Boy only alter servers

[Brendan]

And here is a typical Sunday Mass at my parish.

skydrive.live.com/?cid=D48DBDC01A7E8A7D&id=D48DBDC01A7E8A7D%21620&sc=photos

And out of that, we have had 11 men ordained in the last 10 years, and we have 4 men in the seminary currently.

 

[Scottgun]

It wasn’t the custom of His day to talk to Samaratain women at wells, or for religious men to dine with tax collectors and prostitutes.

If you think the Christ felt, in any way, bound by the customs of His day, you have no read the Bible much.

There is no doubt that if Christ desired women priests, he would have ordained them as well.

Exactly. Our Lord had no qualms about busting customs of the current day. We should start a catalog of failed arguments for women priests and just refer to them by a number.

 

[Sarcelle]

I am not saying that is how i base things. Goodness. Calm down. I am telling you the general attitude of catholic male teens today.
Of corse, I am NOT a general catholic teen male.

No need to imply I have bad parents. That seems a bit immature…

And, are you even aware that altar serving IS supposed to be training for priesthood???
Im guessing you didnt even KNOW that.

It seems then, that vocations are a very good subject in this discussion…why wouldnt they be?

AND please be more charitable. Nobody is attacking you, quit flailing around defensively.

I too prefer boy altar servers.
However we lay people do not get to decide this policy.
If you strongly think that altar service must be limited to boys contact the bishop in charge of your parish.

 

[Sarcelle]

You are correct about altar servers looking sissified, or feminized. I get what you are saying. It’s generally true that when women start moving into a profession, the men move out. There was a time when all or most store clerks, bank tellers and teachers were men. I’ll bet they were considered good, manly jobs back then. Then women took over these jobs. With the exception of teaching (at higher grade levels), the other jobs are not at all attractive to men, because they are looked upon as being women’s jobs. the same goes with boys and their view of altar servers, if they see a lot of girls doing it.

As for God not needing warriors, why are we called Church Militant? Why do they call it “fighting the good fight”? St. Francis could have been beheaded for preaching to the Muslims. Sounds like a military man to me!

Be careful you might be opening up a whole can of worms here.

Do you want to keep whole career fields off limits to women? Kick out all women from the professions of nursing and teaching to get the men back?

Sometimes I just shake my head at the perception some men have of women. The view that women are appliances for the convenience of men and should be kept at all times at home where appliances are usually kept. Food processor, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, dish washer and baby maker all rolled into one.

 

[Sarcelle]

He’s not a little boy though. It’d be very awkward to be serving with 9 year olds. And people expect the altar servers to be children, not mid teens.

All the parishes I’ve been a member of have had altar servers who are boys in their mid-teens.

Nobody thought it was unusual and most these boys are discerning a vocation for the priesthood. Very encouraging.

 

[Scottgun]

Sometimes I just shake my head at the perception some men have of women. The view that women are appliances for the convenience of men and should be kept at all times at home where appliances are usually kept. Food processor, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, dish washer and baby maker all rolled into one.

This is a highly unjust and tendentious reading of his comment. Always the sign of someone on shaky ground.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

He’s not a little boy though. It’d be very awkward to be serving with 9 year olds. And people expect the altar servers to be children, not mid teens.

My parish has teens who are altar servers. Just last year, 19 graduated high school and stopped serving. Don’t worry, we had plenty to take up their slack.

Also, I don’t know the exact percentages, but it is a good mix of male/female.

 

[Sarcelle]

This is a highly unjust and tendentious reading of his comment. Always the sign of someone on shaky ground.

You are right. My bad. It was over the top and unjust and I tried to delete my post but it was too late.

My apologies for causing offense.

This is my last post on this thread.

I am bowing out.

 

[ialsop]

All the parishes I’ve been a member of have had altar servers who are boys in their mid-teens.

Nobody thought it was unusual and most these boys are discerning a vocation for the priesthood. Very encouraging.

