Altar servers....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fludgecow101
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Fludgecow101

Guest
Just wondering for a good explanation of why traditionally, only boys could be altar servers. thanks
 
Traditionally, becoming an altar server was a young catholic boy’s first step in discerning a vocation. They’re being trained in the way of the Mass, spending their time watching the priests and deacons do their thing. It’s like an apprenticeship. You wouldn’t have someone who wants to be a doctor apprentice under a blacksmith.

In that reasoning, it’s almost a little cruel to let a girl be an altar server, to become so assosciated with a vocation she can never have.
 
Boys who serve at the altar are really just filling in for the sacred ministers in charge of that (most specifically, acolytes). Those sacred ministers are clerics, and only men can be clerics. It was long held (until 1994) that it didn’t make sense to have a fill-in who couldn’t possibly hold the position in her own right, thus service at the altar was limited to boys.
 
As FanChan stated, the purpose of altar servers is to allow a closeness to the altar so that they may better discern a vocation to the priesthood. Not all altar servers become priests, but as altar servers they are allowed the opportunity to imagine themselves as priests. It would not be right to promote such thoughts and ambitions in young girls lest they become confused and consequently angered by a misunderstood vocation to the priesthood.
 
Whether girls can be altar servers now depends on the diocese. At least here in the U.S., most dioceses let girls be altar servers. The only diocese in the U.S. that I know of that only allows male altar servers is the Diocese of Lincoln.

Now, if a bishop permits female altar servers, then it is up to the pastor and then the celebrant. While female altar servers are permitted, they aren’t mandatory either.
 
LRThunder said:
Whether girls can be altar servers now depends on the diocese. At least here in the U.S., most dioceses let girls be altar servers. The only diocese in the U.S. that I know of that only allows male altar servers is the Diocese of Lincoln.

Now, if a bishop permits female altar servers, then it is up to the pastor and then the celebrant. While female altar servers are permitted, they aren’t mandatory either.
Click to expand...
The authority to NOT allow Female altar servers First resides in the Priest of the Parish Then in the Bishop of the diocese.

An example would be the ARCHdiocese of L.A. The Archbishop allows them. But the local Parish Priest can make the decision at a Local Level to DIsallow them.

Likewise in Lincoln The bishop can Forbid them and the parish priest cannot allow them.
 
Dicerning said:
The authority to NOT allow Female altar servers First resides in the Priest of the Parish Then in the Bishop of the diocese.

An example would be the ARCHdiocese of L.A. The Archbishop allows them. But the local Parish Priest can make the decision at a Local Level to DIsallow them.

Likewise in Lincoln The bishop can Forbid them and the parish priest cannot allow them.
Click to expand...
That’s what happened at my parish in Baltimore. The parish was quick to get girls up there once that priest was taken away :rolleyes:
 
all this does make sense. Girls weren’t allowed to serve mass until after I graduated from my Catholic School in 94. I do think that the male servers only would be a great way for young men to consider vocations. Sadly today there aren’t many that seem to want to consider a vocation. Women too should consider vocation, but I don’t know if there was anything that women could participate in to consider sisterhood as a vocation. Evidently people do not hold up the value of vocations anymore
 
tobinatorstark said:
all this does make sense. Girls weren’t allowed to serve mass until after I graduated from my Catholic School in 94. I do think that the male servers only would be a great way for young men to consider vocations. Sadly today there aren’t many that seem to want to consider a vocation. Women too should consider vocation, but I don’t know if there was anything that women could participate in to consider sisterhood as a vocation. Evidently people do not hold up the value of vocations anymore
Click to expand...
It used to be that girls could be sent to boarding schools run by nuns, where they got to participate in much of the routine the sisters went through. That was likely often a girl’s first step in deciding her vocation.
These days, discerning young women have the chance to live in some convents, to see if that sort of life is right for them, before having to take any sort of vows, sort of like a young man going to seminary.

