Altar girls

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Where does it say altar servers should be male? Where does it say they can’t be female?

I’m just curious why this seems to be a problem with so many people.
 
Each Bishop of a diocese has been given permission by the Vatican to make his own decision about this.

So, if the bishop allows female altar servers, then they are okay.

And many people (on this forum, not the general catholic population) feel that vocations are at risk because the girls are crowding out the boys.
 
I am strongly in favor of having female altar servers. It is a good devotional practice for boys and girls, and it teaches them to devote their lives to the Lord.

I have mixed feelings when some boys are not able to enter the ranks of the altar servers because the ranks for a specific parish are already over-filled with both boys and girls (I have seen it this past week). At that point I would give preference to the boys because we should also consider the original intent of fostering the vocation to the priesthood.
 
As to “where” it says this, there was a document from the 70s that laid out the criteria for lay ministry. It stated that women could serve in many capacities (such as readers) but could not serve at the altar. It was on this basis of this same document, I believe, that when EMHCs were first allowed, they had to be male too.

That was officially changed somewhere along the line, at least in the US. I have never seen altar girls in any other country where I have traveled.

A few years ago, the CDW issued Redemptionis Sacramentum. An early draft reportedly had language restricting female altar service. The language in the final version was softer. Women and girls were to be allowed but men and boys were to be encouraged. There was also mention of the value of associations for fellowship specifically for male altar servers.

At last count, there was only one diocese in the US where girls were completely disallowed ( I think it is Lincoln). As Fix pointed out, even if the Bishop has given permission, it is up to the individual priest if he wants to use them. It isn’t even a pastor’s choice. That is, the pastor can ok girls for his parish but a specific priest may chose to have all boys. The converse is not true, of course. A priest in a diocese that does not allow female altar servers cannot chose to have them himself.
 
Cristiano said:
I am strongly in favor of having female altar servers. It is a good devotional practice for boys and girls, and it teaches them to devote their lives to the Lord.

I have mixed feelings when some boys are not able to enter the ranks of the altar servers because the ranks for a specific parish are already over-filled with both boys and girls (I have seen it this past week). At that point I would give preference to the boys because we should also consider the original intent of fostering the vocation to the priesthood.
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You have hit it right on target… As the Pope has stated, and as Cardinal Arinze has re-stated… the preference is for BOYS.

JPII saw how widespread the abuse was and was becoming, and in humility gave the bishops the directive to act on this abuse. If they shoose to allow for girl serves, so be it.

But allow is nowhere near mandate, encourage, or promote.

.
 
LeahInancsi said:
Where does it say altar servers should be male? Where does it say they can’t be female?

I’m just curious why this seems to be a problem with so many people.
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Traditionally the altar servers was for future priests, it was basically beginning training for those discering vocations. Now a days not many folks are going into vocations from altar server so it probably doesn’t matter. But traditionally since girls can’t be priests, female altar servers were pointless.
 
But most servers nowadays are girls. Are they really crowding out the boys, or are fewer boys willing to serve?

I know I left altar service in my teens and returned at eighteen.
 
kevathaide01 said:
But most servers nowadays are girls. Are they really crowding out the boys, or are fewer boys willing to serve?

I know I left altar service in my teens and returned at eighteen.
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In my Parish we don’t have one altar boy, all of them are girls, as is the cantor, the readers, and all EM’sHC. We were one of the dioceses that crimes from a priest against boys. I think that may have a lot to do with it. I won’t allow my son to be an altar server or spend any time alone with a priest. Unfortunately this is the Church we live in.
 
Saint_Michael said:
In my Parish we don’t have one altar boy, all of them are girls, as is the cantor, the readers, and all EM’sHC. We were one of the dioceses that crimes from a priest against boys. I think that may have a lot to do with it. I won’t allow my son to be an altar server or spend any time alone with a priest. Unfortunately this is the Church we live in.
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Yikes, thats sad. Maybe try to get to know your priest better or find a new parish? I mean, I was sexually abuse by my youth leader as a child but that doesn’t mean I plan on keeping my children from going to one some day. Thats unfair to keep your children from serving God just because of a few priests sins. What if they’re supposed to one day be a priest?

Not trying to upset or bash cause I definitely understand how hard it has to be. I’ve been there. I guess I just fear that doing so might turn kids away from wanting to serve God completely. No willing servers means no Church.

Anyway to answer the question:

I think girl altar servers should only be used if there are no boys to fill the spot.
 
I think it seems clear from the church documents mentioned above that the intent is that preference is given to boys to be servers, but it is allowed for girls. But just like everything else, when Rome gives an inch the masses take a mile. Now we’re in a situation where almost all the servers are female in many parishes. Someone should do a study as to why that is. I have a sneeky suspicion that boys no longer want to do it because it has become a bit feminized. The end result are less candidates for the priesthood (very bad). I also think it should be considered a duty for sons to be altar servers, but too many fathers aren’t making their sons do it. There is also the problem of radical feminism within the church among parish staffs who want women to be priests. In those parishes I bet you will likely find many female servers and few male ones.
 
kevathaide01 said:
But most servers nowadays are girls. Are they really crowding out the boys, or are fewer boys willing to serve?

I know I left altar service in my teens and returned at eighteen.
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Crowding out boys was a poor choice of words. It should have said turning boys off to the uniqueness of it. A perfect example is myself. We had 60 -70 Altar BOYS in the mid 1980s. (It used to be an added bonus for us boys becuase the Knights of Columbus used to take us to baseball games a few times per summer for serving at the altar.) About the same time a feminist DRE who doubled as a “liturgist” showed up and she inducted girls into altar “servers”. Within 2 months HALF of the boys bolted and never returned. I know of one that was on his way to the priesthood (myself included). It lost its luster almost immediately and was very confusing to me becuase I thought that being an altar boy was the churches way of preparing a few of us select for the priesthood. The number of boys dwindled rapidly until it was almost all GIRLS and only the SISSY boys did it. I recently returned to home to visit my mom and was informed that there is NO male altar servers (the same liturgest was there with her grey hair now). My mom says the boys wont serve becuase it is a “girl thing”.

