Area parish decides altar-serving is for the boys

[seremina]

Oh. Okay. It’ll be forgotten soon. I told my brain to put this matter back into the short-term bank.

Dear Seramina,
I’m not offended
Taking umbridge doesn’t mean getting offended in the strictest sense of the word.
I perhaps need to expand on my answer a little more.
It’s like - taking issue with a something etc …
I think i over emphasised the ‘taking mild offence’
It’s all silly, so let’s forget it.

zuzu

 

[KathleenElsie]

While at Mass today I was was struck with the fact that of all the people on the alter the majority were female. There were two alter girls and one alter boy. There were seven extraordinary ministers four were women. And I remembered this thread. My grandson (also an alter boy) was in the pew with me and the family. Maybe it is time to bring back the “old boys” network and pray for more male servers so we can have more priests. Because the majority of those serving today don’t qualify for the Priesthood. Lets encourage those that do.

 

[rlg94086]

I agree. We are visiting family this week, so we went to Palm Sunday Mass at a new, very large parish in California [edit add - the building was new…not necessarily the parish]. My kids noted that the 2 girls and 1 boy alter servers (all three pretty young) paled in comparison to our 6-8 alter boys (including teenagers) at our small parish.

(There was a lot that my kids didn’t like at the Mass - electric guitars and drum set, not kneeling after the Agnus Dei, etc., but this thread is only about alter servers. )

While at Mass today I was was struck with the fact that of all the people on the alter the majority were female. There were two alter girls and one alter boy. There were seven extraordinary ministers four were women. And I remembered this thread. My grandson (also an alter boy) was in the pew with me and the family. Maybe it is time to bring back the “old boys” network and pray for more male servers so we can have more priests. Because the majority of those serving today don’t qualify for the Priesthood. Lets encourage those that do.

 

[frommi]

While at Mass today I was was struck with the fact that of all the people on the alter the majority were female. There were two alter girls and one alter boy. There were seven extraordinary ministers four were women. And I remembered this thread. My grandson (also an alter boy) was in the pew with me and the family. Maybe it is time to bring back the “old boys” network and pray for more male servers so we can have more priests. Because the majority of those serving today don’t qualify for the Priesthood. Lets encourage those that do.

There’s little evidence that populating ministerial roles with boys or men will lead to a surge in vocations.

 

[KathleenElsie]

There’s little evidence that populating ministerial roles with boys or men will lead to a surge in vocations.

I didn’t say a surge. But a trickle of those boys that serve also will feel and know they are Called. If not given the chance they might ignore Gods call.

I do wonder how the girls that have faithfully served feel when they hit that concrete ceiling and are told no further. Go out and do womans work now. I pray that this situation does not turn them away from the one TRUE Church. Situations such as this have been in the news lately.

 

[Lovemyfaith]

I don’t know about hitting a concrete ceiling, because in my parish there are many opportunities for women, from choir to lector to outreach services and teen groups. The girls I know personally who do serve never consider the priesthood being a personal vocation. In fact, they are from the families who do attend church and have a respect for the priesthood as it has been since its beginning. I have asked many priests how they feel about female servers, and though one did tell me he would prefer adults, male or female, because kids make mistakes ( ) the others told me they didn’t mind either, so long as the server knew what they were doing and had reverence for it.
When I was listening to Catholic radio last week I heard a phone call from a young woman who thought she had a vocation to be a nun and her family was opposed to it. That worries me more than female servers. Pray for vocations, talk to young men, servers or not about what a wonderful vocation the priesthood is, talk to their families about what a wonderful vocation it is.

 

[francesco920]

Okay, I have a question for all altar girl supporters:

What happens if a girl likes altar service so much that she thinks to herself something like: “Wow, this is great! I think I want to be a priest(ess)!” ??

Perhaps there is no link between altar girls and falling vocations, but perhaps there is a link between altar girls and the number of women who are pushing for female priests (priestesses)?

 

[Lovemyfaith]

Who are all these women who are pushing for female priests? Aside from an article about some females being ordained on some boat a year ago, which to me is just another cult, not the Catholic church, and about 20 people protesting outside the Chrism Mass at our Cathedral every year (which by the way was evenly split male/female), I don’t see many Catholics pushing for female priests. I pay about as much attention to non Catholics on such issues as I would on their opinions about abortion, stem cell research, birth control, married priests or any other teaching of the Catholic Church.
Girls who think being a server is fun, maybe be a priest is fun have not been taught properly, and would be just as inclined to think maybe abortion isn’t always wrong or any other church teaching has room for error. In that respect, the education in their faith needs improvement either from the home or school. As I see it, the service they perform at Mass is along the same line of the Lector, Cantor, etc and nowhere close to what the Celebrant is doing, and hopefully any mother of a son will tell that son, Mass can go without Cantors, Lectors and servers, etc, but without the priest there is no Mass.