It was much longer ago, more around the medieval period, that many women often went to convents as a sort of midway between childhood and becoming a wife. If they were sought after by a suitor, they left the convent. At the same time, reading the lives of the Saints, there were a number of consecrated virgins who were married but remained in the convent in order to fulfill their consecration. Or something like that :o I could be misunderstanding all of that.
 
tobinatorstark said:
all this does make sense. Girls weren’t allowed to serve mass until after I graduated from my Catholic School in 94. I do think that the male servers only would be a great way for young men to consider vocations. Sadly today there aren’t many that seem to want to consider a vocation. Women too should consider vocation, but I don’t know if there was anything that women could participate in to consider sisterhood as a vocation. Evidently people do not hold up the value of vocations anymore
Click to expand...
young men are not picking up the vocation because we have quit praying at our masses for more holy priests. we really need to put this back in the mass.
 
i also forget to mention that Pope John Paul II came straight out saying that female alter girls should not be permitted. but i suppose it was just one more thing the bishops chose to ignore and do anyway
 
Properly understood, an acolyte is a minor clerical position. Likewise, a lector. They were not there to just help Father out-- in a situation with enough priests (in an abbey, for instance), the “altar boys” would be priests themselves.

Women couldn’t fill these roles because women aren’t clerics.
 
tobinatorstark said:
all this does make sense. Girls weren’t allowed to serve mass until after I graduated from my Catholic School in 94. I do think that the male servers only would be a great way for young men to consider vocations. Sadly today there aren’t many that seem to want to consider a vocation.
Click to expand...
There’s also a big difference in the role of an altar server in the Novus Ordo versus the Traditional Latin Mass. In the TLM, servers had responses to learn and distinct roles to fulfill-- there were parts specifically designated to their position, there was practically choreography involved. By the time that an altar boy had become good at serving, he’d committed a lot of training, practice and work to the job.

Contrast that to a server in the Novus Ordo-- they’re basically just bookstands and someone to clear the table after Father celebrates Supper. There’s barely even bells to ring anymore. Ho hum.

Talk to some old timers about their days as altar boys-- they’ll talk about it proudly. Talk to somone my age (in their 30’s) about being an altar boy, they were probably relieved when the girls could take the job so they didn’t have to bother anymore.
 
Hello everyone,
Altar Servers should not be confused with Acolytes because an Altar Server cannot give the Body and Blood of Christ to others to assist the priest if there isn’t enough Eucharistic Ministers, and an acolyte is not a minor clerial order. You are not known as a lector but a reader when you are on your way to the priesthood, and you also become an acolyte as well. A lay minister is know as a lector and can you also be a lay acolyte. I like that they have allowed females to be altar servers. Some of the female altar servers can be a little better than the male altar servers. I am a male Lay Acolyte myself and I 23 years old.
-cajuncatholic85
 
When I was younger in the 70’s, we still had a lot of nuns teaching and performing other roles in school. A lot of girls were chosen to help them out with many tasks. I believe this was a way to help allow them to discern if sisterhood was to be their vocation. (I don’t remember any boarding schools around, at least in my area). Sadly, just like the priesthood, nuns are becoming more and more rare. My parents still belong to the parish and they said that they only know of one nun involved with the school. On top of that, it’s a nun that doesn’t wear a habit. Personally, I think this practice degrades the vocation. To me, the habit earns respect and dignity. A religious should stand out from the lay people.

As for altar servers, I believe it should be relegated to males only and return it to a position of dignity. I am an alter server now, and all too often, I see kids doing it as a way of being seen. Unfortunately, we have adults that way too. Some of the girls are constantly adjusting their hair, and both boys and girls can be seen laughing, talking, day dreaming, slouching, looking into the pews for their friends, etc. Don’t get me wrong, there are some that are very good, at least for the function that we serve today. My future stepson is very observant and proper when serving. He gets frustrated if the other servers aren’t being respectful and I’m glad he feels that way.

I also agree with an earlier comment that we need to pray more for increased numbers of religious. We do at most every mass and I believe it is done diocese wide and our diocese has seen a steady increase in vocations over the past few years. Keep praying!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top