Sandakan cathedral organises second altar servers camp

SANDAKAN – The second Altar Servers Camp organised by St Mary’s Cathedral here  saw a remarkable attendance of 77 altar servers on 16-18 Mar 2016. The theme for this year’s camp was “To serve with love and mercy.”

The participants were those serving in the cathedral parish, in  St Joseph, St Mark, St Paul Ulu Dusun, Our Lady of Fatima Beluran, St Emmanuel Jaya Bakti and in St Anthony Bukit Garam.

With the campers was Fr Sunny Chung the spiritual adviser for the altar servers. He facilitated several sessions, one of which highlighted  the basics of being an altar server.

Among the activities was a pilgrimage to Bukit Maria where participants prayed the Rosary along the hike up the hill culminating in the celebration of Mass at the peak  by Fr Chung.

A treasure hunt was organised to inculcate in the participants a team spirit, willingness to discuss together how to solve problems and capacity to communicate with each other. These attitudes contribute to an effective service as an altar server.

The social evening provided a time of relaxation with BBQ, spontaneous presentations from different parishes and chapel, and also from the facilitators themselves. Religious sisters and other youths from the Parish Youth Apostolate also came along for the fun night.

On the final day of camp, one session served to introduce the patron saints of altar servers, St Tarcisius and St John Berchmans to the participants.

Before camp ended, Fr Sunny called on participants to serve with dedication and discipline. Unless they have a clear understanding of the identity of an altar server, they would not be serious in their call to be altar servers. “As altar server, one must serve with passion and always be ready to serve others with the love and mercy of God,  like Knights of the Altar,”  said the spiritual adviser. – Norwin Edwin Biano