Are you available for Liturgical Ministries?

Did you know that 15 or more people are actively involved in making each Mass happen?

Would you like to participate in any of the roles below?
Please complete our New Member form
Here are the roles that we couldn’t do without:

Team Leader

The St Alipius Community is in need of people to fill the following roles for 1 year. The positions can be ongoing for a 2nd year, if there is an interest by the person to continue.

Readers Team Leader
Sacristans Team Leader
Special Ministers of the Eucharist Team Leader
Welcomers Team Leader
Media Ministry Team Leader

The roles require:

a commitment to attend a Liturgy Committee meeting on the 3rd Tuesday afternoon of each month (February to November) from about 5pm – 6.30pm (or as negotiated by the members of the committee).
assist with rostering for your Team members (especially over Christmas & Easter ceremonies)
assisting with training of Team members in their ministry roles.

Would you like to participate as Team Leader? Please complete our Current Liturgy Availability webform

Mass Preparation Behind The Scenes

For each Mass, we need people working behind the scenes who can help prepare the following:

Art & Environment artist.
You work with Terresa Fletcher as the Art & Environment Team Leader to prepare flowers and relevant displays in our church for specific occasions.
Prayer of the Faithful editor/writer.
Prayers are provided online which have been sourced from ‘Pastoral Liturgy’. This role requires people to contextualise the prayers so they are relevant to our parish and focus our intentions on specific issues of the day. People in this role would need access to the internet. No specific apps on the computer are required as the content is built in Google docs.
Prepare Mass Powerpoint.
For each Mass in both communities, we have a Powerpoint that supports our involvement in the liturgy. Jason and David have created significant content to enable people to participate actively in our worship. People in this role would need access to the internet and have reasonable skills with PowerPoint.
Media Ministry.
We are in need of people with reasonable video editing skills where audio content is matched with the lyrics of songs/hymns and saved as MP$ files. People in this role would need access to the internet and have reasonable skills in editing video is their own application of choice.
Additionally, through the year, the Liturgy Committee is hoping to edit the Mass videos published during the Covid lockdowns to create Reflections on various themes from Fr Jorge & Sr Veronica’s homilies.
Please Note, these roles are not weekly roles, but may require a commitment for about a month (as you might be available) and rotated with others in the respective teams.

Would you like to participate behind the scenes? Please complete our Current Liturgy Availability webform

Sacristan

This person arrives about 45 minutes before Mass starts. As required, the Sacristan might open the church, turn on the heaters, turn on the lights, prepare the chalices & the trays along with the bread and wine, put out the relevant cloths for cleaning the trays and chalices, organise the missal and lectionary, prepare the altar. If a Baptism is occurring during/after Mass, the Sacristan will prepare the water, candles and other baptismal items. After Mass the Sacristan cleans the chalices & trays, tidies up after Baptisms, puts all items away, turns off heaters and lights, locks the sacristy and, after the evening Mass, locks the church.
Would you like to participate as Sacristan? Please complete our New Member form

Welcomer

This person often works in a team at the front door of the church to offer personal warmth and welcome all who come. The role of the Welcomer is to hand out the weekly bulletin, open the inner doors of the porch for those who need assistance and support anyone needing assistance to take their place in the church.
Would you like to participate as Welcomer? Please complete our New Member form

Altar Server

This person often works in pairs or small groups and is the Priest’s main assistant during Mass. The Altar Servers might assist the Sacristan in putting all the relevant items for use in their place in the Sanctuary and help the Sacristan during the clean-up after Mass. But during Mass, they move books from one place to another, hold implements the Priest might need to use for special occasions like holy water, incense, etc.
The Altar Server has often been thought of as a role for a primary school aged child, but it is very well suited for a secondary school aged youth and even those young adults attending tertiary study or at work.
Often the Altar Server needs to respond quickly to something that needs someone with a good understanding of their role and that of the Priest.
Would you like to participate as Altar Server? Please complete our New Member form

Media Ministry

This ministry has been created to train people (especially senior secondary students and young adults to:
– Organise the content for the Mass PowerPoint
– create video content for hymn audio files
– attend Mass and operate the data projector, as described below for the Visual Display Operator.
With enough people you will only be called on once/month to operate the PowerPoint at Mass or create the Mass PowerPoint.
Would you like to be a member of the Media Ministry Team? Please complete our New Member form

