Could girls now technically serve in the EF?

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Prodigal1984

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Hi all.
Went to a beautiful high mass today for Pentecost.
Something I thought of after was regarding altar servers. It’s still always boys in the EF. Now I assume most traditionalists want it that way and most religious like FSSP etc probably would keep it that way; but hypothetically since the Church law regarding that changed some 25 years ago, would it actually be possible for female altar servers in the EF? I mean in reality the EF is still under the progress of the Churchs teaching, it isn’t stuck in 1962 in regards to church teaching regardless of what some groups such as the SSPX seem to think.
 
Prodigal1984 said:
Something I thought of after was regarding altar servers. It’s still always boys in the EF. Now I assume most traditionalists want it that way and most religious like FSSP etc probably would keep it that way; but hypothetically since the Church law regarding that changed some 25 years ago, would it actually be possible for female altar servers in the EF? I mean in reality the EF is still under the progress of the Churchs teaching, it isn’t stuck in 1962 in regards to church teaching regardless of what some groups such as the SSPX seem to think.
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I know of no reason why they couldn’t, but I’ve never seen altar girls in the EF. The demographic that the EF attracts would be so put off by this, that it would cause massive problems. EF adherents (including the families who supply the altar servers) aren’t generally interested in any kind of innovation, so in a sense you could say that the EF is, indeed, “stuck in 1962”.

I have absolutely no problem with being “stuck in 1962”.
 
Oh I understand. I don’t know if offended you by saying the whole stuck in 1962 thing, but I didn’t mean to if I did.
I don’t even know how I would really feel if I saw female altar servers there. It was just a thought I pondered.
As for being stuck in 1962 though I mean we need to realize the Church is the living Bride of Christ. It didn’t stop functioning because of the Second Vatican Council. In fact I used to be a very rigid traditionalist when I first attended the EF. I’ve heard this is actually somewhat common.
But I don’t know I think saying that it needs to be frozen in 1962 is almost like saying Christ abandoned us. I don’t know if you know what I’m saying. There’s certain things I don’t like happening in the Church either, but I wouldn’t say it isn’t still the same Church in 2019 as it was in 1962, albeit it is different now but I’m sure in 1962 it was different from how it was in 1902. You know?
 
Prodigal1984 said:
Oh I understand. I don’t know if offended you by saying the whole stuck in 1962 thing, but I didn’t mean to if I did.
I don’t even know how I would really feel if I saw female altar servers there. It was just a thought I pondered.
As for being stuck in 1962 though I mean we need to realize the Church is the living Bride of Christ. It didn’t stop functioning because of the Second Vatican Council. In fact I used to be a very rigid traditionalist when I first attended the EF. I’ve heard this is actually somewhat common.
But I don’t know I think saying that it needs to be frozen in 1962 is almost like saying Christ abandoned us. I don’t know if you know what I’m saying. There’s certain things I don’t like happening in the Church either, but I wouldn’t say it isn’t still the same Church in 2019 as it was in 1962, albeit it is different now but I’m sure in 1962 it was different from how it was in 1902. You know?
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No offense taken. I regard being “stuck in 1962” as a compliment, a kind of badge of honor. Kind of like when my son (age 12) tells me I’m “behind the times”. I say “thank you very much, that’s a nice thing for you to say about me”. 🧐

Many of the changes that have taken place in the past 50 years were not slow, organic changes. No, they were deliberately made by those who desired those changes, and they happened fairly quickly.
 
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I have always been under the impression that JPII’s allowances for female altar servers only applies to the OF, but I could be mistaken.

I’ve honestly never heard it suggested that girls serve the EF and I’ve never seen it done in practice. Still, as others have said, with the demographic that is attracted to the EF, it’s likely not something that anyone is really pushing for.
 
In particular I found the article by Fr McNamara to be very interesting as he covers the issue of both the 1917 & 1983 Canon Laws, plus I quote:- " Since the Holy Father’s motu proprio is also law, its prescriptions to follow the rubrics of the 1962 missal could also be considered as binding."

INSTRUCTION ON THE APPLICATION OF THE APOSTOLIC LETTER SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM #28 " … and incompatible with the rubrics of the liturgical books in effect in 1962."
(Summorum Pontificum )

Female Servers in the Extraordinary Form Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university. 2009.

