By Dan Vater
My name is Dan Vater and I have led the Ushering Ministry at Ascension for the last five years. My wife and I have been Ascension parishioners since 1997 and both of our children graduated from Ascension Catholic School.
I was invited to join one of the 10:00am Mass Usher teams many years ago by an Usher team leader. I thought this would be a good way for me to give some of my time and talent to Ascension. This has been, and continues to be, a fun and rewarding experience. I was invited to lead this ministry by Fr. Tank several years ago, and any Ascension parishioner who was here when he served as pastor knows that it was very difficult to tell him “no.”
The men (and sometimes a woman or two, more on that later!) who greet you at the doors of the church at the Ascension weekend masses are volunteer ushers. Ushers serve many important roles during the Mass, from greeting the congregation as they arrive and handing out bulletins as they leave after Mass, to tidying up the church after the congregation has departed.
In between, ushers help with seating and managing each of the seating sections in the church, take up the weekly collection (“pass the baskets”), and direct the flow for the communion process.
Each weekend Mass at Ascension has three separate teams of ushers assigned to serve that particular mass for the month. This scheduling allows for each team to serve just one out of every three months.
Ushering is open to all parishioners, men and women, aged 16 and older. I am always looking to add to the usher teams, and currently have specific needs for help at the 4:30pm Saturday Mass and the 11:45am and 5:00pm Sunday Masses.
Anyone interested in joining the Usher Ministry at Ascension can contact the parish office. They will pass your information to me and I will get in touch to arrange for a quick training/orientation session at the church and will work with you to get you assigned to a team serving your preferred Mass time.