Guild of Servants of the Sanctuary - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Guild of Servants of the Sanctuary or GSS is an association of altar servers in the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

and the Church in Wales

Church in Wales

The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...

, with some overseas organisation in several other countries.

Objectives and Membership

The Guild states its objectives as follows:

to raise the spiritual tone of altar servers;
to promote a conscientious performance of the duties of altar servers; and
to encourage more frequent attendance at the Holy Eucharist, in addition to times of duty.

Membership is open to any man or woman who is an altar server in the Church of England

Church of England

and 'accepts Catholic Faith and Practice'. (In the context of the Guild, Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

is understood to mean 'of the universal church' and NOT 'Roman Catholic'.)

Organisation

The Guild is organised into local chapters, each overseen by a secretary, who is a member of the Guild, and a chaplain, who is a priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

and thus a 'priest associate' of the Guild. Chapters meet regularly: a typical gathering takes the form of a specially-tailored version of Evensong

Evening Prayer (Anglican)

Evening Prayer is a liturgy in use in the Anglican Communion and celebrated in the late afternoon or evening...

called the 'Guild Office': this consists largely of Psalms

Psalms

The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...

and Canticles sung antiphon

Antiphon

An antiphon in Christian music and ritual, is a "responsory" by a choir or congregation, usually in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or other text in a religious service or musical work....

ally, culminating in the Magnificat (Song of Mary)

Magnificat

The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...

and a brief reading from the Holy Bible. The Guild Office will often be followed by a short address and perhaps Benediction

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is a devotional ceremony celebrated within the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as in some Anglican and Lutheran Churches, Liberal Catholic churches, Western Rite Orthodox churches, and Latinised Eastern Catholic Churches.Benediction of the...

. When undertaking Guild activities, members dress in choir dress

Choir dress

Choir dress is the vesture of the clerics, seminarians and religious of traditional churches worn for public prayer, either apart from the eucharist or by those attending the eucharist as the clergy part of the congregation rather than as the celebrants...

: typically a black cassock

Cassock

The cassock, an item of clerical clothing, is an ankle-length robe worn by clerics of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Church, Lutheran Church and some ministers and ordained officers of Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Ankle-length garment is the meaning of the...

with a white surplice

Surplice

A surplice is a liturgical vestment of the Western Christian Church...

, but sometimes a white or coloured cassock-alb

Cassock-alb

The cassock alb or cassalb is a relatively modern garment and is a combination of the traditional cassock and alb. It developed as a convenient undergarment worn by clergy and as an alternative to the alb for deacons and acolytes.- Usage :...

according to local usage. Members also wear a special 'Guild Medal' engraved with the text (in Latin) 'I will go unto the altar of God', Introibo ad Altare Dei, which is the opening line of a well-known prayer said by those preparing to assist at the Holy Eucharist.

Ordination of Women

As with many of the Catholic Societies of the Church of England

Church of England

, the Guild's official stance on the ordination of women

Ordination of women

Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...

is moderately strong opposition: on March 18, 2006 the Guild's General Council affirmed an earlier Warden's Statement not to recognise as valid the orders of women ordained to the priesthood and stated that any meeting using the sacramental offices of a woman priest could not be considered to be a meeting of the Guild; however, the Council stopped short of expelling individual members of the Guild who availed themselves of the offices of women priests outside the immediate context of the Guild, instead asking that they 'should respect the stance of the Guild on such matters.'

Objectives and Membership

Organisation

Ordination of Women

See also

Further reading