Vatican: girls are not permitted to serve at old Mass Catholic Herald article from 2011.
 
Thank you!
Interestingly this also answers another question I think.
Some have asked if the Leonine Prayers are still required to say after Low Mass, since technically they aren’t in the missal and were just prescribed by the Pope, however in Inter Oecumenici they were suppressed( also the Psalm 42 Judica Me and Last Gospel were omitted). So there have been at times questions about if the rule of saying them was still in force and if so what are they for?( It seems the consecration to Russia has been achieved), however if the Church stance is that when using the 1962 missal you also follow the Church prescriptions in rule and laws, it would seem that the Leonine Prayers would still be a requirement after Low Mass in the Extraordinary Form.
Thank you for these articles, they actually answer a lot. The ones with canon scholars saying the requirement was based on the 1917 Code which has been abrogated and thus it would seem it would be legal for them to be servers was interesting. But the last article kind of just sums up the Church view on it.
If one goes by
 
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note that this permission is not a mandate, but a derogation given by the bishop. Every priest has the right to favor boys for altar service.

one of the goal of altar boys is to favor priesthood vocations. It cannot be done with altar girls.

More, i see the question as a paradox: traditionalism is the opposition to modernism. It is a philosophical, and theological position that goes beyond the preference for one form of the mass. aND Altar girls are a product of the Modernity.
 
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The whole point of the EF is to have Mass in the manner it was celebrated prior to Vatican II. The SSPX have nothing to do with it. There simply isn’t much demand for a “modernized EF” Mass.

As someone else said, the vast majority of the people who attend EF don’t want to see female altar servers. So it’s not gonna happen.
 
It wasn’t a question so much of will it happen.
It is more of could it happen.
 
Of course it “could” happen, as the Church doesn’t prohibit it and the EF Mass doesn’t have a separate body of law.
But it still won’t happen.
 
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From what I understand, the answer would be no, for the same reason one cannot receive in the hand in the EF

From what I understand, girls can serve in the OF due to Liturgical Rule changes that only affect the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
 
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CTBcin said:
I have always been under the impression that JPII’s allowances for female altar servers only applies to the OF, but I could be mistaken.

I’ve honestly never heard it suggested that girls serve the EF and I’ve never seen it done in practice. Still, as others have said, with the demographic that is attracted to the EF, it’s likely not something that anyone is really pushing for.
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Me too.

Can girls serve in Eastern Catholic Rites? I think the answer is no.
 
Actually the Church does prohibit it. In 2011 after the MP came out this very question was posed to the Vatican in the UK. The Vatican responded that the permission for female altar servers DOES NOT apply to the extraordinary form.
And I’m having a hard time finding a case for how it would even work. With the EF the roles of altar “servers” are more acolyte like and a true assistant to the priest with vesting and prayers. Now what you could do is bend the OF to look like the EF in certain ways and have female altar servers but as you pointed out where would the audience for that be!?
 
Hoosier-Daddy said:
Actually the Church does prohibit it. In 2011 after the MP came out this very question was posed to the Vatican in the UK. The Vatican responded that the permission for female altar servers DOES NOT apply to the extraordinary form.
And I’m having a hard time finding a case for how it would even work. With the EF the roles of altar “servers” are more acolyte like and a true assistant to the priest with vesting and prayers. Now what you could do is bend the OF to look like the EF in certain ways and have female altar servers but as you pointed out where would the audience for that be!?
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Correct.

Female servers doesn’t work because in the EF, females are prohibited by the rubrics and/or GIRM for the EF from entering the sanctuary during the mass. It also prohibites lay men from entreing who are not serving in place of acolytes.
 
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Sorry yesterday I was on my phone in traffic when posting and couldn’t link… Here is the news article about the letter.
https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2011/06/08/vatican-girls-are-not-permitted-to-serve-at-old-mass/
  1. It is forbidden
  2. The EF does indeed have a separate body of law. As it should!
Not picking on you, just clarifying my post from yesterday:grinning:

(To everyone on the board… Please don’t get sidetracked with semantics on the unfortunate use of the “old Mass” in the news article!)
 
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