Graduating Altar Servers Recognized at 2025 Academic Year-End

Feast of St. Monica

The Serra Club of Philadelphia provided appreciation certificates to 36 parishes and schools for presentation to 304 graduating altar servers this past spring.  

Certificates are intended for presentation at academic year closing exercises to recognize these students for their particular service to the Catholic Church and to reinforce the importance of the Eucharist in the life of archdiocesan parishes.

Many ordained priests have cited their experience as altar servers as influential in their vocation path.

The annual Altar Server Certificate Program, featured as a national initiative by Serra USA, begins in March in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with outreach calls and emails to parishes and schools for an updated number of graduating altar servers. Many of the parishes and schools also provide the student names for printing personalization prior to delivery.

Serra Club of Philadelphia VP of Vocations Dawn Chism Simms, Esq. heads this effort. She begins contacting a master list of parishes and archdiocesan elementary schools in early spring. She also includes students associated with the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown.

VP of Membership Lou Ferrero partners with Simms on this major initiative by contacting the archdiocesan and private Catholic high schools.

“For many years, the Serra Club of Philadelphia only provided Altar Server Certificates for graduating Altar Servers in parishes and Archdiocesan grade and high schools in Philadelphia County,” Simms says. “Since the pandemic,” she adds, “the Serra Club of Philadelphia has expanded its outreach and provided Altar Server Certificates to graduating Altar Servers in parishes and private and Archdiocesan grade and high schools in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties.” 

The Simms-Ferrero team contacted 116 parishes and schools and received requests from 36 for certificates. Some asked for the student names to be printed directly on the certificates before delivery, while others applied the names locally once delivered.

Ferrero performed two additional significant tasks in this process by preparing, printing, and applying the Serra Club of Philadelphia seal to every certificate. Further, he either arranged for delivery, or delivered the certificates personally, to the requesting parishes and schools located across three counties over a 12-day period from May 29 through June 17.

The number of certificates, parishes or schools, locations, and deaneries of the recognized students include the following:

Certificates	Parish	Location	Deanery
6	St. Agnes	Sellersville	Bucks County North
10	St. Albert the Great	Huntingdon Valley	Montgomery County East
9	St. Alphonsus	Maple Glen	Montgomery County East
4	St. Anselm	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Far Northeast
4	St. Anthony of Padua	Ambler	Montgomery County East
17	St. Bede the Venerable	Holland	Bucks County Central and North
3	St. Charles of Borromeo	Bensalem	Bucks County Southeast and Hispanic Apostolate
4	Christ the King	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Far Northeast
30	St. Christopher	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Far Northeast
16	St. Hilary of Poitiers	Rydal	Montgomery County East
10	Holy Innocents	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Near Northeast
7	Holy Trinity	Morrisville	Bucks County Southeast
10	St. Luke the Evangelist	Glenside	Montgomery County East
10	St. Margaret of Antioch	Narberth	Montgomery County Central
11	St. Mary	Schwenksville	Montgomery County West
4	St. Matthew	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Far Northeast
10	St. Matthias	Bala Cynwyd	Montgomery County Central
8	St. Monica	Philadelphia	Philadelphia South and East
3	Mother of Divine Providence	King of Prussia	Montgomery County Central
4	Our Lady of Good Counsel	Southampton	Bucks County Southeast
20	Our Mother of Consolation	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Northwest
6	St. Raymond of Penafort	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Northwest
1	St. Rose of Lima	North Wales	Montgomery County West
15	St. Thomas of Aquinas	Croydon	Bucks County Southeast
7	St. Timothy	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Far Northeast
16	Visitation B.V.M.	Norristown	Montgomery County West
3	St. William	Philadelphia	Philadelphia Near Northeast
Certificates	School	Location	County
13	St. Helena School	Blue Bell	Montgomery
5	Holy Cross Regional Catholic School	Collegeville	Montgomery
4	Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Catholic School	North Wales	Montgomery
6	Maternity B.V.M. School	Northeast Phila.	Philadelphia
2	St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School	Levittown	Bucks
12	Nativity of Our Lord Catholic School	Warminster	Bucks
8	Regina Coeli Academy (Private, PreK-8)	Abington	Montgomery
3	Resurrection Regional Catholic School	Northeast Philadelphia	Philadelphia
3	Villa Joseph Marie High School (private girls school)	Holland	Bucks