GASTONIA — St. Michael Catholic Church in Gastonia has begun a new altar ministry for girls: the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The ministry is designed to create a physical closeness to God through altar service assisting parish sacristans while also providing the girls with spiritual direction and formation to help them build a lifelong relationship with Christ.
The group is under the direction of Dr. Adrian Adderley, a fifth-grade teacher at St. Michael School, and each girl’s mother is also actively in-volved.
The girls work in teams, with each team being assigned to set up sacred vessels and priestly vestments for each Mass.
The girls also change the holy water in the fonts at each entrance to the church daily, replace the votive candles in all of the candle shrines, and change out the missals with each liturgical season.
Spiritual direction and formation are provided by sisters from the Daughters of the Virgin Mother, who meet with the girls on the first Sunday of each month. The Handmaids of the Sacred Heart is open to girls in the parish who have received first Holy Communion up to age 18.
— Spencer K.M. Brown