Altar girls

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Daily Mass. Encourage your sons to go to daily Mass, if they are eager to serve. I can’t imagine that daily Mass is packed with altar girls.

I love to see zeal for altar service.
 
MAKE IT GIRLS ONLY

That way the feminists will declare it an injustice that the girls are forced to be SERVANTS to the MALE priest. They would say it is demeaning to women by portraying them as helpers and servants.

I can see it now! Feminists would have the agenda in that girls would then be dicouraged from the “servant” role to protect womens rights.

Then we could go back to boys only altar SERVANTS. Then everyone would be HAP HAP HAPPY!!! Women wouldnt have to look like male servants and altar boys wouldnt have to worry about doing a sissy job!👍
 
In the early to mid 1990’s, I was an altar boy, and we had a tremendous number of male servers. When it was allowed to have girls on the altar, the number of servers dropped precipitously. It’s not just a feminization of the Church, it’s a democratization that deemphasizes the special ministerial duties of Holy Orders. Having male servers is a lay starting point to Holy Orders. We were trained, wore cassocks and surplices… it was like being on the path to priesthood.
Letting girls get involved is one component of just having lay people take over and run the ship so to speak.
 
BillyT92679 said:
In the early to mid 1990’s, I was an altar boy, and we had a tremendous number of male servers. When it was allowed to have girls on the altar, the number of servers dropped precipitously. It’s not just a feminization of the Church, it’s a democratization that deemphasizes the special ministerial duties of Holy Orders. Having male servers is a lay starting point to Holy Orders. We were trained, wore cassocks and surplices… it was like being on the path to priesthood.
Letting girls get involved is one component of just having lay people take over and run the ship so to speak.
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You’re reading too much into it. I was an altar server for years across the first half of the nineties. It was never seen as a path to the priesthood. Any altar service needs training.
 
BillyT92679 said:
In the early to mid 1990’s, I was an altar boy, and we had a tremendous number of male servers. When it was allowed to have girls on the altar, the number of servers dropped precipitously. It’s not just a feminization of the Church, it’s a democratization that deemphasizes the special ministerial duties of Holy Orders. Having male servers is a lay starting point to Holy Orders. We were trained, wore cassocks and surplices… it was like being on the path to priesthood.
Letting girls get involved is one component of just having lay people take over and run the ship so to speak.
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Are you sure it was the girl’s fault? Do boys that age really have so much insight into the purpose of altar serving that they would perceive any “feminization of the Church”?
 
Our alter server is about 50% of boys and girls, I’m not sure but we used to have alot of boys than grils so now we’re about even.
 
LeahInancsi said:
Are you sure it was the girl’s fault? Do boys that age really have so much insight into the purpose of altar serving that they would perceive any “feminization of the Church”?
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It’s possible to perceive that something is wrong without being able to articulate what it is.
 
In my parish it is now mostly girls, including one 15-year-old for whom there is no robe large enough for her, so she servers in a t-shirt, ragged pants and huge klunky sneakers.
Are there any male “liturgists”? Why do we need lay people in this position? In talking with priests and seminarians over the years, I have had the impression that part of their education includes training in liturgy and rubrics.
 
Ridgerunner said:
Still, we were also taught that a secondary role was (as in ancient Christian times) to be a protector of the priest, the Eucharist and the parishioners. Kind of an overstatement, I guess, but we took it seriously. Among other things, we were taught that one of our fundamental purposes in life was to protect, and particularly to protect girls and women. Seems awfully patriarchal when you say it, but how many marriageable girls nowadays, faced with the way so many young men are now, would be grateful if boys were taught such things from first grade on? How many would welcome a return to a masculine sense of duty and self-discipline? Being an altar boy was not only a recruiting ground for priests.
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Ridgerunner, your whole post was an inspiration, but these ideas struck me as particularly apt. Your wife is a lucky woman!

Betsy
 
mystified said:
In my parish it is now mostly girls, including one 15-year-old for whom there is no robe large enough for her, so she servers in a t-shirt, ragged pants and huge klunky sneakers.
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There are a couple of issues here, and neither of them have anything to do with being a girl.

