Editing Altar server (section)

=== The term "acolyte" ===

As in other churches,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lhN2DwAAQBAJ&q=speer+%22altar+server%22 Roger Speer Jr., Sharon Ely Pearson, ''I Serve at God's Altar: The Ministry of Acolytes'' (Church Publishing 2018)]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=tIr-zGe0SFQC&dq=server+acolyte+interchangeable&pg=PA46 Robert Eaton, ''How to Motivate, Train and Nurture Acolytes'' (Church Publishing 2001), p. 46]</ref> altar servers are sometimes called acolytes in the [[Latin Church]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DtPfyf1JRvEC&dq=%22another+name+for+server+is+acolyte%22&pg=PA106 David Philippart, ''Serve God with Gladness: A Manual for Servers'' (Liturgy Training Publications 1998), p. 106]</ref><ref>[https://quizlet.com/108393189/st-peter-server-training-glossary-flash-cards/ St. Peter Server Training Glossary]</ref> [[Pope Benedict XVI]] spoke of Saint [[Tarcisius]] as "presumably an acolyte, that is, an altar server".<ref>[https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100804.html Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 4 August 2010]</ref> However, within the Latin Church, the term "acolyte" is also used in a more restricted sense, often specified as "instituted acolyte",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Laughlin |first1=Corinna |last2=Riley |first2=Kenneth A. |last3=Turner |first3=Paul |date=2014 |title=Guide for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIOgBAAAQBAJ&q=%22altar+server%22&pg=PA57 |publisher=LiturgyTrainingPublications |page=57 |isbn=9781616711283}}</ref> to mean an adult woman or man who has received the [[Minister (Catholic Church)#Instituted ministries|instituted ministry]] of that name.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/francis-changes-catholic-church-law-women-explicitly-allowed-lectors-altar-servers|title=Francis changes Catholic Church law: women explicitly allowed as lectors, altar servers|date=January 11, 2021|website=National Catholic Reporter}}</ref><ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__PV.HTM Code of Canon Law, canon 230]</ref> Acolytes in this narrower sense are not necessarily preparing for ordination as deacons and priests.<ref>[https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/40154/six-lay-men-installed-as-acolytes-in-spokane Six lay men installed as acolytes in Spokane (Catholic News Service, 14 December 2018)]</ref> They are authorized to carry out some functions, in particular that of cleansing the Eucharistic vessels, that are not entrusted to ordinary servers.<ref>[http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/GIRM/Documents/GIRM.pdf General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 192]</ref> Those who are to be ordained to the [[diaconate]] must be instituted as acolytes at least six months previously.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P3R.HTM Code of Canon Law, canon 1035 §2]</ref> This ministry was long classified in the Latin Church as a [[minor order]], as by the [[Council of Trent]].<ref>[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Canons_and_Decrees_of_the_Council_of_Trent/Session_XXIII/Sacrament_of_Orders Council of Trent, session XXIII]</ref><ref>[https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/trentall.html J. Waterworth, ed. (1848), ''The Canons and Decrees of the Sacred and Oecumenical Council of Trent'', pp. 170−192]</ref> The ''[[General Instruction of the Roman Missal]]'', which does not use the term "server" and instead speaks of altar servers generically among "other ministers", treats in detail of the functions of the "acolyte", often specifying "instituted acolyte".<ref>[http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/GIRM/Documents/GIRM.pdf General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 98, 100, 162, 191, 192, 247, 249, 279, 284]</ref>