Female Altar Servers

[Katholikos33]

female altar servers are a scandal to the church, and should never be used. neither should female lectors and “extraordinary” ministers of the eucharist. these are all concessions, novelties, and innovations. its not to be mean, but is simply contradicting and incompatible to Catholic theology. think abt when these young girls grow up and resemble subdeaconesses in the sanctuary. mass confusion. things r already confused as it is.

 

[THurifer2]

female altar servers are a scandal to the church, and should never be used. neither should female lectors and “extraordinary” ministers of the eucharist. these are all concessions, novelties, and innovations. its not to be mean, but is simply contradicting and incompatible to Catholic theology. think abt when these young girls grow up and resemble subdeaconesses in the sanctuary. mass confusion. things r already confused as it is.

There is no such thing as a Female Lector. Lector is an institution that was formerly considered one of the minor orders of the priesthood. THe institution of Lector is only open to men. Most Lectors are men who are on their way to the priesthood.

 

[ThuribleGuy45]

There is no such thing as a Female Lector. Lector is an institution that was formerly considered one of the minor orders of the priesthood. THe institution of Lector is only open to men. Most Lectors are men who are on their way to the priesthood.

Actually, given the difference in the number of candidates, I would guess that numerically most Instituted Lectors are men on their way to the diaconate.

 

[JMMK]

The Ordained Deacons/Priests/Bishops, who must be men, act in Persona Christi and anything not done as an exclusive faculty of their ordained offices may be done by the laity in communion with the church. Since there is no gender requirement for laity, women may fulfill these roles. That is the theology.

Catechism pgh. 1143 if you need to look it up.

 

[spellinggirl]

My little brother and I are altar servers, but it has never made me want to be a nun (nor, I think, does he want to be a priest). However, it was the best thing I ever did! It made me so much closer to God, and I really feel at home in my church now!

 

[Spiller]

At my Latin Parish at the Mass I attend they use adult males as servers and it works out well. The level of “service” is militarily precise – almost like comparing the head waiter at a fine restaurant to an order taker at McDonald’s. Yes that’s a weak analogy, but it’s fitting.

It would still be nice to have males who might just be discerning a vocation serving Mass, but these adult males do a great job of keeping the focus on the Mass and not on the servers. We don’t have to worry about our servers wearing bluejeans or sneakers or super high-heeled pumps under their albs.

 

[peary]

female altar servers are a scandal to the church, and should never be used. neither should female lectors and “extraordinary” ministers of the eucharist. these are all concessions, novelties, and innovations. its not to be mean, but is simply contradicting and incompatible to Catholic theology. think abt when these young girls grow up and resemble subdeaconesses in the sanctuary. mass confusion. things r already confused as it is.

And I suppose if it was up to you women would have been denied the right to vote too. LOL

 

[Joe17]

We all have our place in life. The simplest reason, and the one that I am sure many of you have heard countless times, is that Our Lady wasn’t ordained a priest, all the apostles were men, and it has been the constant tradition that males only are to function in the sanctuary during Mass. Please, remember, our two sources of revelation are Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture. Given that men only can be priests, males should be assisting them. Look what has happened with this so called aggiornamento. He opened a window, and a hurricane errupted that has caused so much damage in the thinking and the faith of so many souls.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us

 

[Lovemyfaith]

Wow these Female Altar Server threads seem to pop every so often, and always get a lot of attention. If I thought using males only as Altar Servers would increase vocations to the priesthood I would (and I think most people would) of course be all for it. In a huge diocese, like the one I am in, the Bishops are dealing with so many other issues that I think they are happy to leave this matter in the hands of individual pastors, who in some cases are running huge parishes on their own and don’t have the time or energy and hand over the responsibility of the Altar Server Crew to someone who is willing to do it. The idea of using servers to foster vocations has at that point been filtered down so far that it isn’t really pursued. The girls are willing to help out and are good at it so that is the solution. It reminds me of families who live paycheck to paycheck, who are doing the best they can but have nothing saved for the future.
Way back the OP felt that being a server may have encouraged her daughter toward a religious vocation and if that works, that is wonderful and shows how any service for God can lead to more service for God. At the same time, I can see how serving Mass is a specific service that would naturally lead to the idea of Celebrating Mass.

 

[Phemie]

Wow these Female Altar Server threads seem to pop every so often, and always get a lot of attention. If I thought using males only as Altar Servers would increase vocations I would (and I think most people would) of course be all for it.

I look at the parish where I grew up. Hundreds of male altar servers for an entire century resulted in 2 priests.

 

[Carolinagirl411]

I am disgusted…I see nothing wrong with girls wanting to serve Christ…Naturally they can’t be priests but that shouldn’t stop them from participating especially if it brings them closer to Christ. Now some others have posted that women shouldn’t have any role in the mass, doing the readings, Eucharistic minister, etc.

So what are we supposed to do, sit there in the pew with our heads down in complete silence only speaking when spoken to and following blindly our husbands commands?

Mary had a role as did Mary Magdalene in spreading the word of Christ. We can’t be priests but I am proud to serve different roles in Mass. I wish I were younger and I could be an altar server as well.

I would hate to have to tell my future daughter “No sweetheart, I know you want to serve Christ in the mass and show your earnest devotion but since you are a female you aren’t allowed to.”

 

[Carolinagirl411]

PS: Oh btw, I keep my head properly and modestly covered while serving so maybe that’ll help Lol

 

[Brendan]

I look at the parish where I grew up. Hundreds of male altar servers for an entire century resulted in 2 priests.

Then again, at my parish, we use only boys for altar service and we have 6 men in the seminary right now and have had 6 others ordained to the priesthood in the last 10 years.

Between our parish and the 2 others that use only altar boys, we account for 1/3 of the seminarians in formation in our Archdiocese.

That is 3 parishes out of 340 parishes that giving one third of the seminarians.

One other factor in our parish is that virtually all of the boys in the parish 5 thru 19 are altar boys, personally invited by the pastor.

And every boy serves if he is present.

The end result is most of the boys of the parish spend their formative years servinig the in Sanctuary and do not know anything different.

So becoming a priest is a natural step for a lot of them.

Here is a video of a regular Sunday Mass at our parish.

cid-d48dbdc01a7e8a7d.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Altar-Boys-2.wmv

 

[strngrnrth]

The girl altar servers in my parish are so cute and so disciplined and so orderly and they look so proper in their robes with their hair pulled back, I don’t see anyhting wrong with them. No, they won’t be priests, but neither will most of the boy altar servers, most likely. If serving God makes them happy, why take that away from them, and us, and the service of God? Rejecting a kid’s desire to do good is dangerous. After all, soon enough they will all learn where they are all welcome, with the delinquents, and those who have sought to do good and been turned away will have some hard thinking to do.

 

[peary]

Then again, at my parish, we use only boys for altar service and we have 6 men in the seminary right now and have had 6 others ordained to the priesthood in the last 10 years.

Between our parish and the 2 others that use only altar boys, we account for 1/3 of the seminarians in formation in our Archdiocese.

That is 3 parishes out of 340 parishes that giving one third of the seminarians.

One other factor in our parish is that virtually all of the boys in the parish 5 thru 19 are altar boys, personally invited by the pastor.

And every boy serves if he is present.

The end result is most of the boys of the parish spend their formative years servinig the in Sanctuary and do not know anything different.

So becoming a priest is a natural step for a lot of them.

Our parish started using altar girls several years ago, not because there was a need for them (there were enough boys to serve) but because it was the “thing to do”. Now, a lot of the boys won’t even bother serving and we have an over-abundance of girl altar-servers. Sometimes two months go by without a boy altar-server. Basically, the boys have been pushed out of serving with the pastor’s blessing.

 

[Spiller]

The girl altar servers in my parish are so cute and so disciplined and so orderly and they look so proper in their robes with their hair pulled back, I don’t see anyhting wrong with them. No, they won’t be priests, but neither will most of the boy altar servers, most likely. If serving God makes them happy, why take that away from them, and us, and the service of God? Rejecting a kid’s desire to do good is dangerous. After all, soon enough they will all learn where they are all welcome, with the delinquents, and those who have sought to do good and been turned away will have some hard thinking to do.

You answered your own question.

 

[Spiller]

I look at the parish where I grew up. Hundreds of male altar servers for an entire century resulted in 2 priests.

In my parish we have ordained 2 new priests and 1 deacon in the last 5 years. We have 2 in seminary for the priesthood and 1 more in formation to become a deacon.

Each of these men served as adults.

 

[Lovemyfaith]

I would hate to have to tell my future daughter “No sweetheart, I know you want to serve Christ in the mass and show your earnest devotion but since you are a female you aren’t allowed to.”

My daughters were all Altar Servers. They all did a wonderful job and loved doing it. It was allowed by our bishop and pastor so it was not a problem. In our parish, they were needed. I can however see the correlation between serving Mass and Celebrating Mass, and my point was if there was a way to link serving to religious vocations to the priesthood I would have no problem with using all male servers. I don’t know that there is a link at this point. I would love to have any ideas of how to increase the number of vocations to the priesthood.
I always remind my children their are so many ways to serve the Lord everyday: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:28-31) and Whatsoever you do to the least of my people,
that you do unto me*.” (Matthew 25:40)*

 

[brockmac]

When I was a boy, I served as an alter server. At the time it was still all male, but changed shortly there after. I have 4 daughters and one son.

My biggest concern with having girls serve in the sanctuary is that it has resulted in fewer boys doing it. I can’t help but think that this has had a negative impact on vocations to the priesthood. Traditionally, the priest was assisted by acolytes who were preparing for ordination. I learned this when I began to receive my instruction as an alter server. This of course led me to at least consider the possibility, not just when I learned it, but at every Mass that I served.

It is easier to get young boys to do something if it is something that only boys can do (cub scouts/boy scouts). Once they let girls in, it loses some of its appeal to boys. I believe this is part of what has happened with alter servers.

Additionally, (pausing before making a rash generalization) I think young girls tend to be more drawn to religion than young boys. At least that is what I have observed with my children and nephews. While it can be argued that this observation would tend to indicate that girls make better alter servers, I think that it actually indicates that boys need to be in these rolls to better develop their own spirituality and love for the faith.

But despite all of these thoughts on my part, if my daughters want to serve, I will probably allow it, as long as the Holy See, my archbishop, and pastor do.

Whatever your thoughts on girl alter servers, please pray for more boys to be involved and led to the priesthood.

 

[Phemie]

In my parish we have ordained 2 new priests and 1 deacon in the last 5 years. We have 2 in seminary for the priesthood and 1 more in formation to become a deacon.

Each of these men served as adults.

So the question to ask here is “Is their vocation a result of being alter servers or did they become altar servers because they were discerning a vocation?”