Altar Girls

[Brendan]

Here is a letter the Vatican wrote on the subject.

adoremus.org/CDW-AltarServers.html

An interesting highlight

In accord with the above cited instructions of the Holy See such an authorization may not, in any way, exclude men or, in particular, boys from service at the altar, nor require that priests of the diocese would make use of female altar servers, since “it will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar” (Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conference, March 15, 1994, no. 2). Indeed, the obligation to support groups of altar boys will always remain, not least of all due to the well known assistance that such programs have provided since time immemorial in encouraging future priestly vocations (cf. ibid.)

And another

With respect to whether the practice of women serving at the altar would truly be of pastoral advantage in the local pastoral situation, it is perhaps helpful to recall 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 (cf. Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences, March 15, 1994, no. 4, cf. also can 228, §1, Interdicasterial Instruction Esslesiae de mysterio, August 15, 1997, no. 4, see Notitiae 34 [1998] 9-42). Therefore, in the event that Your Excellency found it opportune to authorize service of women at the altar, it would remain important to explain clearly to the faithful the nature of this innovation, lest confusion might be introduced, thereby hampering the development of priestly vocations.

 

[Owlpride]

What’s the big deal with girls as servers? They already can’t do other things just because of the way they were born. They have no control over how you were born. I don’t see why everything is so male dominated. I am a man.

 

[Brendan]

What’s the big deal with girls as servers? They already can’t do other things just because of the way they were born. They have no control over how you were born. I don’t see why everything is so male dominated. I am a man.

Everything is NOT male dominated. The greatest mortal of them all is Queen of Heaven. That hardly reeks of male domination

Rather, as noted in the Vatican documents above, girls may be admitted, but care should be taken not to affect the vocations to the priesthood that boys serving at the altar generate.

As far as the priesthood being male, that is an example of Divine fairness.

The human being is a union of body and soul ( corpra et aminia unis). It is neither just the body or just the soul, but rather the joining of the two that makes a human. Neither element is superior to the other in terms of humanity ( we are not Platonic Dualists, for example).

Thus God dispensed the role of assisting Him in the creation of His greatest Desire, Saints to spend Eternity in Heaven with Him, to both men and women equally.

To the woman, he gave the chief role in bringing about physical life. The woman may nurture and bear new physical life and nurturing the physical life via nursing.

To the man, the gave the chief role, in the priesthood, of bringing about spritual life, the nurturing of the soul via the Eucharist and healign the soul via Absolution.

God’s plan for the Sactificication of Us therefore must involve both sexes, and neither sex can do it alone.

It is also no more within the power of the Church to declare that women may bring for the Eucharist than it is for the Church to declare, via edict, that men may bear children.

 

[TheMc]

What’s the big deal with girls as servers? They already can’t do other things just because of the way they were born. They have no control over how you were born. I don’t see why everything is so male dominated. I am a man.

Male dominated? The highest mortal is the perfect woman, Mary.

It is not about letting them do something. No one has the right to serve at the altar. Per the church documents, males do have precedence over females when it comes to serving, that is a fact.

Would you accuse the church of being male dominated because only men can be priests? An altar server is only an extension (of sorts) and assistant of the priest, so it only makes sense to have males serve at Mass.

 

[Owlpride]

That sort of strikes me-the whole “Mary” argument as a “whatever you have to tell yoursekf” . Please don’t take it personal.

 

[Brendan]

That sort of strikes me-the whole “Mary” argument as a “whatever you have to tell yoursekf” . Please don’t take it personal.

Huh?

Are you claiming that Mary is somehow NOT Queen of Heaven and Earth?

 

[Owlpride]

Huh?

Are you claiming that Mary is somehow NOT Queen of Heaven and Earth?

Of course not! Ouch. Where did you that

 

[Brendan]

Then what was the comment in regards to Mary and “what ever you have to tell yourself”??

 

[PaulinVA]

If the call to the vocation of the Priesthood comes from God, what is the correlation of being an altar server to heeding that call?

It would seem to me that God can call any man he desires, whether or not he was an altar boy. So, I don’t get the argument of restricting altar servers to boys at all.

 

[MRomanos]

As a female that has altar served at my parish for almost 4 years, I can say that it has helped me to grow more in my faith and learn so much more respect for the Mass. I agree that it can influence boys to become priests, but I highly doubt it will be solely altar serving that contributes to it. If God calls you to the priesthood he’ll call you whether you were an altar boy or not.

