[Question:]{.underline} Is it permissible for a married man to serve at the altar?
[Answer:]{.underline} The serving at the altar for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is of such dignity that the Church has consecrated the various functions of the altar server by the minor orders. The Porter receives the power to ring the bells and to hold the book, the Exorcist receives the power to pour the water for the Lavabo and the Acolyte receives the power to carry the candles and to bring the water and wine to the altar for the Sacrifice of the Mass. In each case the consecration of the cleric to God is symbolized by the exterior movements that he performs on the altar, so that the Porter gives a good example by his life to the faithful, so that he can call them to prayer, the Exorcist gives an example of purity of soul, and the Acolyte gives the example of the light of goodness, justice and truth to enlighten the faithful and the Church of God, and of the spirit of self-sacrifice through a chaste life and good works. (Cf. Pontificale, Ceremonies of ordination).
The appropriateness of the service of the altar by a cleric is consequently directly related to the holiness of the function, which requires a man consecrated to God. Furthermore, it is a public function, which is why, as St. Thomas Aquinas points out, “he takes the place of the whole Catholic people, in whose place he answers the priest who addresses him in the plural form” (IIIa, 83, 5 Ad 12). Consequently it is eminently appropriate that it be performed by a tonsured cleric, having publicly put on “the new man, who has been created according to God in justice and in the sanctity of the truth” (Ib.), and this even if no faithful are present.
Thus, if a tonsured cleric is present, he should serve the Mass. However, this is rarely the case, and yet the Church requires that there be an altar server. In his 1947 encyclical on the sacred Liturgy, Pope Pius XII taught this very directly: “It is our duty and command — as it is the command of Holy Mother Church — that out of reverence for the dignity of this august Sacrifice no priest should go to the altar without a server to assist and answer the Mass, according to the prescription of Canon 813” (Mediator Dei, §97). This canon states, in effect, that the priest is not to celebrate without a server (minister) to serve him and make the responses, and furthermore that this server must not be a woman, except that in the absence of a man, and for a just cause, she make the responses from a distance and in no way dare to approach the altar. In such a case, of course, she is not an altar server at all. The reasons to exclude a woman follow from what was said above about the public and liturgical nature of the function of serving on the altar, which involves a kind of spiritual leadership of the Catholic people.
In his commentary on this question, Father O`Connell states: “Although he [the server] is supposed to be a cleric, in practice, servers who are not clerics are permitted” (The Celebration of Mass, p. 365). This is confirmed by the section on the Missal that lists the defects that can occur in celebration, which states as a defect: “if there is no cleric present, or another person who can serve, or if the person present is one who must not serve, such as a woman” (X,1). This clearly means that a man non-cleric can serve and that this is not a defect, and such is the universal custom.
If boys are customarily used to serve on the altar, it is because they are all potential vocations, presumed to be chaste and virtuous, and to have at least the possibility of becoming clerics in the future, if it be the will of God. It certainly gives the boys a great opportunity to develop their love of the Church`s beautiful ceremonies, its sacredness and symbolism, and they are wont to pay great attention to details, as do clerics.
However, this does not mean that a married man is in any way excluded from serving. The key question here is to remember that it is a public function, which a role of spiritual leadership with respect to the faithful in assistance at the Mass. It is consequently imperative that such a man be chaste according to his state in life (marital chastity is a virtue) and that he be an example of virtue and that he live at least the consecration to God of his baptism. In fact, it would be much more appropriate for a married man living in the state of grace to serve than for an unmarried man or boy who is not able to go to Holy Communion because he is not in the state of grace, or whose life and works are a cause of scandal. In each case, he cannot forget that he is performing the role of a soul consecrated to the greater honor and glory of Almighty God. The important proviso, though, is that the married man not become sloppy about the ceremonies, movements and Latin responses, and that he pay as much attention to doing all these things precisely as a cleric, or as a boy who is learning them for the first time.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.