can a lay woman lead a penance service?

  • Thread starter Thread starter jpjd
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Friar_David_O.Carm said:
The alb, as has been pointed out is our baptismal garment. Altar servers wear them. In some places girls are altar servers.

There was nothing wrong with this woman wearing one.

As this woman was leading a prayer service I am of the school of thought that those leading a prayer service should wear some sort of dress that calls out that function. The alb is just the sort of thing.
Click to expand...
I agree 100% with you!
 
I hope someone thanked the lady who led the service.

Maybe the priests had already had a hard day on the parishes or ministries and so were not able to preside at the service.

Without lay people and especially without the women who out number the men in lay service the Church would grind to a halt.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Sounds like you better study up on your Catholic rulebook if you care to be in proper alignment with the Church.

Not sure what you mean by a “gender thing”??
Maybe you feel uncomfortable around females, but the Pope and the priests do not. If you have trouble following what the pope/priests set up, then I suggest you pray a lot about it and go talk to your priest about this issue.
Click to expand...
NOPE. I have no obligation to hang around and listen to some female in an alb pontificate. It’s optional and I don’t choose the option.
 
iloveangels said:
NOPE. I have no obligation to hang around and listen to some female in an alb pontificate. It’s optional and I don’t choose the option.
Click to expand...
Sometimes it’s more charitable to exercise one’s options in silence.
 
triumphguy said:
Sometimes it’s more charitable to exercise one’s options in silence.
Click to expand...
Well, it’s not that I get a megaphone when I leave the Church building. I don’t. But I can talk about it in CAF just like you can.
 
iloveangels said:
NOPE. I have no obligation to hang around and listen to some female in an alb pontificate. It’s optional and I don’t choose the option.
Click to expand...
Giving a reflection on a reading for a penance service is way far from pontificating.

I think there are deeper issues here.
 
iloveangels said:
Well, it’s not that I get a megaphone when I leave the Church building. I don’t. But I can talk about it in CAF just like you can.
Click to expand...
again and again and again…

… and again

Of course you can - but you not only write, you are read too.🤷
 
iloveangels said:
And your point is? I can say what I think just like you can.
Click to expand...
Well, that’s certainly true that you have the free will to say what you think, but that doesn’t make it correct, or reflective of the love we are called to.

What I find perplexing is that even though the original concern of the OP has been addressed, you are choosing not to accept that The Church permits what the OP was describing.

I’m also perplexed how you can put thoughts into someone else’s mind and motivations into their heart and then judge them on it.
 
iloveangels said:
Don’t care. Not interested in a woman on the altar. I can arrange confession some other way later.
Click to expand...
A reflection is seldom given from the altar let alone from on it.

Only a bishop, a priest, a deacon, an acolyte, and those who are serving as altar servers can be said to be serving the altar.

Only a priest or bishop could truly be spoken of as being on the altar.

But that is only for the sacrifice.

Seems you have troubles knowing what is a sacrifice at the altar what is a reflect which is given elsewhere.
 
Mrs_Sally said:
An alb is the proper dress of any baptized person. She wasn’t wearing a cassock or stole.
Remember that any action properly done by a layperson can be done by a woman or a man.

The prayer service wasn’t a liturgy, so it was fine to have a lay person (man or woman) lead it. And it was fine for that person to wear an alb. EDIT: Even if the program said Liturgy of the Word, it wesn’t exactly the same thing as the LOW in Mass.

The reflection may have been something from a book or may have been something she wrote herself. That’s OK. This wasn’t a Mass, so it wasn’t a homily.

The statement “The Lord be with you” can be said by anyone; however, the response “And with your spirit” should only be said to an ordained person. “Amen” would have been better responses. But unless a different response was written into the program everyone was probably on autopilot which isn’t her fault.

I am very glad to hear that there were sufficient priests there to hear confession. Since none of us (including your son) were part of the planning for this event, we don’t know if the priests were asked to lead the service and they declined or exactly how everything was decided on.

Has your son never seen this woman before? She is likely the administrator of the chapel. (Again a job that perfectly appropriate for a lay person (man or woman) with the proper credentials to hold. One doesn’t have to be ordained to administer a parish or chapel or retreat center, etc.)
Click to expand...
Why even defend such a blatant blurring of the lines between laity and clergy? Honestly. A woman, in an alb, standing in a Church where a priest would usually stand, saying the exclamations that priests use during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, leading a pseudo-liturgy of the word, while the congregation provides inappropriate responses to another layperson.That is a formula for disaster.
 
I find the whole thing an imposition on Catholics in the pews. We shouldn’t have to put up with some kind of “statement” about gender like this.

Like I say, when I see things like this, I head for the door. It’s optional. So I opt right out as fast as my legs can take me. I don’t have to put up with this.
 
iloveangels said:
Can a woman lead a penance service? NO.
Click to expand...
Seriously, guys, we need references from Church sources. I don’t even know what a “Penance Service” is supposed to be, officially.

Any lay person can lead any prayer service, as long as the Pastor is okay with it, as far as I know.
 
bilop said:
There should never be a Communion Service on a weekday. If no priest is available, Mass is to be canceled.
Click to expand...
SOURCE - because you are now criticizing a whole bunch of priest running a whole lot of Parishes where exactly this happens on many many weekdays.

Look, everyone, this is the future, there are not enough priests. There could be if the ones serving in administrative positions in the Dioceses were re-assigned to parishes and lay people took over those jobs. There would also be enough if the Vatican returned the religious priests to the Parishes. But that’s not going to happen. Lay persons will be doing more and more of what we formerly saw only priests doing. And mostly women will be doing it. Know why? Because guys don’t show up except to move furniture, for the most part. We do everything else.

BTW - I still have my personal alb. I can wear it every day if I want, and especially to Mass. So can anyone. I don’t.
 
iloveangels said:
No need to ask any questions, even. If I see this happening, it’s bye bye. I don’t have to be party to it, or anything like it.

I don’t even care what their excuse is. Doesn’t matter to me.
Click to expand...
This is interesting. So, if this is okay with the Vatican, the Bishop, the Pastor and the Canon, it doesn’t matter because to you this is a “mess” and not good enough for you and you will walk out. I mean, it’s okay, you can walk out of anything you want. I just wonder how you are justifying replacing the judgement of the Church with your own?

I think this is why we need to figure out what the actual teachings are about this.
 
Julia_Mae said:
. There is also no reason people can’y say, “And with your spirit” in response. .
Click to expand...
Actually, “your spirit” is a direct reference to the charism of Ordination that resides within a person.

It is a response proper only to those who have recieved the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Galatians 6:18; Philippians 4:23; 2 Timothy 4:22
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top