NOT in my parish, nobody girl OR boy over age ten is serving at my parish…and I am a mid teen. Honestly, the genger is not as much of an issue as the age.

 

[ialsop]

My parish has teens who are altar servers. Just last year, 19 graduated high school and stopped serving. Don’t worry, we had plenty to take up their slack.

Also, I don’t know the exact percentages, but it is a good mix of male/female.

Yes but my parish doesnt…

 

[boomerang]

Be careful you might be opening up a whole can of worms here.

Do you want to keep whole career fields off limits to women? Kick out all women from the professions of nursing and teaching to get the men back?

Sometimes I just shake my head at the perception some men have of women. The view that women are appliances for the convenience of men and should be kept at all times at home where appliances are usually kept. Food processor, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, dish washer and baby maker all rolled into one.

There’s no can of worms here, just an observation. Men and boys have a strong innate sense of what is manly behavior. When there are a lot of females in an activity, or at work, males tend to feel out of place. I’ve seen it in my job, definitely. The men tend to gravitate to the assignments they feel comfortable with: the “manly” assignments. They ridicule the men who have the “feminine” assignments.

Men will harass each other over any attraction to feminine things. To deny this obvious reality is really burying your head in the sand, and is a small part of what is wrong with men and male-female relations today. If women keep encroaching on men’s traditional places, the men won’t play. They just drop out, and then women complain that men don’t act like MEN. Well, men NEED a space of their own in order to feel like real men, and not some emasculated facade of a man. That’s nature and reality, not prejudice.

 

[ialsop]

There’s no can of worms here, just an observation. Men and boys have a strong innate sense of what is manly behavior. When there are a lot of females in an activity, or at work, males tend to feel out of place. I’ve seen it in my job, definitely. The men tend to gravitate to the assignments they feel comfortable with: the “manly” assignments. They ridicule the men who have the “feminine” assignments.

Men will harass each other over any attraction to feminine things. To deny this obvious reality is really burying your head in the sand, and is a small part of what is wrong with men and male-female relations today. If women keep encroaching on men’s traditional places, the men won’t play. They just drop out, and then women complain that men don’t act like MEN. Well, men NEED a space of their own in order to feel like real men, and not some emasculated facade of a man. That’s nature and reality, not prejudice.

Exactly. The culture keeps feminizing all the men, and then complaining that we have no real men. We only have the feminized males and the brute jerks, neither of which are real men…

 

[KendraDZ1902]

There’s no can of worms here, just an observation. Men and boys have a strong innate sense of what is manly behavior. When there are a lot of females in an activity, or at work, males tend to feel out of place. I’ve seen it in my job, definitely. The men tend to gravitate to the assignments they feel comfortable with: the “manly” assignments. They ridicule the men who have the “feminine” assignments.

Men will harass each other over any attraction to feminine things. To deny this obvious reality is really burying your head in the sand, and is a small part of what is wrong with men and male-female relations today. If women keep encroaching on men’s traditional places, the men won’t play. They just drop out, and then women complain that men don’t act like MEN. Well, men NEED a space of their own in order to feel like real men, and not some emasculated facade of a man. That’s nature and reality, not prejudice.

The whole girls do it, so it is girly is just a stupid excuse. That’s like saying, “I want to get into a good school, but I’m not going to take college prep/ap classes because nerds are in the class.” It just sounds lazy. Maybe it is just the girl in me, but nothing has ever stopped me doing something I really wanted to do. Maybe “men” should put on their big girl panties and deal with it.
It does make it seem like men are the weaker sex when they always have to have their egos stroked.

 

[ialsop]

The whole girls do it, so it is girly is just a stupid excuse. That’s like saying, “I want to get into a good school, but I’m not going to take college prep/ap classes because nerds are in the class.” It just sounds lazy. Maybe it is just the girl in me, but nothing has ever stopped me doing something I really wanted to do. Maybe “men” should put on their big girl panties and deal with it.

