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By assisting at the altar, adults and children have the opportunity for direct involvement in the liturgy of the church. For children, the ideal age to start serving Mass is about 9 years old, after they have made their First Communion.

Most altar servers prefer to serve Mass at the same time each Sunday. This requires some commitment on the part of parents who need to ensure that their children come in good time before the service starts. Occasionally, it may be necessary for the servers to attend practice sessions.

Five of the Cathedral's Altar Servers

The Cathedral Altar Servers are enrolled in the Archconfraternity of St Stephen. The aims of the Guild of St Stephen are:

• To encourage, positively and practically, the highest standards of serving at the Church's liturgy and so contribute to the whole community's participation in a more fruitful worship of God.
• To provide altar servers with a greater understanding of what they are doing so that they may serve with increasing reverence and prayerfulness and thereby be led to a deepening response to their vocation in life.