April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
PARISH SERVICE
Teen sacristans keep St. Vincent's running
Teen sacristans keep St. Vincent's running
As he counted out communion hosts in the church sacristy before Mass, he said, he'd reflect on the fact that "the Eucharist is a hard thing to believe in. It just looks like bread all of the time. It made me think about it: 'Do I really think this is true? Is this really going to become Jesus's flesh and blood?'
"If it is, that's really important. If it is, that has to affect the way that I live, the way that I live my life."
At any given Mass at St. Vincent's, there is a high-schooler in the back of the church, counting the people in the pews. The parish hires several teens at a time to share the job of sacristan, and one of their duties is to get an accurate head count before measuring out hosts and wine for communion. If the count is off, all of the parishioners might not be able to receive the body and blood of Christ.
Behind the scenes
Adara Zullo, a senior at Albany High School, is currently St. Vincent's head sacristan. She does the behind-the-scenes work to make sure the church is ready for parishioners when they come to weekend Masses.
Three other sacristans help out, based on a schedule that Adara creates about four months in advance.
"There are a lot of things that you have to keep track of, organizational things," said sacristan Francis Criscione, a junior at Albany High School. "We have to unlock the entire church when we get there and we have to remember to lock it up when we leave."
The sacristan program at St. Vincent's has been in existence for as long as the parish staff can remember. Students apply for the paid position and are brought in for an interview, said C. Elizabeth "Betsy" Rowe-Manning, parish life director and co-supervisor of the sacristans.
Mrs. Rowe-Manning noted that, many times, the sacristan applicants find out about the job from a friend or an older sibling.
"A lot of times, this is their first job," said Marie Bernadette, musician/liturgical coordinator and co-supervisor of the sacristans. She noted that the job is a good way for students to get more involved in their parish, while learning responsibilities that are important to a first job.
"It's great to know that I'm doing something that benefits a lot of people for the Mass," said Bethlehem High sophomore Brendan Kane.
What they do
Brendan started getting involved in parish life as an altar server at St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Delmar. After switching to attending St. Vincent's, he noticed that most of the altar servers there were young girls. Not feeling like he quite fit in, he decided to pause his parish service until he was old enough to become a sacristan.
"I thought it was a great opportunity to get more involved in the Church," he told The Evangelist.
The sacristans follow a checklist of tasks, making sure the church is set up, the parking lot is unlocked, the lights are on and everything runs smoothly for Mass.
However, Michael O'Neil notes that the job isn't quite as easy as one may think. The Albany High sophomore admitted that he once forgot to include the large host for the priest as he measured out communion wafers.
"I'm a very forgetful person," he said. "It was hard to get used to the fact that I had to do things in a specific order."
In the future
Being a sacristan has inspired at least one vocation: Sam Bellafiore is now studying for the priesthood for the Albany Diocese at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers.
"When there's something right in front of you, it's hard to deny it," he explained. As a sacristan, "I kind of discovered for the first time how concrete and tactile Catholicism was."
Brendan, however, plans to be an actor. Adara wants to be an architect like her father, Paul -- who's also a former sacristan.
"I was one of the sacristans back in the early '80s to the late '80s," Mr. Zullo told The Evangelist. "It's coming full circle."
Mr. Zullo is still a eucharistic minister at St. Vincent's. Working at the church herself, Adara said she appreciates volunteers like him.
"It's nice to see that people don't just think about themselves," she said, noting that he's inspired her to help others: "I'm following in his footsteps, but I'm doing it for myself."[[In-content Ad]]
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