My Eight Years as an Altar Boy

Altar boy

In the wake of the recent celebration of Holy Week and Easter, I got to thinking about some of the times I experienced as a boy and young adult in upstate New York.  In particular, I recall the years I was an Altar Boy at St. Martin’s Church in Port Leyden.

I started when I was in the fourth grade back in 1967 when all boys in my religious education class were invited to become Altar Servers.   By the way, girls were invited to take part in a service club known as Sodality.  It would be many years before girls were permitted to serve on the altar.

Sister Agnes Claire was our trainer and she was a tough taskmaster.  We had practice once a week after school at the church.   Our practice began with a prayer, then repetition of the elements of the Catholic Mass and our role in helping the priest on the altar.

We learned when to genuflect, how to genuflect, how to hold the book of priest prayers, when to get the water and wine, how to hold the gold-plated paten under the chin of persons receiving Holy Communion, and when to ring the bells during the Eucharistic Prayers.

Week after week, we’d go to practice.  Week after week, we’d review each segment of the celebration while learning what to do and what not to do.  But week after week, Sister told us we were still not ready to take our place at the altar.

Eventually, we would each be issued a black cassock and a while surplice.  This was the official “uniform” of a server.  We were told to take the cassock and surplice home and “have our Mom wash and iron them”.  It was another step toward getting an assignment.

Finally, in February 1968, I got the call.  One afternoon after school, Sister Agnes Claire phoned my home to tell me that I would have my first assignment on the altar. I was told I would be “serving on the side”, which meant that I wouldn’t have to actually do any of the things I had been taught during the past five months.

My only job was to show up with my cassock and surplice, process out of the priest’s sanctuary with the other “real” servers at the beginning of Mass, and sit on the side of the altar throughout the service.

I was nervous and recall being pushed out onto the altar from one of the senior servers when my feet seemed to be stuck to the floor at the start of the Mass.  But I got through it.  I think my Dad was in the congregation that first night.  My Mom had not yet converted to Catholicism.

Within weeks, I would get my shot at actually serving as a “real” server.   By the next year, I fancied myself one of the senior types who helped the newbies overcome their nervousness.

Over the years, I was tempted to give up my altar serving.  Several of the boys who started with me that first year had already dropped out of the ministry.  Some were not even coming to church anymore.

The temptation to end my stint as an altar boy was strong.  After all I reasoned, I was a teenager and the cassock and surplice were not really cool.  But with some encouragement from my Dad to stick with it, I persevered.  By the time I was a senior in high school, serving on the altar was a badge of honor I wore proudly.

The last Mass I served at St. Martin’s was the day after my high school graduation.  I still wonder if Sister Agnes Claire purposely scheduled me for that day so that I wouldn’t be tempted to overdo it on the partying after the graduation ceremony.  I’ll never know.

Father Lyddy

Our priest during those late teen years was Father Lyddy: a kind man and a good teacher.  As we continued to grow into our roles, Father Lyddy allowed my friend Phil and me to read scripture as a Lector during Masses when we were serving Mass.  That’s where I got my first opportunity to Lector.   Little by little, he was introducing us to other ministries in the Church.

Serving on the altar also cemented my friendship Phil.  The two of us had known each other since kindergarten, but our time as Altar Boys at St. Martin’s created a unique bond that remains to this day.

I’ll always remember Holy Week when I was in my late teens.  For an Altar Boy, this was the World Series of serving with three special celebrations followed by the Easter Sunday Mass.   There were special rehearsals for these services.  By then, Phil and I were always assigned the Mass on Holy Thursday, the service on Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday.

Many times after Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday services, Phil and I would just stand outside the church and talk for what seemed to be a good hour or more.  While we both remained friends, both of us had expanded our base of friends to include others.  But our service together as Altar Servers created a special bond.

Upon graduation from high school, Phil entered the United States Air Force Academy and had a successful career in the military.  I went on to Herkimer County Community College and Syracuse University before embarking on my first career as a television journalist.

Throughout our professional lives, we both continued to serve our respective parishes in ministry roles:  Phil was a Eucharistic Minister and I became a Lector.

I’m grateful for those eight years as an Altar Boy.  I’m certain it kept me engaged in a church going culture that existed in my family during my years growing up.

My service built a foundation for my volunteer work in church ministry that continues to this day. 

But most of all, I associate my time as an Altar Boy as a positive experience that I wouldn’t have traded for anything.  It was indeed a blessing.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced and is a parishioner at St. Patrick’s Church in Merced. 

The E-Reader and the B-M-T-R List

I won a prize at the Greater Merced Chamber mixer the other night.

I try to attend a few of the Chamber’s monthly networking events during the year.  As many of you may know, I am the former Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber.  Going to the Greater Chamber's mixers help me reconnect with Chamber members, local government office holders and staff, as well as new folks interested in promoting their businesses through the Chamber.

The event sponsor was Comfort Keepers, a home health care company.   It’s customary at these events that a raffle be held.  I bought some tickets when I learned that the proceeds from that night’s raffle would benefit the local Food Bank and Catholic Charities.

Both are among the many human service agencies that help our community. Comfort Keepers chose these two organizations and solicited local businesses and their suppliers to provide prizes for the drawing.

