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khkhk
Guest
I think either, as long as they are well trained, have good intentions, and try atleast to stay away from movies, TV, books, internet, speech, etc that are not needed in the world… if you know what I mean…
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davy39
Guest
We have a pretty good mixture of boys and girls at our parish, and they are all pretty well trained. I used to be an altar boy back in the pre-vatican 2 days, but some of these kids do just as good as I did. There is one girl who served tonite, that is extremly pious. A lot of this tells of a good, stable home life. To me, it’s not what sex they are, but how good they do while serving.
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Podo2004
Guest
im an altar server ( the team captain in fact) and accept girls to serve and boys( there are more boys in my parish that serve, but i would like to see more girls serve) There is no rule saying that only boys can serve… altar serving isn’t only for priesthood( it’s good training though) but too serve the lord…
Girls,Boys doesn’t really matter… even boys/girls that are young like 8. My brother is 7 and he serves, not for anything or anyone but OUR LORD(as i constantly remind the servers)
Podo The Hobbit
Girls,Boys doesn’t really matter… even boys/girls that are young like 8. My brother is 7 and he serves, not for anything or anyone but OUR LORD(as i constantly remind the servers)
Podo The Hobbit
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puzzleannie
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puzzleannie
Guest
sad, but true, I am also grateful when altar servers refrain from liturgical dance
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Irish_Catholic
Guest
As far as I know, our parish is in desperate need of altar servers. On each monthly schedule, there are at least 4 “volunteer” slots, and if I leave there will be several more. I’d say that at least 60% of the kids signed up to be altar servers never show up to actually serve, so Father has to schedule the same, reliable 40% of us for every Mass. Half of the reliable servers are girls, and an even larger percent are home schooled. So, no, I don’t think that I’m taking any boy’s place. Our parish is huge and could never have too many servers…
1.) Quite a few mothers push their daughters into being altar servers. I have seen altar server training sessions were some moms were acting as if their daughters were entered in a beauty pageant. Scary.
This was NOT the case with me. It’s true, my parents did encouraged me to serve Mass so that I could grow in holiness and serve at the altar of our Lord, but my mother is anti-feminist and would never push me into something that she thought might be against Church teaching. And, although, there were training sessions for servers when I first started, that practice has since dissipated and all of our new servers are completely un-trained, are never paired with an older server (because we don’t have enough people to have more than one server at each Mass), and they were never taught how to comb their hair or wash their hands. It’s pitiful, but what is one to do? I can’t quit, but according to all the orthodox people here it’s “preferable” if I do quit…
2.) Once the altar server ranks were infiltrated by females, young males have far less interest in serving.
I agree with what you’re getting at here: mainly that young boys are more likely to become a server if it’s a “guys’ club,” but I don’t know about girls “infiltrating” the altar server ranks… Is it possible that some girls actually love Jesus and want to serve Him everyway they can? Maybe some of them (like myself) were never taught anything by the “Catholic” school they attended, and are just trying to do the best with what they got. I don’t think that all girls were pushed into serving… the girl servers I know are just trying to help out… we aren’t trying to kill vocations.
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Podo2004
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davy39, it depends on how well they serve… for the LORD.
Podo The Hobbit
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Crusader
Guest
Irish Catholic:
A.)As far as I know, our parish is in desperate need of altar servers. On each monthly schedule, there are at least 4 “volunteer” slots, and if I leave there will be several more. I’d say that at least 60% of the kids signed up to be altar servers never show up to actually serve, so Father has to schedule the same, reliable 40% of us for every Mass. Half of the reliable servers are girls, and an even larger percent are home schooled. So, no, I don’t think that I’m taking any boy’s place. Our parish is huge and could never have too many servers…
B.) This was NOT the case with me. It’s true, my parents did encouraged me to serve Mass so that I could grow in holiness and serve at the altar of our Lord, but my mother is anti-feminist and would never push me into something that she thought might be against Church teaching. And, although, there were training sessions for servers when I first started, that practice has since dissipated and all of our new servers are completely un-trained, are never paired with an older server (because we don’t have enough people to have more than one server at each Mass), and they were never taught how to comb their hair or wash their hands. It’s pitiful, but what is one to do? I can’t quit, but according to all the orthodox people here it’s “preferable” if I do quit…
3.)I agree with what you’re getting at here: mainly that young boys are more likely to become a server if it’s a “guys’ club,” but I don’t know about girls “infiltrating” the altar server ranks… Is it possible that some girls actually love Jesus and want to serve Him everyway they can? Maybe some of them (like myself) were never taught anything by the “Catholic” school they attended, and are just trying to do the best with what they got. I don’t think that all girls were pushed into serving… the girl servers I know are just trying to help out… we aren’t trying to kill vocations.
