(1) grow more boys, and
(2) recruit upward in age.
There is nothing wrong with having altar servers in their teens and twenties. It gives the service of the altar a vastly increased status: it gives the younger boys something to look up to.
You are right about that, Mrs. Don-O. At our parish, the boys are aged 10 and up. Recently, we lost a handful of the big boys to college (including my own oldest son), but it doesn’t stop them from quizzing and drilling the younger ones whenever they’re home from school. Before Mass, the college men lurk around making sure everything is done just so, and correcting things when they aren’t.
Several of them still vest and serve when they’re home, and ALL of them would serve if necessary. At least two are seriously thinking about the priesthood. The congregation loves seeing the college men come back and the altar boys DO look up to them. It is considered a great honor (and extremely masculine) to serve at Mass.
I love watching them all. LOL...I’ve often described their movements as being somewhere between a complicated military formation and a ballet.
BTW, the girls in our parish comprise the very, very talented schola.
Regards,