 

[litllulu]

What next? Are boys not going to be allowed to clean or prepare food? Are they not going to be able to participate in remedial work?

If anything, having a couple young girls up on the altar is going to make any straight boy want to be an altar server with her.

 

[schofie]

What next? Are boys not going to be allowed to clean or prepare food? Are they not going to be able to participate in remedial work?

If anything, having a couple young girls up on the altar is going to make any straight boy want to be an altar server with her.

Huh? straight boy? I have two sons who are altar servers who are both quite straight. Your coment was offensive to me & I’m not too easily riled.

For what it is worth, I agree with the male only altar servers unless there is no alternative. We have an 80 year old man who steps up when he is needed.

 

[frommi]

I didn’t say a surge. But a trickle of those boys that serve also will feel and know they are Called. If not given the chance they might ignore Gods call.

I do wonder how the girls that have faithfully served feel when they hit that concrete ceiling and are told no further. Go out and do womans work now. I pray that this situation does not turn them away from the one TRUE Church. Situations such as this have been in the news lately.

It seems to me that you have to distinguish all of these ministries from one another…

Serving at the altar is ministerial in nature…the role of the celebrant priest at mass is presidential in nature…

I think you have to see serving at the altar for the privilege it is…not as a ‘resume builder’ for a vocation. I’m sure some who serve at the altar feel called to the priesthood, licitly.

Likewise, there are probably readers, extraordinary ministers of holy communion, etc who feel the same way.

A girl serving at the altar who feels a calling to serve the people of God in a greater way should be encouraged to discern that call in a way that stays in line with the ministries that are open to her at this time.

 

[KathleenElsie]

What next? Are boys not going to be allowed to clean or prepare food? Are they not going to be able to participate in remedial work?

If anything, having a couple young girls up on the altar is going to make any straight boy want to be an altar server with her.

LOL my grandsons still think girls are YUKKY

 

[KathleenElsie]

It seems to me that you have to distinguish all of these ministries from one another…

Serving at the altar is ministerial in nature…the role of the celebrant priest at mass is presidential in nature…

I think you have to see serving at the altar for the privilege it is…not as a ‘resume builder’ for a vocation. I’m sure some who serve at the altar feel called to the priesthood, licitly.

Likewise, there are probably readers, extraordinary ministers of holy communion, etc who feel the same way.

A girl serving at the altar who feels a calling to serve the people of God in a greater way should be encouraged to discern that call in a way that stays in line with the ministries that are open to her at this time.

Feel free not to answer this. But do you think women in the prieshood would be ok? Or do you think it is proper to only have men in the positions of priest?

 

[frommi]

Feel free not to answer this. But do you think women in the prieshood would be ok? Or do you think it is proper to only have men in the positions of priest?

I have no issue following the teaching of the church on the issue…however, I would not be bothered by the presence of female clergy if that type of thing had ever occurred.

 

[Leeta]

Yes, only altar boys is the wave of the future.

Priestly vocations were on the decline from the mid sixties on. The use of Extraordinary ministers and communion in the hand were also contributing factors in the decline. But altar gilrs were a definite hindrance.
In the 70’s altar girls began appearing illicitly and were most common in most parishes. By the time the ‘permisssion’ rolled around in 1994, it was only the most traditional parishes which still had only altar boys. The permisssion was used to wipe out the traditional practice in these last holdouts since the Bishops interpreted it as a mandate for affirmative action for girl altar servers.

The new Mass does not require altar servers at all. So if there are not any boys or men, then girls altar servers are simply not necessary.

Boys are handicapped spiritually and need the extra push to stay awake and do something hands on during the Mass. Girls have a natural bent toward the spiritual. So please don’t allow your daughters to serve, since it is keeping a boy from serving and keeping his mind on spitiual things and out of trouble and idleness. It could save a boy’s soul!

