, is not 'entirely' true.. All the altar boys in my parish (including myself) and lots in most other parishes ive served at etc all feel they have a vocation to the sacred Priesthood, which is the only reason we are serving! :). I dont know for sure, but im thinking this is a genreal sweeping statement, feel free to discuss though.
:The "gold standard" for Wikipedia entries is verifiability. This article is sadly unreferenced overall, mainly becuase it's not a topic much written on. Editors are therefore writing from their personal experience. In this case that's mainly reliable as far as what being an altar server entails, but when it comes to subtopics that really should be statistically based, personal experience is a hazardous guide. If a study or two could be cited, giving the proportion of priests who were altar boys, or the proportion of altar boys who became priests, that would be much more reliable. TCC (talk) (contribs) 22:51, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  comment at the end of RC altar boy 

message: Why is there no talk of the rape of altar boys in this article?
:Win  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.2.230.166 (talk) 15:36, 11 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rape 

message: I believe that since the 1960's, the missal has been phased out and replaced with the Sacramentary that contains all the prayers related to the mass. Would it be correct to change references to the missal in this article to the Sacramentary? Benrr101 (talk) 23:52, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Replace Missal with Sacramentary 

message: The article's assertion that altar server has "almost completely replaced" altar boy may well be true within the church itself, but it certainly is not so in general/colloquial use. "Altar boy" is, at least here in the UK, far more common (unless, of course, the person in question is not a boy). See, for example, this BBC article, which uses "altar boy" while mentioning the past of a murder victim. 86.132.140.207 (talk) 01:54, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Altar server vs altar boy 

message: The material on female altar servers is well sourced, so I have restored it again.  Please discuss any problems with it here rather than continuing to remove it.  Thanks!  -- Cat Whisperer (talk) 23:34, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Female altar servers 

message: "Alter boy" is not the usual term anymore, incorrectly stated in the article. Alter server is much more popular, as is female altar servers.Mazeau (talk) 21:12, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Hey, there are new things under the sun: female boys. -- Turris Davidica (talk) 23:12, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: No, they are girls doing the duties of boys as if they were also boys.75.27.148.62 (talk) 05:29, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: No Sir, this is why we call it altar server. --Turris Davidica (talk) 20:23, 26 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Your opinion does not change the fact that girls are serving as altar boys, hence the term "female altar boys."75.27.148.62 (talk) 04:34, 28 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: They are serving as altar servers (what abount adult men? Boys too?). There is no such term as female altar boy. But there's no point in discussing this here, since "female boy" is unsourced. --Turris Davidica (talk) 22:15, 2 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Altar boy 

message: These two articles discuss the same subject; they should be merged. Neelix (talk) 02:29, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Merge with [[Acolyte]] 

message: I noticed that there was a controversy surrounding the existence of gay altar servers, notably about one such altar server in the Canadian province of Ontario, who announced he was launching a human rights complaint against the Church for having been dismissed while he was living with his male partner. The issue of gay altar servers is not really the same as gay altar boys, given that the former are adults, while the latter were often involved in clerical child abuse cases.  ADM (talk) 15:09, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Gay altar servers

message: please merge this article with acolyte --Camilo Sanchez (talk) 02:09, 25 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge

message: The lay ministry of altar server, usually filled by young laypersons (usually now both boys and girls), is not the same- not as expansive a role- in the Catholic churches as the former minor order of Acolyte. An instituted acolyte is (especially since Pope Benedict XVI's instruction limiting the role of Acolyte to the following cases) usually a seminarian in graduate theology school or a permanent deacon in formational training who has not yet been ordained a deacon (or who may have been allowed to retain the role when he left beforehand).  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.223.133.1 (talk) 02:41, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: You are right in stating the expressions should not be confused. Just let me add that of course the acolyte, although instituted, is also a lay minister.--Turris Davidica (talk) 17:48, 18 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Do not merge

message: Is it true that the tradition to have "normal" boys (rather than adult men or seminarists) as altar servers dates from the pontificate of Pope Pius X, i.e. after 1900? Generally there is too little on the history of altar servers in this article! -- 77.7.142.251 (talk) 09:49, 1 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Altar '''boys''' since when? 

message: There should be some mention of girls being disallowed service at the altar in Traditional Catholic parishes, as well as by Sedevacantists.75.27.148.62 (talk) 20:51, 24 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: In the early to mid-90s my little brother was an altar boy I went to my Tampa St Pete diocese and told them that it wasn't fair because I was a girl I couldn't do it! The following year me and three or four of my friends other girls decided to become alter servers I was officer of the year for 2 years in a row after going to the Tampa St Pete diocese award show 2600:6C5D:50F0:4530:3DF2:A59:2B57:E476 (talk) 00:14, 25 September 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Traditional Catholics 

message: "Ministrant" is a redlink now. On the other hand, altar ministrant redirects here. Can anybody turn it blue? Staszek Lem (talk) 23:45, 25 February 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Ministrant]] 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: There is a marked lack of mention of any duties altar servers have in the context of the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. These duties are extensive compared to the Ordinary Form, and include making all the Latin responses to the priest's prayers, e.g. the Confiteor. I would think that an extra section could be opened to document these duties. It is not enough to mention them parenthetically interspersed in the Ordinary Form descriptions. 2600:8800:1880:91E:5604:A6FF:FE38:4B26 (talk) 15:10, 25 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Extraordinary form duties 

message: There is no reason on only one photo to say there are people "dressed as altar servers".  Either apply the phrase to one or none. Kurt20008 (talk) 19:55, 16 January 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Servers 

message: I'm thinking of becoming a server, and wanted to know what the job consists of. I find that it's apparently a children's role (I'm 65, and know that it isn't), and that some people think there are such things as 'female altar boys'. I don't know where to start (not here, obviously).Snugglepuss (talk) 21:37, 30 March 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Don't know where to start 

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thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion