Last year an unidentified bishop asked the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments if he could require parishes to use female altar servers. No, according to the CDWS newsletter Notitiae. Using male servers is still the better idea, partly because altar boys are a prime source of priest vocations. No appeals if your parish still refuses girl servers; the pastor has the final say.

Gift of finest wheat

Catholic Worker communities in the church are known for soup kitchens, housing the poor and homeless and engaging in other ministries of justice advocacy in the spirit of their founder, Dorothy Day. In Guadalupe, Calif., one Catholic Worker house has added a co-op altar bread bakery to provide just employment for a handful of local women. “The cooperative bakery is exciting for providing a model for how employment can be just, as opposed to the kind of model we see in general,” said Dennis Apel, who founded this Worker house five years ago with his wife, Tensie Hernandez. Altar bread is made here with 100 percent organic whole wheat flour and purified water. Baking, cutting and packing is done by hand using equipment donated by Redwoods Monastery in Northern California. The list of customers is only about 20 parishes. That’s about one-third of potential production. New customers, according to Apel, “will not only be providing the ‘gift of finest wheat’ to your community. But you will also be participating in the work of social justice in our community.” For information about the Catholic Worker Co-op Bakery call 805-343-0454. (News material courtesy of the Monterey Observer.)

Pillars of the church

When entering most churches, the eye is often drawn to art: windows, murals, statues or the overall architectural scope. If you visit St. Edward the Martyr Parish in Sisters, Ore., don’t overlook the prayer garden or its distinctive pillars. Thirty-four pillars have been carved into the images of saints by local artist Skip Armstrong. The men and women represented are patrons of the parishes of the Diocese of Baker. Each figure in turn holds a small model of the Oregon church building dedicated to that saint.

Father Thomas Faucher notes the effort is part of a second phase of renovation that also includes a 70-seat expansion of the worship space, some stained glass windows and the new garden. “It’s very important that our churches reflect the beauty that God has put in the earth,” Faucher said. “In Catholicism, there is a long tradition of cloistered gardens being connected to the churches. We think that it’s important to get back to an appreciation of natural beauty and art in worship of God. This garden will be a place of prayer and meditation for the whole community.” (Material courtesy of the Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Ore.) ML

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