Meet the People who Help Bring Our Masses to Life

By Julia Patton | Staff Writer

From altar servers and lectors to sacristans and choir members, the people behind KMC’s Masses help create an environment where students can encounter their faith.

When students walk into the gym for All-School Mass or the chapel for daily Mass, the focus is usually on what happens at the altar. But, before the first note is sung or scripture is proclaimed, dozens of details have already been taken care of.

For many students who serve, these responsibilities have become more than another school activity. They have become a way to deepen their faith.

For religion teacher Cecilia Knapp, helping care for the chapel is an opportunity to pray while serving.

“Cleaning the chapel is a perfect example of the motto of St. Benedict, ‘ora et labora,’ prayer and work,” Knapp said.

Knapp encourages students who clean the chapel to approach the work differently because they are working in a sacred space.

“Something that I ask all who participate in cleaning is to be silent as they go about their work,” Knapp said. “When working so close to the Blessed Sacrament, silence allows the heart to converse with the Lord even while working.”

While some students work behind the scenes, altar servers are directly involved in helping the priest celebrate Mass.

Senior Joseph Gordon said the role includes preparing the vessels used during Mass, bringing items from the credence table to the altar and helping signal important moments during the liturgy.

“Serving at the altar changed your own relationship with God or your experience of that Mass,” he said. “It’s definitely helped me grow my relationship with God.”

For Gordon, serving is also an opportunity to grow closer to God. Lectors have a similar responsibility in helping make the liturgy happen. Senior Violet Baker said she became a lector when someone approached her about the need for more students to serve.

“I kind of felt a little prompting from the Holy Spirit to just say ‘yes’,” Baker said.

Being a lector requires preparation, especially when reading in front of a large group. Baker said she reads the passage several times before Mass and prays before proclaiming it.

“Right before, I normally say a prayer to the Holy Spirit, just like, ‘Holy Spirit, guide me,’” Baker said.

Over time, Baker said the experience has made her more comfortable speaking publicly and helped her connect with scripture.

Music also plays an important role in helping students enter into prayer. Senior Max Redcorn, a member of the school choir, said he originally joined because he needed something to add to his schedule. He soon found that choir became much more meaningful.

“It’s a really good way to show all the different aspects of school,” Redcorn said.

For junior Gabby McDonald, serving as a student sacristan also became more meaningful over time. She first became involved as a freshman after seeing a friend participate.

The role involves preparing for Mass, organizing items in the sacristy, bringing supplies to the gym and cleaning up afterward. McDonald said the work can be stressful when something is missing or goes wrong right before Mass.
She said her perspective changed when she began seeing the work as a ministry.

“I would say just going in with that by reminding myself that it’s a prayerful experience, that I’m doing something to serve God and not just something like checking things off my list,” McDonald said.

Fr. Seth Arnold, who helps plan school Masses, said the goal extends beyond simply getting students into the chapel. His goal is to “create an atmosphere of beauty and reverence and to help the students enter into the Mass,” he said.

Music, symbols, incense and the chapel environment can help students recognize that Mass is different from their normal school day.

“God made us both body and soul,” Fr. Seth said. “So whenever we have holy images, signs and symbols like candles and incense and beautiful music, it helps lift up our hearts and minds to God.”

He also recognizes how difficult it can be for high school students to slow down and focus.

“One of the biggest obstacles or distractions preventing students from engaging in their faith today or at Mass probably is the general noise of our culture and society that we live in today,” Fr. Seth.

For Avery Carroll, serving as a Eucharistic minister has given her a deeper appreciation for the Eucharist.

“I know that I’m doing it for God, so honestly, I don’t really care if people judge me for being an EMHC because I’m doing it for God,” Carroll said.

The most meaningful part of her training, she said, was recognizing the significance of what she was participating in.

“Just being able to realize that I’m holding the true body of Jesus Christ is such an impactful thing,” Carroll said.

Whether students are carrying a cross, proclaiming scripture, singing, preparing the altar, cleaning the chapel or distributing Communion, their roles can turn Mass from something they attend into something in which they actively participate. For the students and adults who serve, that work is about more than making Mass run smoothly. It is an opportunity to pray, serve and help create a space where the entire KMC community can encounter its faith.