A.) It’s too bad some dads don’t make the effort to form a true alter boy corps like the “knights of the altar” that were once so popular. Takes commitment though, and it also ruins the #1 excuse for altar girls.
B.) Good to hear. Most of the altar girls I know of have hardcore sexist/feminista mothers who are wanna-be priests.
C.) All slots should go to males who might just possibly be fostering a priestly vocation.
A.)As far as I know, our parish is in desperate need of altar servers. On each monthly schedule, there are at least 4 “volunteer” slots, and if I leave there will be several more. I’d say that at least 60% of the kids signed up to be altar servers never show up to actually serve, so Father has to schedule the same, reliable 40% of us for every Mass. Half of the reliable servers are girls, and an even larger percent are home schooled. So, no, I don’t think that I’m taking any boy’s place. Our parish is huge and could never have too many servers…
B.) This was NOT the case with me. It’s true, my parents did encouraged me to serve Mass so that I could grow in holiness and serve at the altar of our Lord, but my mother is anti-feminist and would never push me into something that she thought might be against Church teaching. And, although, there were training sessions for servers when I first started, that practice has since dissipated and all of our new servers are completely un-trained, are never paired with an older server (because we don’t have enough people to have more than one server at each Mass), and they were never taught how to comb their hair or wash their hands. It’s pitiful, but what is one to do? I can’t quit, but according to all the orthodox people here it’s “preferable” if I do quit…
3.)I agree with what you’re getting at here: mainly that young boys are more likely to become a server if it’s a “guys’ club,” but I don’t know about girls “infiltrating” the altar server ranks… Is it possible that some girls actually love Jesus and want to serve Him everyway they can? Maybe some of them (like myself) were never taught anything by the “Catholic” school they attended, and are just trying to do the best with what they got. I don’t think that all girls were pushed into serving… the girl servers I know are just trying to help out… we aren’t trying to kill vocations.
A.) It’s too bad some dads don’t make the effort to form a true alter boy corps like the “knights of the altar” that were once so popular. Takes commitment though, and it also ruins the #1 excuse for altar girls.
B.) Good to hear. Most of the altar girls I know of have hardcore sexist/feminista mothers who are wanna-be priests.
C.) All slots should go to males who might just possibly be fostering a priestly vocation.
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Crusader
Guest
The fact that your parish has a “team captain” altar server makes it suspect in my book.im an altar server ( the team captain in fact) and accept girls to serve and boys( there are more boys in my parish that serve, but i would like to see more girls serve) There is no rule saying that only boys can serve… altar serving isn’t only for priesthood( it’s good training though) but too serve the lord…
Girls,Boys doesn’t really matter… even boys/girls that are young like 8. My brother is 7 and he serves, not for anything or anyone but OUR LORD(as i constantly remind the servers)
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hydrochief
Guest
Seems to me that IF there are boys out there with A Calling, then God would see to it that they are in a position to Serve. So, as far as girls taking away from that, I just don’t see it.
I think the biggest item against boys fostering a possible Calling would be the parents (see forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=13403&highlight=vocation).
As I said previously, I was the Trainer/Scheduler in my last Parish. I always tried to keep a system that had all my Servers on a rotation where they weren’t serving every week; simply because I had that many names to work with. The biggest problem I was confronted with was the parents either showing up for a different Mass (even though they were consulted as to which Mass they would prefer), or just not showing up at all. So I had kids who volunteered to serve every week whether they were scheduled or not. I think that, in itself, is promotion for those discerning a Calling (even if they aren’t old enough to really understand that yet).