Visual Display Operator (VDO)

This person needs to develop a good sense of the parts of the Mass so they can project the spoken and sung words from the computer to the screens for the congregation to join in.
The DPO arrives 15 – 20 minutes early to set up the technology, test that it’s working and pack up after Mass.
Would you like to participate as DPO? Please complete our New Member form

Musician(s)

This role is especially suited for duos or small groups with at least one singer who is prepared to lead the congregation in song. However, the musician may also be a solo singer/keyboard player or singer/guitarist.
The music is available on the SAP Liturgy website and Musicians are encouraged to select suitable hymns from the list, relevant to the theme of the Mass. They work with their VDO to make sure the Powerpoint is ready with all the relevant lyrics. It would be expected that the Musician(s) would start setting up for Mass 30-40 minutes beforehand. Microphones and a guitar/keyboard amplifier are available at the church, as well as an electric piano.
We also have a budding parish community choir which sings at St Alipius Mass on a monthly basis and for the special feasts like Easter and Christmas. This group rehearses most Tuesday evenings from 6.30pm – 7.30pm at St Alipius Church.
Would you like to participate as Musician? Please complete our New Member form

Reader

Normally two Lectors are rostered on for each Mass. They process into the church with the Priest and other Ministers at the beginning of Mass, with one of the Lectors bringing the Lectionary up and placing it on the Lectern. The 1st Lector reads the 1st Reading and the Responsorial Psalm (if not sung). The second Lector reads the Second Reading, leads the Alleluia verse (if not sung) and, after the Homily, the Prayers of the faithful.
Would you like to participate as Lector? Please complete our New Member form

Presenters of Gifts

These people usually work in pairs. Often it is a good role for a family group where a parent with another member of their family meet at the table (at the back of the church) after the Prayers of the Faithful. Once the collection has concluded, they bring the gifts of bread and wine to the Altar for blessing and distribution during communion. If an Altar Server is not present, The Presenters of Gifts may be asked to assist the Priest with preparing the gifts at the Altar.
Would you like to participate as Presenter of Gifts? Please complete our New Member form

Special Minister of the Eucharist

Usually 2-3 people are rostered on for this role. They process into the Church with the Priest at the beginning of Mass and then sit in their usual places in the body of the church. At Communion time, the Special Ministers of the Eucharist proceed to the Sanctuary, take Communion with the Priest and distribute the Eucharistic Bread and offer the Chalice to the congregation.
Would you like to participate as Special Minister of the Eucharist? Please complete our New Member form

Collector

This person usually works in a team of 4. At the beginning of Mass each Collector is provided with a basket, After the Prayers of the Faithful, they take their baskets to the congregation and organise for the orderly collection of financial support the congregation provides. Two members of the Collector Team bring these expressions of financial support to the Altar as part of the Gifts of the People. Many of the Collectors are also rostered on to count the money of a Sunday morning.
Would you like to participate as Collector? Please complete our New Member form

Which role can you help with?

These are the roles that are so important for each Sunday Mass. Three Masses are celebrated in the Parish each weekend:

two Masses are celebrated at the St Alipius community, Ballarat East (Saturday vigil Mass & Sunday morning)
one Mass is celebrated at the Sts Peter & Paul community, Buninyong (Sunday morning)

Role	No. required for each Mass	No. required each week	No. required so each person is only rostered 1/month	No of people currently involved	Notes
Sacristan	1	3	12	6	It would be good to have another 5, especially for Buninyong
Welcomers	2	6	24	6	Good to have another 10 – 12
Altar Servers	2	6	24	2	Good to have 20 or more
Visual Display operator (PowerPoint)	1	3	12	7	Good to have 5, especially for Sunday morning
Musicians	3	9	36	3	Need another 5 duos/ensembles
Readers	2	6	36	21	Good to have 15 people, especially for Sunday morning Mass
Special Ministers of the Eucharist	1 or 2	6	30	19	Good to have 15 people across all Masses
Collectors	4	12	48	4	Need another 20+
Presenters of Gifts	2	6	24	16	Good to have 20 – 30 families.
Total	18 – 20	56	248	38	About 15 people double up for multiple roles

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