I think it’s great for both genders to take part in altar serving at Mass. Like I said, you learn so much more respect for the Mass and learning to have the responsibility that you do as an altar server will surely help you grow more as a Christian.

I myself accept that only men can join the seminary. I have no problem with it whatsoever. I think if you DO want to use the vocation argument, the same can be said for girls. It can just as easily influence them to join the religious life.

EDIT:

hehe, just saw the poster above me said almost the same thing about vocations.

 

[Brendan]

If the call to the vocation of the Priesthood comes from God, what is the correlation of being an altar server to heeding that call?

It would seem to me that God can call any man he desires, whether or not he was an altar boy. So, I don’t get the argument of restricting altar servers to boys at all.

The call must be accepted. What the Church has seen though the ages, and continues to see today, young men who serve, or have served at the altar are far more likely to accept the call that God offers them.

In short, if a young man has spend years serving at the altar of God, he is more likely to envision himself continuing to serve at the altar as a priest.

I’ll use my own parish as an example. Our pastor treats the altar server cadre as a vocations program for the priesthood.

There is no schedule for our altar boys. If an altar boy is at a Mass, he serves. Just as if he was a priest. If a priest attends a Mass, he concelebrates at the altar. If an altarboy attends a Mass, he serves at the altar.

Our boys begin serving at age 5-6 and will continue until the head off to college. So by the time a boy graduates from high school, he has spend 12-13 years serving, and his time spent in the pews is negligable.

Thus it becomes rather easy for a young man to envision himself continuing to be in the Sanctuary as a priest, rather than in the pews.

We get a vocation a year on average for a parish of about 950 families. 8 new priests in 10 years. Now compare that to your average parish with altar girls.

 

[Brendan]

Here is our typical Sunday Mass

cid-d48dbdc01a7e8a7d.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Altar%20Boys%20-sm.wmv

The deacon you see in the procession is now a priest (one of the ones I mentioned)

And one more thing, every year, the men from our parish who are currently in the seminary host the altar boys 12 or older for a day down at the seminary.

They show the boys what the rooms are like, they eat in the cafeteria, say the Divine Office with the seminarians, hear Mass with all the seminarians, play some basketball in the gym, meet some of the priests who teach there, play ping pong and air hockey etc…

This year we had 40+ boys with their dads (me included)

 

[Phemie]

That is how our parish is (boys only). For a parish of about 950 families, we get one of our former altar boys going into the seminary about every year.

In the past 10 years, we have had 8 men ordained to the priesthood.

And yet in my home parish, erected in 1848, we’ve had 2 priests in 163 years. One in 1938, one in 1959. Both grew up with the same Pastor.

 

[asia53]

As a female that has altar served at my parish for almost 4 years, I can say that it has helped me to grow more in my faith and learn so much more respect for the Mass. I agree that it can influence boys to become priests, but I highly doubt it will be solely altar serving that contributes to it. If God calls you to the priesthood he’ll call you whether you were an altar boy or not.

 

[PaulinVA]

The call must be accepted. What the Church has seen though the ages, and continues to see today, young men who serve, or have served at the altar are far more likely to accept the call that God offers them.

In short, if a young man has spend years serving at the altar of God, he is more likely to envision himself continuing to serve at the altar as a priest.

I’ll use my own parish as an example. Our pastor treats the altar server cadre as a vocations program for the priesthood.

There is no schedule for our altar boys. If an altar boy is at a Mass, he serves. Just as if he was a priest. If a priest attends a Mass, he concelebrates at the altar. If an altarboy attends a Mass, he serves at the altar.

Our boys begin serving at age 5-6 and will continue until the head off to college. So by the time a boy graduates from high school, he has spend 12-13 years serving, and his time spent in the pews is negligible.

Thus it becomes rather easy for a young man to envision himself continuing to be in the Sanctuary as a priest, rather than in the pews.

We get a vocation a year on average for a parish of about 950 families. 8 new priests in 10 years. Now compare that to your average parish with altar girls.

Brendan,

Please provide the number of men whom God has called from your parish and have/have not accepted. Provide the number of men who have gone to the seminary with no call from God but a desire to become a priest because of 12 years of indoctrination.

You can’t provide those numbers at all, because, I assume, God has not given you the list.

