When Cardinal Cupich first arrived in the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2014, he made a change that was immediately visible during services at Holy Name Cathedral: He instituted a ministry to recruit women altar servers.

Stephanie McIntyre, a longtime parishioner, was tapped to lead the new ministry. She still can be seen leading altar servers at major archdiocesan liturgies with Cardinal Cupich today.

While she served as a lector, commentator and extraordinary minister of Holy Communion for the cathedral, she did not have experience as an altar server. As with many new challenges in life, McIntyre put it in God’s hands, she said.

“You never turn down an invitation from Christ, and I do believe the Holy Spirit was working through him to provide me that invitation to serve Christ,” McIntyre said.

The current director of liturgy at Holy Name Cathedral, Father Andrew Matijevic, was a seminarian serving at Holy Name when the new ministry was established. He remembers when it began.

“It was very clear that the cardinal wanted women because serving at the altar is not a male role.” Matijevic said. “It’s a layperson’s responsibility.”

Women make up about 60% of the local Catholic population, Matijevic said.

“The cardinal’s vision was to show the world that women have a place in the church, and they have gifts to give in serving at the altar,” he said. 

While the ministry would later expand to include other women — invited by McIntyre and approved by the director of liturgy — for a year and a half, McIntyre was the only woman serving at Masses with Cardinal Cupich and at other archdiocesan liturgies.

She practiced a lot before those first liturgies.

“You don’t just go out there swinging the thurible,” McIntyre said. “You can catch yourself on fire with those hot coals. You can hit somebody in the face with those hot charcoals. You gotta know how to swing it.”

She had to learn other important things as well, such as how to lift up the thurible and her alb when walking up the steps to the altar so she would not trip, she said.

“Many times my shoe has gotten caught in the hem,” she recalled laughing.

It was also a spiritual lesson.

“I was thinking, ‘Oh my goodness. This is another part of my brain and my heart I have to open up,’” she said. “Another cross we learn how to bear for Christ in opening up so that others can see Christ in us and in this magnificent church that we serve.”

Eventually, McIntyre and the director of liturgy invited three more women to join the ministry. They chose women who were serious in their faith and committed to serving the church. Today, around 20 women serve at the altar. Men have also joined their ranks, along with children of the altar servers.

The ministry is not about gaining attention for the servers, McIntyre and Matijevic said.

“We told the servers that it is a privilege and not a right,” Matijevic said. “It’s just a reminder that what we do as altar servers and as worshippers is not for our benefit or our glorification. It’s for the benefit of God and the kingdom. We’re not here to be seen or draw attention to ourselves but to serve Jesus through the priest at Mass.”

While people have responded in favor of women serving at the altar, they have also expressed opposition, Matijevic said, because they see serving at the altar as a way to inspire vocations to the priesthood among young men and boys.

Matijevic responds that the call to the priesthood will not go away just because a man might not have been an altar server.

“Overall, people are very happy to see an inclusive church in Chicago, where women not only read at Mass and give out Communion, but they also serve at the altar,” he said.

Marcelle Benedicta was volunteering as a lector in 2017 when McIntyre invited her to join the altar server ministry. The two women had become friends serving regularly at the 7 p.m. Saturday vigil Mass.

Born and raised in Indonesia, Benedicta was unused to seeing women altar servers, but trusted McIntyre to guide her.

“I looked at it as an opportunity to learn more about Masses that I go to but never really understood,” she said. “Fast-forward seven, eight years later, I’m just really grateful that I received the invitation to be an altar server. For me personally, it has really deepened my understanding of my faith.”

It has also benefited her as a mother of a 7-year-old boy.

“For him to see me at church donning the alb, it means something to him because he knows that I am doing something special,” Benedicta said. “I am serving this role and I don’t take it lightly.”

It also benefits young girls to see women of various ages and backgrounds serving.

“It’s being a female role model in the faith and showing that you can do more and be involved in many different ways,” she said. “It helps young girls who see us feel valued and feel welcome and fostering that sense of belonging and that sense of empowerment.”