Presided over by Bishop Gregory Parkes on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle hosted the Altar Server Appreciation Mass on March 27th 2022. Families, friends, priests from various parishes, and diocesan ministry leaders gathered to celebrate altar servers of the Diocese of St. Petersburg and commemorate their unique calling to service and charity.

“We give thanks to God for you, our altar servers. This is a remarkable occasion. It is a joy to have you all here,” said Diocesan Vocations Director, Father Chuck Dornquast, as the Mass began.

After the Gospel reading from Luke, Father Izzie Hernandez came to the front of the altar, beginning his homily with a heartfelt thank you to the altar servers seated before him. He then asked the young servers, “How many of you have ever wanted to be a superhero or maybe a sidekick?” Most of the children raised their hands eagerly.

Father Izzie continued, saying, “a sidekick is the official representative of the hero. You see Robin as a man of justice because Batman represented justice. You, our altar servers, are our sidekicks, every time you serve on the altar. But we don’t only have a hero, we have a Savior, which is so much better than any superhero we could ever imagine.”

“As an altar server, you are an official ambassador of Christ. What greater privilege is there? Serving brings us back to when Jesus showed us the greatest act of any superhero - laying down His life. Today, we give thanks to you, and we give thanks to Christ for calling you to this ministry, for calling you to be His sidekicks,” said Father Izzie.

Father Izzie was chosen to deliver the homily at the Mass because he is the newest priest of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, having been ordained in May of 2021. This is a tradition associated with the Altar Server Mass, a celebration organized each year by the Office of Vocations of the Diocese.

At the end of Mass, Bishop Parkes gave out Altar Server of the Year awards to several young servers seated in the pews.

“We want to thank you for your very faithful, dedicated service at the altar. I served as an altar server when I was your age, along with my two brothers, and I have very good memories of doing that. I have no doubt that God was preparing me for what He was calling me to do, which was to serve Him as a priest, and now to serve as a Bishop,” said Bishop Parkes before handing out the awards.

One of these awards was given to Martin, a young server from St. Cecilia Parish.

“The Altar Server Appreciation Mass to me was very holy and I felt the Holy Spirit there guiding everyone’s hearts to goodness. It was astounding to see all the altar servers in one place, and it was a very nice experience,” said Martin.

If you’d like to pray for our altar servers, a prayer intention to consider is for their example of service to be followed with lives of fidelity, and for their parents, that the example of their lives of faithfulness and sacrifice would inspire their children to put God first and open their hearts to reach out to those in need.