I really disagree that girls are *stealing *time in Service to Christ away from boys who may foster a Priestly Vocation.
:tsktsk: I also disagree that boys would rather not serve because there are girl Servers. That sounds to me like maybe the parents are putting their (dare I say it?) prejudices onto their children.
They are just kids afterall, let them all Serve! (i.e. “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them…” Mark 10:14)
I think the biggest item against boys fostering a possible Calling would be the parents (see forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=13403&highlight=vocation).
As I said previously, I was the Trainer/Scheduler in my last Parish. I always tried to keep a system that had all my Servers on a rotation where they weren’t serving every week; simply because I had that many names to work with. The biggest problem I was confronted with was the parents either showing up for a different Mass (even though they were consulted as to which Mass they would prefer), or just not showing up at all. So I had kids who volunteered to serve every week whether they were scheduled or not. I think that, in itself, is promotion for those discerning a Calling (even if they aren’t old enough to really understand that yet).
I really disagree that girls are *stealing *time in Service to Christ away from boys who may foster a Priestly Vocation.
:tsktsk: I also disagree that boys would rather not serve because there are girl Servers. That sounds to me like maybe the parents are putting their (dare I say it?) prejudices onto their children.
They are just kids afterall, let them all Serve! (i.e. “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them…” Mark 10:14)
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Catholic2003
Guest
hydrochief said:
Even if there were some boys who would rather not serve because of the girl servers, I think that a responsible adult could explain to those boys why it is important for the Church to encourage everyone whom God has called to service. As Irish Catholic said, “Is it possible that some girls actually love Jesus and want to serve Him everyway they can?”
If any potential altar boy cannot understand that, then it’s doubtful he would make a very good priest anyway.
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Stu
Guest
I believe you are not taking into account the inner workings of a young man’s mind. Judging a BOY for such thoughts as to his fitness for priesthood seems to be jumping the gun a bit as he will most likely grow and refine over the years. Until then, let’s work with the “clay” we have and set up a system that allow’s us to grow priestly vocations. There are plenty of other activities within our Church for girls that love Jesus to take on.
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IrenkaJMJ
Guest
Doesn’t the local bishop have to approve to allow girls to serve in the first place? Wouldn’t that fact alone illustrate that girls are not to be looked upon the same as boys? It should not be that that girls and boys are the same and interchangable. Equal doesn’t necessarily mean “the same as”. Remember, ours is a Universal Church and the pope obviously considers this when he decides to allow certain things. For example, if the Tabernacle is allowed to be housed in a place other than on the main altar, front and center, maybe that’s for cathedrals and churches that have high tourism and because of the tourists, out of respect. But for churches that are obviously, not on the tourists’ path to move the Tabernacle just because the Church allows it seems a little absurd. Maybe it should be looked at this way when it comes to girls serving. Yes, they are allowed, but is it really necessary everywhere and all the time?
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Catholic2003
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Such as?
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Stu
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- Greeters
- Choir
- Solidality
- Teaching CCD
- Leading Hail Mary’s or Stations of the Cross
- Member of the any parish charitable organizations
- One could volunteer to write instructional elements for the church bulletin
- Decorating the church for special events
- Older girls/women can serve on committees
etc, etc, etc.
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Catholic2003
Guest
I notice that you did not include reader in your list. Do you have a problem with lay women doing the non-Gospel readings in Mass?
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Crusader
Guest
Ideally each parish would have enough instituted lectors (a ministry open only to men) that no readers (male or female) would be necessary.
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Stu
Guest
What he said.
Whether or not I have a “problem” with it is moot. It’s a matter of the Church’s teachings which I submit to.
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davy39
Guest
Podo2004 said:
I agree! I hope this isn’t going to turn into a boy vs. girl server debate again. If it is, count me out.
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Edwin1961
Guest
In the Byzantine Catholic Church, an alter server is a male over the age of 6. Today, I just told my Pastor that I want to become an altar server. My Pastor thinks I can do the work because when he was in Minnesota, he had a visually impaired man as an altar server, who actually did quite well. I sure will appreciate any prayers for me.
go with God!
Edwin
go with God!
Edwin
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