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713-869-3783
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Contact Us
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Kendall SoleBaptism Coordinator
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Altar Guild: Elevate Worship and Do Ordinary Tasks with Extraordinary Love
The St. Theresa Altar and Linen Guilds are a group of women and men called to quietly serve God by offering their time and talents to prepare and tend to our worship space. It is a ministry of love that our patron saint, St. Theresa the Little Flower, called the “little way.”
The members of this ministry ensure that the Sanctuary, the nave, and the narthex of the Church are each clean and prepared for the celebration of the weekend celebration of the Eucharist and other sacraments. Their duties include, among many others:- Cleaning and caring for the Sacred Vessels and other artifacts such as our monstrance
- Replacing votive candles
- Replacing the altar and vigil candles; cleaning up residual wax
- Maintaining and watering the flowers
- Ensuring the entrance tables in the narthex are clean and orderly by straightening or discarding bulletins, flyers, etc
- Helping with the seasonal decorations of our worship space, which includes elements such as colors, flowers, candles, and more.
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Linen Guild
The Linen Guild takes home our Communion linens (purificators and corporals) to reverently launder, iron, and return to the Church each week. Purificators are used to wipe the Precious Blood and any other soils from the rim of the chalice during Mass and are laundered after each use. Corporals are larger, white cloths placed on the altar before the Consecration of the bread and wine to protect against any loss of crumbs or drops of the Precious Body and Blood during Mass. Corporals are laundered only if visibly soiled.
1. Collect altar linens each week in a bag labeled “Altar Linens.” You can retrieve linens from the Sacristy after the Mass you usually attend and return them the following week after the Mass you usually attend. If you need more time, that’s not a problem. If you miss mass, you may also collect the bag from the front desk on Monday morning.
2. Check for stains; if you find any, pre-treat with a stain remover spray and rub together if stubborn.
3. Soak in a bucket/basin for at least two hours (longer if possible). Pour out this water outdoors per the UCCB Secretariat of Divine Worship.
4. Wash altar linens alone on a delicate cycle.
5. Check for any residual stains and, if necessary, treat stains and repeat (occasionally needed).
6. Hang out or lay altar linens on a clean towel to soak up some water. Corporals take a little longer, but Purificators dry quickly, and you can iron damp. If you can not iron immediately, put it in the freezer until you can, or spritz it with water when ironing.
7. Make sure your iron is clean (hack: use a magic eraser on the cool iron bottom to remove any rust stains you might have).
8. Place the altar linen on the ironing board and remove all the wrinkles on both sides. Fold and iron linens so that folds make a crisp crease. For Purificators, fold so that the cross faces out (at the top of the Purificator). Purificators are folded in thirds and half (you should have six rectangles when unfolded). For Corporals, fold so that the cross faces in (when the Corporal is folded, it will appear inside out). Corporals are folded into equal thirds twice, which creates nine squares when the Corporal is unfolded.
9. Return cleaned linens in a bag: either drop them off at the front desk or at the sacristy, where altar linens are stored in designated drawers.If you need help or a sub for your assigned month, please contact Kendall Solé at 713-869-3783.