Role and Duties of the Usher

The role of the usher is to help ensure that the Sacred Liturgy is conducted in an environment that is most conducive to it. This would be described as an environment that is reverent, not needlessly interrupted by distraction, and safe. This is accomplished by performing the following duties:

  1. Arrive at least 20 minutes before Mass begins. Go to the back of church, pick up your badge and check your name off the list. The role of the usher is to help create a pleasant atmosphere and aid in the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. Make parishioners and visitors feel welcome by being friendly.
  1. All liturgical ministers will be signing in at the back of Church before Mass. The ushers see to it that all ministers are present or if not will find a replacement from those present (this includes offertory families). The sign-in sheet lists all ministers for a particular Mass so please note those assigned when you arrive.
  1. Assisting those with special needs: From the usher’s closet (the old reconciliation room) please take out the two handicap parking signs and set them in front of the church for such parking (and please return them at end of the Mass). Please check from time to time out front of the church in case someone is in need of help going up the steps. Also, please take out the Tupperware box with the assisted listening devices and set them on the usher table (where the sign-in sheet is kept). This would be set out before the 5:00 Mass and returned after the 11:30 a.m. Mass.
  1. At the beginning of Mass, please ensure that there are enough bulletins at each entrance (this will eliminate the need to check after the final blessing)
  1. Two ushers will stand at the last pew in the center aisle during the readings so that late comers are not coming down the center aisle during the readings. People may be seated after the Psalm is finished but before the Second Reading begins.
  1. At crowded Masses (Lord, that we would have more) please help identify open seats and motion people to the front pews when needed.
  1. Please remind teens and others in the vestibule that it is reserved for those with kids who need a place to quiet their children
  1. If a child is acting up and becoming a major distraction and the parent looks like they might not know that the vestibule is for them (particularly a visitor looking for a “cry room”), you could politely mention that they could bring their child to the vestibule and still be able to listen to the Mass from the audio speakers back there.
  1. The ushers will come forward for the collections when all are seated after the Creed and Petitions. The ushers will bow when they get to the front of the Church.
  1. The ushers should see that the offertory family does not start down the aisle until Father has stood up and is walking down to the center aisle.
  1. From time to time the ushers will be asked to hand out religious materials or occasionally help with after-Mass collections like the 5th Sunday St. Vincent De Paul collections.
  1. During the final hymn, prop the inside doors open.

Reverence

  1. At the conclusion of Mass please go through the pews and remove any loose literature, bulletins, etc. Please straighten up the books and pew cards and put up the kneelers. Please check walkways: if something needs swept up there is a cordless vacuum that can be retrieved from the priest’s sacristy and there are brooms and dustpans in the servers’ sacristy. Please check the cleanliness of the bathroom. If the toilet paper is out you can find more in the usher’s closet. “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
  1. Dress appropriately, set the tone for expressing the dignity of the Sacred Liturgy.
  1. Help create Sacred Silence: keep talking to a minimum and at a low voice in the back of the church. Keep the doors between the vestibule and the church proper shut so that the voices of those conversing in the vestibule don’t carry in to the church where people are trying to pray in preparation for the Mass. Doors should not be propped open until the end of the Mass.
  1. Please kneel during the consecration. There are kneeling pads either directly behind the last pews or stored in the usher’s closet, or slip into a pew for this part of the Mass. Ushers can help set that tone of reverence for our Lord in this way.

Safety

  1. We now have an AED. This also will be in the usher’s closet. In the event of an emergency in which it is needed, please locate a doctor or nurse and retrieve it from there.
  1. In the event of any emergencies, please locate any nurses or doctors in the church and direct them to the person in need. This can be done sometimes with minimal disruption sometimes not, the person’s safety would be of utmost importance

In the event you are unable to be at your assigned Mass, please contact a substitute. Also, please remember that if you receive an email reminder a couple of days before and then realize you will not be able to be there, it is too late to use email to find a replacement, please call other ushers for a substitute. It is particularly important in regards to ushers to find replacements because your job involves making sure all of the other ministries are filled at a given Mass. Lastly, thank you for your dedicated service to Christ and His Church in this specific way. Your involvement helps us as a parish to celebrate a liturgy that is beautiful, reverent, and gives glory to God.