But then when a guy wants to do what is known to everybody to generally be a girl activity, like play with barbie and wear pink, everybody freaks out and thinks he is gay…How do you respond that that? Why can girls do boy things, but boys are discouraged from girl things?

I mean I am sick of it. The minute you say girls should be feminine or guys should be manly everybody thinks your crazy. My goodness. If God didnt create men to do man things and girls to do woman things, why didnt he just make us all one sex???

 

[KendraDZ1902]

But then when a guy wants to do what is known to everybody to generally be a girl activity, like play with barbie and wear pink, everybody freaks out and thinks he is gay…How do you respond that that? Why can girls do boy things, but boys are discouraged from girl things?

Where did I say that?
My little brother played Barbie’s with me and I played with his tonka toys with him. He’s totally not gay. Not even close.
If I have a son and he wants to dance, well come on you are doing to be the best dancer, ever. If I have a daughter who is a tomboy, fine. If I have a son who dreams of being a nurse, great. Wonderful goal. If I have a daughter who wants to go to one of the service academies, wonderful. I will be hoping that she chooses the Naval Academy, because we are a navy family. Lol.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

But then when a guy wants to do what is known to everybody to generally be a girl activity, like play with barbie and wear pink, everybody freaks out and thinks he is gay…How do you respond that that? Why can girls do boy things, but boys are discouraged from girl things?

I mean I am sick of it. The minute you say girls should be feminine or guys should be manly everybody thinks your crazy. My goodness. If God didnt create men to do man things and girls to do woman things, why didnt he just make us all one sex???

Being feminine doesn’t mean that girls can’t get dirty or be tough. I am a total girl and I love shooting guns, hunting, sports, etc. I know I’m not male and my husband knows I’m not male. But I’m not going to sit in the house and knit, because that’s not me.

 

[ialsop]

Where did I say that?
My little brother played Barbie’s with me and I played with his tonka toys with him. He’s totally not gay. Not even close.
If I have a son and he wants to dance, well come on you are doing to be the best dancer, ever. If I have a daughter who is a tomboy, fine. If I have a son who dreams of being a nurse, great. Wonderful goal. If I have a daughter who wants to go to one of the service academies, wonderful. I will be hoping that she chooses the Naval Academy, because we are a navy family. Lol.

Ah well Navy is nice but theyre gonna lose tonight!

Your right, I am being far too harsh. And also, I assumed. Nevermind my last post then.

I do want to repeat what I said earlier, just to show how I really am not anti-women.

I dont really care if girls are altar serving. I am just reflecting on a fourth grader boy’s general psychology. HE would care.
My issue is NOT that girls do it.
My issue is that we dont have many more boys doing it. And i want to, just next year because at the moment I am focusing on confirmation, not altar serving.
And I thought this was an issue in more parishes, but I guess it is just us. You and many others say that you have plenty of boys and older youth doing it. I guess its only my parish with that issue, then.

 

[ialsop]

Being feminine doesn’t mean that girls can’t get dirty or be tough. I am a total girl and I love shooting guns, hunting, sports, etc. I know I’m not male and my husband knows I’m not male. But I’m not going to sit in the house and knit, because that’s not me.

 

[ialsop]

Being feminine doesn’t mean that girls can’t get dirty or be tough. I am a total girl and I love shooting guns, hunting, sports, etc. I know I’m not male and my husband knows I’m not male. But I’m not going to sit in the house and knit, because that’s not me./QUOTE

I agree. I just worry about the people who take this to the extreme of saying that it is anti-woman to have just men events of activities. It is not, just like it is not anti-men to have all woman events or activities or whatever.

And then THAT is taken to the extreme sometimes of woman priests.

 

[boomerang]

Exactly. The culture keeps feminizing all the men, and then complaining that we have no real men. We only have the feminized males and the brute jerks, neither of which are real men…

True. Nowadays our culture wants to believe that men and women are the same, just different genitals. We are not the same. We are equal in the eyes of God, and equal in our humanity, but we are not the same. People get so worked up over “equality” that they confuse the issue. Equality and Sameness are two different things.