THAT is why, in my opinion, fewer boys are willing to serve.

On a side note The girls showing up also ruined the baseball game trip each summer too!
 
decn2b said:
Crowding out boys was a poor choice of words. It should have said turning boys off to the uniqueness of it. A perfect example is myself. We had 60 -70 Altar BOYS in the mid 1980s. (It used to be an added bonus for us boys becuase the Knights of Columbus used to take us to baseball games a few times per summer for serving at the altar.) About the same time a feminist DRE who doubled as a “liturgist” showed up and she inducted girls into altar “servers”. Within 2 months HALF of the boys bolted and never returned. I know of one that was on his way to the priesthood (myself included). It lost its luster almost immediately and was very confusing to me becuase I thought that being an altar boy was the churches way of preparing a few of us select for the priesthood. The number of boys dwindled rapidly until it was almost all GIRLS and only the SISSY boys did it. I recently returned to home to visit my mom and was informed that there is NO male altar servers (the same liturgest was there with her grey hair now). My mom says the boys wont serve becuase it is a “girl thing”.

THAT is why, in my opinion, fewer boys are willing to serve.

On a side note The girls showing up also ruined the baseball game trip each summer too!
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I heartily agree with you. In those growing-up years, boys think girls have cooties and don’t want to have anything to do with them. Somebody will probably jump on you for being unable to get along with females, as if you had carried that into your adulthood. It’s a developmental stage, for heaven’s sake!

The other problem is that girls mature faster than boys and will do the job serving at the altar with more reverence and elegance than the boys ever will at the same age. The girls will be praised and the boys will be corrected, and guess who will have the enthusiasm to continue?

Betsy
 
decn2b said:
It lost its luster almost immediately and was very confusing to me becuase I thought that being an altar boy was the churches way of preparing a few of us select for the priesthood. The number of boys dwindled rapidly until it was almost all GIRLS and only the SISSY boys did it.
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That’s definitely true I didn’t even think until you wrote it, but even looking at the Church today literally no men do anything because it seems “sissy”, we have no male readers, no boys will be altar servers because the girls do it, no males are EM’sHC etc… The Church is now full of flowers, high pitched singing and loping melodies that I couldn’t possibly sing along with so I just sit there and keep my mouth shut. All volunteer activities are run by women, and focus on more female ways of worship and devotion, there’s nothing male centered at all. In fact Church in general seems like something only the women do adn the men just kind of go along, and kind of sissy. I can only imagine that for a young boy this fact is amplified 1,000 times.
 
“Pope Gelasius in his ninth letter (chap. 26) to the bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the bishop of Tusculum: ‘Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry.’ We too have forbidden this practice in the same words…”
POPE BENEDICT XIV
 
The main problem with altar girls (other than it’s sometimes a distraction to the boys, and vise versa) is that serving at the altar is supposed to help boys discern their vocation, whether or not God wants them to become priests. So since girls can’t (and shouldn’t) become priests, it’s a useless post for them. I myself (a teen) lector for our church, which is still an important part of the liturgy.👍 Also, I agree with other posters saying that it “scares away” the boys who want to do it.
 
In both of the parishes I’ve belonged to as an adult, there have not been altar boys nor altar girls, since children do not serve at the altar, only adults and older teenagers. (and, like the other service functions like lectors, ushers, emhc, the gender split is about 50-50.)

Demographically, there aren’t many children (downtown apartment dwellers), but those we have help as they grow — and look forward to growing up and being mature enough to let littler kids strew flower petals and wave ribbons in processions and start carrying candles, and then let new middle schoolers carry candles and start altar serving (or reading or greeting at the door or…)

karen marie
 
musicgal4jesus said:
The main problem with altar girls (other than it’s sometimes a distraction to the boys, and vise versa) is that serving at the altar is supposed to help boys discern their vocation, whether or not God wants them to become priests. So since girls can’t (and shouldn’t) become priests, it’s a useless post for them. I myself (a teen) lector for our church, which is still an important part of the liturgy.👍 Also, I agree with other posters saying that it “scares away” the boys who want to do it.
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Can you explain to me why it is usless for a girl to serve the Lord at her best wherever it is allowed by the Church? I doubt that God would push them away just because he has choosen for them a life different from priesthood.

The order of Lectors was a minor order where the men (preparing for the priesthood) were instituted by the Bishop. The people that read the OT and the Letters are “Readers”. Should we stop women from being Readers because they cannot become priests and thus the whole thing is useless?

Are the boys scared away from a bunch of girls? How strong is their faith? Maybe we should work on that instead of getting rid of the girls.
 
musicgal4jesus said:
Also, I agree with other posters saying that it “scares away” the boys who want to do it.
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Would boys who can be so easily scared make good priests? Honestly, that line of reasoning doesn’t do anything to improve my opinion of males in general. Are they really so weak-minded?
 
Are the boys scared away from a bunch of girls? How strong is their faith? Maybe we should work on that instead of getting rid of the girls.
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You may not like it but it makes sense, unfortunately for 12 year old boys faith is not mature yet at all, and doing something that primarily girls do is going to be considered sissy. Think of cheerleading, boys don’t want to associate themselves with something not masculine.

I also think the media perceptions of the priesthood scandal affected people sub conscience at least, and fathers may be stearing their boys away from the altar server role.
 
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