First, someone needs to let her know that there is a dress code at Mass, and while it might be optional for people who are standing at the back of the room, if you are serving, you really do need to adhere to it.

(Sometimes all it takes is a word in someone’s ear - we once had a young woman show up to read in a sleeveless dress - after Mass, several older women complimented her reading, and mentioned that she “looked cold” - Father was a little more specific than that; he said, “Next time you wear that dress to Mass, please bring a sweater or jacket to put over it.” It’s never been a problem, since. She just didn’t know - nobody had ever told her, before.)

Second, she has reached the age where she needs to find another way to serve the Church. Altar serving is for children - she is no longer a child. If she can do something about her appearance, she could become a lay reader, a hospitality coordinator, or an usher. Failing that, there are plenty of “behind the scenes” ministries that she could do, without worrying about her appearance.
 
jmcrae;Altar serving is for children. [/QUOTE said:
Wrong: I am not sure if you have heard of what an acolyte is. I am an adult altar server. There are times where it is men only. In my parish those men are acolytes. It is not a childrens role only.

Most funerals are during the weekday and most kids are at school. Unless the kid is in a Catholic school then it is not an option for him to serve. I take work off to serve for funerals.

Lets put it this way. The two other men and I that serve for funerals do a very good job at it. And we are young enough to have a positive impact on the young boys. They see us serving and believe me it has an impression on them
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decn2b said:
Wrong: I am not sure if you have heard of what an acolyte is. I am an adult altar server. There are times where it is men only. In my parish those men are acolytes. It is not a childrens role only.

Most funerals are during the weekday and most kids are at school. Unless the kid is in a Catholic school then it is not an option for him to serve. I take work off to serve for funerals.

Lets put it this way. The two other men and I that serve for funerals do a very good job at it. And we are young enough to have a positive impact on the young boys. They see us serving and believe me it has an impression on them
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Yes, I have seen men serving at the altar at the TLM in Calgary, and also at my NO parish when there are no children to serve.

Once, at my parish, the adult woman in charge of the altar servers served at the Sunday Mass with her daughter. Now, that looked frivolous, inappropriate and downright silly.
 
Because of this forum I had a conversation with my 10 year old son. At the moment his desire is to become a priest and he tries to serve as many Masses as he can. He was pleased when he discovered that they added an extra monthly Mass to his already busy church schedule. He is turning in what some people in this forum would call a liturgy fascist. To me it just having a strong undertsanding of what the Mass is about.

He really likes “boys’ only club” activities (football team etc.) but he is also admitting his interest in some specific girls. When I asked what he thinks about girls as altar servers he told me that it is seem that it is the normal thing to do. He said that he is not distracted by them but by anyone that does not show proper behaviors during Mass. I asked if he is embarassed by something that could be percived as “girly” things, and he said that they are there just to serve Mass.

Looking at the way he is seeing things it is clear to me that he just tend to acquire the opinion of his family. I would dare to say that most of the kids his age do the same thing, and their issues with “girly things” is a reflection of the family attitude.

I think that the problem is not with girls serving at the altar today, but we parents not regonizing that there are proper behaviors to be kept and enforced during sacred functions. I have seen servers slouching on the chairs, picking their noses while wearing the white gloves, falling asleep during the omily, making faces at each other across the altar, not bowing in front of the tabernacle while preparing things before Mass (etc. etc.). The good thing is that our pastor gives them the “look” and “talks” to them after mess, and after that the person in charge of training “talks” to them too.