What your parish is doing is admirable, but I don’t know. Do you really think that altar girls are prohibiting God from calling men, or men from accepting?

 

[Brendan]

Brendan,

Please provide the number of men whom God has called from your parish and have/have not accepted. Provide the number of men who have gone to the seminary with no call from God but a desire to become a priest because of 12 years of indoctrination.

You can’t provide those numbers at all, because, I assume, God has not given you the list.

What your parish is doing is admirable, but I don’t know. Do you really think that altar girls are prohibiting God from calling men, or men from accepting?

Paul,

I would say that altar girls prohibit men from accepting. Firstly, in that no mortal can prohibit God from acting as God desires, namly in the offering of a vocation. Secondly, The addition of girls creates a culture where altar service is looked upon by boys as not being manly. From personal experience, the altar servers quickly become majority female.

As the Vatican noted, since altar service is a prime motivator in vocations, the fewer boys in altar service, the fewer vocations.

I have given you the numbers of men who have recieved and accepted a call.

If our parish has seen more men ordained from it than other similarly sized parishes, there can only be two possibilites as to why.

1. That God calls men from parishes like ours more

or

1. That the men in parishes like ours are more likely to answer the call.

We do not know which one would be true for any given parish, but do you not think that you would be called to change the one that is within the realm of humans?

If we seek to encourage young men to answer a call from God, we should do all in our power to make sure the ground is fertile to recieve the call.

I think the numbers show my pastor does a great job, in fact, one might say ideal. So why not emulate it?

 

[Brendan]

There are three other parishes in the Archdiocese that use only altar boys. Together those parishes account for a little over 2% of the Catholics in the Archdiocese, but acccount for 1/5 of the vocations.

Why does God choose to call men from our parishes, and not others.

Or perhaps there are calls to men in the other parishes, but calling falls on deaf ears.

As I stated above, humans can only control one factor, how fertile the ground is.

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

I don’t entirely get the corelation between altar boys and priesthood. Maybe from my own experience. I have two older brothers and grew up yet still in the time when altar girls were not allowed. That was fine by me. My brothers served A LOT!

All of us fell away from the church…of my two brothers…one left the church entirely…the other one is back but is more of a cafeteria Catholic.

I can’t say that serving as altar boys did any good for them…

I’m the one at Mass every day…

I think we would get a higher call to vocations by parents encouraging their sons to be priests if they want to or if they see that in them.

The same could be said for encouraging daughters to be nuns as well.

 

[StJudePray4Me]

There are three other parishes in the Archdiocese that use only altar boys. Together those parishes account for a little over 2% of the Catholics in the Archdiocese, but acccount for 1/5 of the vocations.

Why does God choose to call men from our parishes, and not others.

Or perhaps there are calls to men in the other parishes, but calling falls on deaf ears.

As I stated above, humans can only control one factor, how fertile the ground is.

Hi Brendan

Does your parish draw members strictly by territorial lines, or do you have a unique type of parish which draws people to it for other reasons?

I ask because I am wondering if your success in vocations is related to the parish perhaps being especially desirable to the types of families who would be more likely to foster and encourage the call to priesthood in their sons?

I feel like the family environment is so crucial to the willingness to hear the call…so it would make sense that families who share certain philosophies/attitudes might be drawn to a parish that shares their philosophy/attitude.

My daughter serves, so I guess I sort of have a dog in the fight, but truly, I think you are right to an extent about altar service being an important starting point for boys to discern a calling.

However, I feel like the altar service is also a great place for any child to learn to serve God and the Church. I am a lector and I would be excited if my daughter, as she grows up, decided she would like to do that instead of serving.

My son is making his First Communion this May and he is also anxious to serve. I think it’s natural - he sees his mom and his sister involved in the Liturgy, so he wants to be involved too. Now if I can just convince my husband to become a Eucharistic Minister, we could be 4 for 4!

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

There are three other parishes in the Archdiocese that use only altar boys. Together those parishes account for a little over 2% of the Catholics in the Archdiocese, but acccount for 1/5 of the vocations.

Why does God choose to call men from our parishes, and not others.

Or perhaps there are calls to men in the other parishes, but calling falls on deaf ears.

As I stated above, humans can only control one factor, how fertile the ground is.

I wonder if parishes would have the same result…whether or not they used altar girls if they used the same program with their altar boys that you do…hosting at the seminary and showing them what it is like…