Altar servers of St Mary’s Cathedral after the Mass presided by Fr Simon Kontou at Mount Marian
By Gerard Chong
Apr 12 2023
SANDAKAN – Altar servers of St Mary’s Cathedral; God’s small army of young men assisting the priests during Holy Mass in the Church, gathered for the first time after the pandemic, for a recollection from Mar 31-Apr 2.
With the blessings and approval of parish priest, Fr Simon Kontou, a total of 50 young boys attended this recollection, organized by the Altar Server Committee. The young boys are serving as altar servers in the English and BM Masses, with some senior altar servers who have served for over seven years. Some of them are students from St Mary’s Youth Hostel and St Peter’s Chapel, Sungai Manila.
The program began with Station of the Cross on the first day followed with Mass. The session then began with Kenny Mark and Clifford Simeon facilitated the ice breaking session. It was to encourage the participants to build and strengthen their relationship with each other. The first talk was ‘Expectations of an Altar Server’, moderated by Stephen Simeon.
The second day of the recollection started with the recitation of the Holy Rosary along the Rosary Corridor at Mount Marian followed with Holy Mass, celebrated in the open shed by Fr Simon. In his homily, he shared about the great love of Jesus and that because of His great love, He sacrificed himself for the redemption of the world. Fr Simon said, “Let us give thanks for His love, and serve Him with love.”
Fr Simon presided the Holy Mass
After the Mass, Gerard Chong explained about the ‘Liturgical Objects’ used during the celebration of the Holy Mass in the Catechetical Room. Fr Simon then conducted an afternoon session entitled ‘Why you are called to serve as an Altar Server’ and ‘Holy Week’.
He explained about the vocation in the Diocese of Sandakan and the liturgy of the Holy Week to prepare the participants as they entered into Paschal Triduum. In the evening, the boys joined the celebration of Palm Sunday in the Cathedral, whilst observing closely the liturgy of the Mass.
The last session after Mass was a team building session conducted by Marshall Owen where he explained that the altar servers are a community of God’s children that can serve and grow together in God’s house.
The altar servers’ recollection was indeed successful and have helped the boys understand their roles better in the Church.