Is this a problem only with altar servers? No, it is with a lot of young people and their parents, but this is another thread.
 
jmcrae said:
Second, she has reached the age where she needs to find another way to serve the Church. Altar serving is for children - she is no longer a child. If she can do something about her appearance, she could become a lay reader, a hospitality coordinator, or an usher. Failing that, there are plenty of “behind the scenes” ministries that she could do, without worrying about her appearance.
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I completely disagree with the idea that altar serving is for children. It certainly isn’t around the world, in particular the Holy See. I’ve seen many adults serving at the altar. One suggestion that I was going to make stems from that: fathers and sons should be invited to serve at the altar TOGETHER. That might restore the “lustor” somewhat and it would certainly be good for the boys to see the primary man in their life bowing and bending and kneeling in service before the Blessed Sacrament. I suspect we’d go a long way to resolving the vocations “crisis” (which has more to do with crass materialism and a general decline of the soul of the West, IMHO, than girls at the altar or a lack Latin in the Mass, etc.)
 
paramedicgirl said:
Yes, I have seen men serving at the altar at the TLM in Calgary, and also at my NO parish when there are no children to serve.
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I think you guys took my comment out of context. If they have no robes for teens or adults, then it’s obvious they’re not expecting teens and adults to serve, at that particular parish.

Yes, I’ve seen adults serving at the TLM in Calgary, and I’ve heard of adults serving elsewhere, but as I understand it, that’s only when there are no children to do it - just the same as how they ask girls when there are no boys to do it.

It seems to me that boys are preferred, girls are second choice, and adults are third choice, or if that particular priest doesn’t permit girls, then adult men are the second choice after boys.
Once, at my parish, the adult woman in charge of the altar servers served at the Sunday Mass with her daughter. Now, that looked frivolous, inappropriate and downright silly.
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Why? Were they dressed in ballerina outfits, or something?
 
paramedicgirl said:
Once, at my parish, the adult woman in charge of the altar servers served at the Sunday Mass with her daughter. Now, that looked frivolous, inappropriate and downright silly.
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This is the second time that I see these three words used as put downs without any further explanation of why it looked frivolous, why it looked inappropriate, and why it looked downright silly. Can you please elaborate with some details.
 
BillyT92679 said:
In the early to mid 1990’s, I was an altar boy, and we had a tremendous number of male servers. When it was allowed to have girls on the altar, the number of servers dropped precipitously. It’s not just a feminization of the Church, it’s a democratization that deemphasizes the special ministerial duties of Holy Orders. Having male servers is a lay starting point to Holy Orders. We were trained, wore cassocks and surplices… it was like being on the path to priesthood.
Letting girls get involved is one component of just having lay people take over and run the ship so to speak.
Click to expand...
One more reason for the TLM, they CANNOT be allowed like communion in the hand !

👍 👍
 
I think we should stop referring to them as Altar Girls, Altar Servers, and the like. The proper term is Altar Boy and if they are an adult altar server then they are usually fulfilling a specific role as a Thurifer, Crucifer, or something of the sort. We should refer to them as “girl Altar Boys” and when it is in discussion we should not call women “Priests” or “Woman Priests” or anything of that like. We should refer to them as “priestesses” because that is what they are, Priest in its sense is a masculine word and a female cannot assume a masculine form because they are not masculine. An Altar Server is by default a boy because of its nature. A priest is a male by default because of the priestly nature. Therefore, we should refer to them as “Girl Altar Boys” “Readeratrixes” “Bishopresses” “Ministrexes” and “Priestesses.”
 
LuxAurumque said:
I think we should stop referring to them as Altar Girls, Altar Servers, and the like. The proper term is Altar Boy and if they are an adult altar server then they are usually fulfilling a specific role as a Thurifer, Crucifer, or something of the sort. We should refer to them as “girl Altar Boys” and when it is in discussion we should not call women “Priests” or “Woman Priests” or anything of that like. We should refer to them as “priestesses” because that is what they are, Priest in its sense is a masculine word and a female cannot assume a masculine form because they are not masculine. An Altar Server is by default a boy because of its nature. A priest is a male by default because of the priestly nature. Therefore, we should refer to them as “Girl Altar Boys” “Readeratrixes” “Bishopresses” “Ministrexes” and “Priestesses.”
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I understand that Rome does not use the term altar girls, and never will. Altar servers is what they are called, unless all boys are serving, then it is altar boys. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
 
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