Before adolescence boys tend to have an aversion to girls and so they don’t want to do things with girls. Thereafter you don’t want them to be with girls too much!
Now I speak from experience since I live with 8 men and I know their weaknesses. They are so centered on toys from little on into adulthood. They are so turned off to help serve at a parish where there are EMHCs and altar girls. After all priests are obviously not needed at that parish when all these other people are also distributing Holy Communion. Also, the altar girls are pretty lousy servers and dress inappropriately with flip-flops, big hair bows and even mini skirts (albeit under the robe).
Facebook has a group called “Hey, ho altar girls have got to go” of which I am a member. My son invited me to join.

 

[Leeta]

By the way, two of the illegal altar girls in the parish I attended in the late 70’s, went on to find their vocation to the Episcopal priesthood! That is the vocation of altar girls and I wouldn’t want anyone’s daughter to leave the Church due to the false expectations raised by service at the altar. When I was at that same parish, they had dispensed with altar servers altogether and had 12 EMHCs at every Sunday Mass for about 150 people.

Lectoring and EMHCing are not vocations. Holy orders or religious life, marriage and the single life are vocations.

 

[KathleenElsie]

By the way, two of the illegal altar girls in the parish I attended in the late 70’s, went on to find their vocation to the Episcopal priesthood! That is the vocation of altar girls and I wouldn’t want anyone’s daughter to leave the Church due to the false expectations raised by service at the altar. When I was at that same parish, they had dispensed with altar servers altogether and had 12 EMHCs at every Sunday Mass for about 150 people.

Lectoring and EMHCing are not vocations. Holy orders or religious life, marriage and the single life are vocations.

Thank you Leeta you said it well IMO. I also have seen an exodus to the Episcopal Church of those that just want to have it their way. It is a two way street though as some of the more Traditional Episcopal male priests have become Catholic.

This week at the Thursday (I will call it a service not a Mass) service they will again wash the feet of men and women and again my family and I will instead attend in a Parish that is not ours that holds to the men only Traditional stand. Now don’t get me wrong if they had a service that had a woman in the church wash the feet of the priest as was done to Jesus I would attend that one. I expect our services to follow the teachings of the past. I do not believe in political correctness and everyone is the sameness. For this new PCness has turned as many away from Holy Mother Church as it has retained. And many of those that have remained do hold to the CCC but to their personal opinions.

Pray for our Church that it may be strong in its stand for what is truly Holy.

 

[frommi]

Boys are handicapped spiritually and need the extra push to stay awake and do something hands on during the Mass. Girls have a natural bent toward the spiritual. So please don’t allow your daughters to serve, since it is keeping a boy from serving and keeping his mind on spitiual things and out of trouble and idleness. It could save a boy’s soul!
.

Wow…I don’t know where to start here…

Exactly how are boys ‘handicapped’ spiritually? That’s one of those stereotypical points of view that goes right up there with “don’t let a boy be seen playing with dolls”.

Girls are no more inclined to spirituality than boys are…I can’t think of one scientific study that shows this.

The only thing I know studies have shown is that boys/men tend to have more spiritual moments ‘side to side’ rather than ‘face to face’ as most girls/women do (think about…playing video games…going on road trips).

However…the idea that girls serving at the altar is robbing a boy of his birthright for spiritual development is foolhardy.

Girls are not serving at the altar at the expense of boys…in most parishes there are more than enough opportunities to go around. Also, I think the days of ‘girls have cooties’ are well behind us (for good and for bad).

There is room for boys and girls to serve at the altar.

I fail to see what the gain is in restricting a ministry like this from any gender.

 

[frommi]

Pray for our Church that it may be strong in its stand for what is truly Holy.

Faithful service…humbling oneselves for others is very holy…in fact it is a mandate (mandatum) from Jesus himself. It’s regrettable that you think there is something to be gained in leaving your parish behind simply so your family can witness the foot washing be exclusive to those with Y chromosomes. What a powerful sign for a family to see their pastor removing his chasuble and doing something as humbling as washing the feet of your fellow parishoners.

Too bad

 

[Ruthmary]

God set up a male priesthood in the OT, and Jesus continued that in the New Covenant. Now 2,000 years later, or 3,000 or more if you begin from the OT, we suddenly think we know better than the traditional Church.

In this age we are being taught that there is no difference between the sexes. That is contrary to what Christianity teaches us. Study the Theology of the Body, and what the Church has always taught, that God has made us male and female for a reason. We each have our purpose. We are male or female clear down to our very souls, and will be male or female in heaven for all eternity. We are different, and should be encouraged to cultivate and celebrate our special gifts.