Altar servers from around Australia gathered in Brisbane for the Guild of St Stephen’s national conference from January 17-19.
The event marked 60 years of the Guild in Australia, and attracted 105 servers, including 14 participants from WA.
Director of the Guild of St Stephen Fr Danai Penollar told The Record he was pleased with the level of interest in the conference, which focused on the theme of the Trinity.
With Archbishop Mark Coleridge attending the national liturgy conference in Wollongong, Brisbane’s Auxiliary Bishop Brian Finnigan opened the event before speaking to the servers about the first person of the Trinity.
Australia’s Papal Nuncio Archbishop Paul Gallagher celebrated the closing Mass of the conference, after inducting about 30 new servers into the Guild.
WA participants travelled from as far as Albany and Pinjarra, the latter of which was home to one of the original branches of the Guild 60 years ago.
Albany deacon Ron Webb said despite the lengthy time spent travelling, the group thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
“The kids in the buses were engaged in prayerful activity on the way, and we stopped at a few churches,” he said.
“We had daily Mass during our travels and the kids would rotate serving.”
Deacon Ron said the conference provided the servers from the Holy Family Parish with a number of new experiences.
“Compared to what we normally do at parish level, we were graced with the choristers from Sydney Cathedral which was new,” he said.
“The kids were also exposed to Benediction in Latin, and other things they don’t normally see, as well as receiving ongoing training in their role.”
Fr Danai said he hopes to hold the next national conference in Perth in 2016.