Q. 1. What is the purpose of the Altar server alb?
A. 1. To understand the purpose of the alb, one has to understand the purpose of the Altar Server. I quote the following:
"There are three different paragraphs that set the rule for what altar servers are to wear. I will admit in advance that the rule is for altar servers, and others, to "wear the alb or other appropriate and dignified clothing," e.g. the cassock and surplice. This seems to indicate that the primary and suggested attire for the altar server is the alb. That being the case, it should be made clear that there is no provision made for additions to the alb, such as a cross on a necklace, other than the cincture. In the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the law is:
339. In the Dioceses of the United States of America, acolytes, altar servers, readers, and other lay ministers may wear the alb or other appropriate and dignified clothing.
This law is adapted from the Latin, which states:
339. Acolytes, lectores, and other lay ministers wear the alb or they may wear something else legitimately approved in each region by the Conference of Bishops.
This law proceeds from paragraph 336, which states (emphasis mine):
336. The sacred garment common to all ordained and instituted ministers of any rank is the alb, to be tied at the waist with a cincture unless it is made so as to fit even without such. Before the alb is put on, should this not completely cover the ordinary clothing at the neck, an amice should be used.
Altar servers, however, unless they are instituted acolytes, are not "instituted ministers." Altar servers are deputed lay ministers not instituted lay ministers. It is important to keep in mind that "the non-ordained faithful do not have a right to service at the altar, rather they are capable of being admitted to such service by the Sacred Pastors. (Notitiae - 421-422 Vol 37 (2001) Num/ 8-9 - pp 397-399)" Instituted ministers have an obligation to service that deputed lay ministers do not. For this reason, when an instituted lector is present, a lay reader should not read.
The alb, according to the Universal Church, is proper to bishops, priests, deacons, acolytes, and lectors, not to servers, readers, cantors, and the like. Regional law (p. 339 in the Dioceses of the United States) extends this vestment to altar servers, readers, and other deputed lay ministers. According to p.336 the the original unadapted text of p.339 should be understood like this, acolytes and lectors wear the alb, but they and other lay ministers may also wear something else legitimately approved. This rendering does not imply that the regional Conference of Bishops does not have the authority to extend that privilege. They do. Unfortunately, extending that privilege does not seem faithful to the first paragraph in the series on the matter, which states (emphasis mine):
335. In the Church, which is the Body of Christ, not all members have the same function. This diversity of offices is shown outwardly in the celebration of the Eucharist by the diversity of sacred vestments, which must therefore be a sign of the function proper to each minister.
Continuing then with the subsequent paragraphs, 339 seems out of place:
336. The sacred garment common to all ordained and instituted ministers of any rank is the alb, to be tied at the waist with a cincture unless it is made so as to fit even without such. Before the alb is put on, should this not completely cover the ordinary clothing at the neck, an amice should be used.
339. In the Dioceses of the United States of America, acolytes, altar servers, readers, and other lay ministers may wear the alb or other appropriate and dignified clothing.
My argument seems to favor the alb, in this sense: If the alb is the proper vestment of the ordained, servers who wear the alb should feel more priestly and should identify themselves more closely with the priest, right? No. Servers wearing albs conflates, visually, the offices and functions of the ministers, deputed, instituted, and ordained. In doing this, each office loses its meaning and becomes a matter of utility. When this happens, there is no longer an ordered trajectory towards the priesthood. Rather, the server feels more like he is bussing a table than filling an office.
In that case, there is no identification with the priesthood. Only when there is a hierarchical structure of servers duties and a visual distinction between the highest duty and the lowest instituted office will there be a sense of priestly identity. The server needs to feel as though he is getting closer to the priesthood in order to discern his vocation. By drawing closer to the priesthood, his own identity is juxtaposed with the identity of the High Priest Himself."
[Source: http://menlikewine.blogspot.com/2012/11/five-kinds-of-altar-servers-that-are.html]