Besides knowing that 100-percent of ticket sales would benefit these two charities, the raffle boasted some pretty nifty prizes.  And as luck would have it, I won an e-reader.

Now I can read books without paper.

I spent the weekend getting my e-reader ready to go.  It was surprisingly easy for a technically challenged person like me.  Within an hour, I had downloaded the Complete Works of Mark Twain.

Within a few days, I had finished reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.  I chose that novel as my first e-read because it was available and because I often feel I don't read enough of the classics.

Having enjoyed The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in grade school and Huckleberry Finn in high school, I thought it would be fun to go back to basics.  Mark Twain is getting considerable renewed interest in recent months following the publication of his autobiography some one-hundred years after his death.

Reading with an e-reader has been a real adventure.  I tap the screen when I reach the bottom of the page.  If I tap too lightly, the page won't turn.  If I tap too hard, it turns more than one page.

Lighting was always an issue when I read a book on paper.  I need to be in a well-lit room or outdoors.  With the e-reader, the book itself is lit like a computer screen so a room light is no longer necessary.

Outdoors, the model I have does pretty well in sunlight, although it hasn't really been tested until it comes up against a San Joaquin Valley summer sunshine day.  I'll let you know how that works in July.

Most importantly, the e-reader has allowed me to read classic literature on my terms.  Many classic books are available for free through the e-reader manufacturer.

Others, such as a Bible or the Mark Twain collection I purchased, are just 99-cents.  Best sellers, such as former President Bush's autobiography Decision Points, cost about ten to fifteen dollars for an e-reader edition.

I'll probably fall into a routine of continuing my weekly trips to the Merced Public Library for the latest books, while picking up an occasional book at a bookstore or church sale. I plan on using the e-reader for my self-described BMTR books.

BMTR books are books I’ve “been meaning to read”.  Last year, I promised myself to concentrate on classic literature.  That focus resulted in only one classic (A Picture of Dorian Gray) among the nearly fifty books I read in 2010.

With my e-reader, I can load up many more at low or no cost.  I may actually have a better shot of completing more of the classics this year.  Let’s hope so.

At any rate, I'll probably end up reading more thanks to my newest option for enjoying books.  And I haven't even started to explore the possibilities with getting newspaper and magazines through the e-reader.  It will be one step at a time for me as I expand my digital horizons.

I won more than just a prize the other night at the Chamber mixer.  I also won a new way to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes: reading.  I entered the digital age for books.  And I couldn't be happier.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Volunteerism

My good friend Jim North invited me to speak before the Merced Kiwanis at the club’s February 16 meeting.  He asked me to prepare some comments about volunteerism as the club is trying to attract new members. Currently, I am on inactive status at another Merced service club.  My work demands take me away from regular club attendance so I asked my service club to put me on that status. 

What that means is that I remain linked to the organization, but am temporarily relieved from such membership requirements as regular meeting attendance.

I believe in volunteering for a number of reasons.  First of all, the Merced community needs it.  Any community with unemployment as high as Merced’s rate ~ certainly has more than its’ share of challenges. 

Volunteers can help identify needs, and rise to the occasion to meet these needs.

Volunteering benefits the person giving his or her time to a good cause.  Just ask the men and women of Merced Kiwanis about how they feel as they plan and work on a community project. 

Whether it’s their thirty-plus years as bell-ringers for the Salvation Army’s holiday fund drive, preparing turkeys to help feed over two-thousand people at the Thanksgiving dinner at the Merced Rescue Mission, or serving up pancakes at their annual fall breakfast, these volunteers are having a good time and feeling good about their community.

Merced Kiwanis also helps children in our community through scholarships, the Zoo-Boo Halloween event, the Junior Olympics, and the Special Olympics.  Club members feel good about the work they do.  Our children benefit from these volunteers, who also serve as role models for community stewardship.

I wrote about volunteerism as one of fourteen soft skills in my 2009 book Soft Skills for Hard Times. I wrote the book as a means to give credibility to employers who often tell me they could train an employee on a specific job, but that it was hard for them to teach someone on such soft skills as attitude or showing up ready to work. 

I took these common soft skills, added a few that I thought were relevant, and compiled a quick read on what gives employees an added advantage in today’s economy.  Naturally, I think volunteerism is an important soft skill.

In the chapter on volunteerism, I share the story of a friend of mine who had passed away at the age of eighty-four.  I first met him when he was on the interview team for a job that I was up for at a chamber of commerce. 

He took me to task for not having any volunteer activities on my resume.  I defended my resume by saying I was too busy working to have time for civic activities.  He didn’t like my answers and he let me know it. He was right.

Somehow, I was hired by the organization and I stayed there for ten years.  But I made it my business to inject myself into the community.  One sure fire way for me to do that was through volunteering.  I joined a civic club, stepped up my church related activities, and said, “yes” more and more when called up to serve in the community. 

I have my friend George to thank for showing me that volunteering matters.

There’s a country music song that George Strait, one of my favorite singers performs regularly.   One of the lines in that song goes like this:  “You don’t bring nothing with you here, and you can’t take nothing back.  I never saw a hearse with a luggage rack.”

The person who wrote those lyrics for George Strait is onto something.  We come to this life with nothing, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave.  What really matters is what we do during the time we’re here on this earth.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced