Girl Altar Servers?

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fix:
Yes, but what about social justice?
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Don’t worry, social justice is one of the optional parts of the gospel. According to some, it is neither a matter of faith nor morals. It’s best to focus on the important elements of the Catholic faith first, like the necessity of voting Republican.
 
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Sean.McKenzie:
Yes, while that may be true, Nuns (sisters) cannot consecrate the host, they cannot take on the duties of a priest it is simply not alllowed By allowing girls to be altar servers, it is kind of like a tease. Maybe the Church’s should start a program that teaches girls how to be part time sacristans. I don’t understand why priests and parishes let the feminists movement of our culture, usurp their instructions and requirements, morover why do they allow these kind of ideals and actions to infest our Holy MOTHER Church, note: how abou this for the ultra feminists, the Church is referred to as a Mother. Motherhood is one of the greatest gifts. 🙂
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Deacons cannot consecrate the host either, nor can anyother lay person assisting at Mass… I don’t by your “tease” theroy, and I think that the church sees no harm or they would have not allowed it… I will trust in the wisdom of Rome!
 
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Catholic2003:
Don’t worry, social justice is one of the optional parts of the gospel. According to some, it is neither a matter of faith nor morals. It’s best to focus on the important elements of the Catholic faith first, like the necessity of voting Republican.
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Social Gospel usually equals left wing politics. BTW, I am not a republican.
 
Quite a discussion. Many pilgrams visiting Rome in the last 20 years have reported that not many men attend Mass regularly. Even before the new instruction allowing ladies to be altar servers, ladies were serving at the altar in Italy. It was either the ladies or no help. At our parish, we have a few boys, who like to serve, but sometimes their parents can’t get them to Mass on time. For English Masses, besides the boys, we currently have 2 altar girls. One is in her sixties and one is 10. We have another 10 year old girl that wants to help. At our Spanish Mass, we have 3 girls and 1 boy. I have noticed that the girls are more likely to show up and behave better. For many years, we only had 1 altar boy, who only helped at one Mass. Sometimes as a deacon, I still have to do the altar serving, which I enjoy, but as I get older, it is harder to run back and forth. I can not see denying the girls a chance to serve God in this special way. The pastor can still encourage priestly vocations in other ways.
 
space ghost:
Deacons cannot consecrate the host either, nor can anyother lay person assisting at Mass… I don’t by your “tease” theroy, and I think that the church sees no harm or they would have not allowed it… I will trust in the wisdom of Rome!
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Yes, you are correct in saying that deacons cannot consecrate the host. However even in that statement there is a little bit of an inaccuracy, the order of deconites are not limited to themselves, meaning, once you are a deacon you can opt to stay in that order, (the deaconite order) or you can go on and become a priest accroding to your vocation. So yes, deacons cannot consecrate, however they have the potential to. Yes their are deconesses, but even they cannot fully execute the office of a deacon, meaning they cannot not do everything a deacon can. So it is a tease in a way, because there is not any possible way any female can validly consecrate the host, and yet, a deacon has that potential. As i stated before, maybe girls should be instructed in how to be a sacristan, but even this i am sure some will find a way to look on this with disdain. It is truly a noble duty. So, i will also continue in to trust in the wisdom of Rome!;)😃
:amen:
 
If your church is Catholic and has a deaconess, your church is in schism.
 
INRI makes an excellant point as well: :hmmm:

Priest’s can in fact properly celebrate Holy Mass, if need be without help form alter servers. Many of people make the mistake about about thinking that this vocation crisis is limited to his or her own parish or Archdiocese, but in fact the need for Priests is not to individual parishes, but is a need throughout the whole of the Universal Church. Basically, you won’t even be able to see the shortage and need for Priests if you look at it in the individual sense.
 
Deacon Tony560:
If your church is Catholic and has a deaconess, your church is in schism.
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I was going to write that I had never heard of feamle deacons - at least not in Latin rite Churches
 
Deacon Tony560:
Quite a discussion. Many pilgrams visiting Rome in the last 20 years have reported that not many men attend Mass regularly. Even before the new instruction allowing ladies to be altar servers, ladies were serving at the altar in Italy. It was either the ladies or no help. At our parish, we have a few boys, who like to serve, but sometimes their parents can’t get them to Mass on time. For English Masses, besides the boys, we currently have 2 altar girls. One is in her sixties and one is 10. We have another 10 year old girl that wants to help. At our Spanish Mass, we have 3 girls and 1 boy. I have noticed that the girls are more likely to show up and behave better. For many years, we only had 1 altar boy, who only helped at one Mass. Sometimes as a deacon, I still have to do the altar serving, which I enjoy, but as I get older, it is harder to run back and forth. I can not see denying the girls a chance to serve God in this special way. The pastor can still encourage priestly vocations in other ways.
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That is a statement full of contradiction and illogic.

Pope John Paul II ~ “Only men and boys may serve the altar” Inestimable Donum

Pope John Paul II - “It is this Popes intention that Bishops maintain the noble 2000 year tradition of only men and boys serving” upon release of RS

Pope Boniface - “we hereforto condemn the evil practice of women serving the altar” Altae Sunt

For 2000 years vocations were fostered by men and boys serving the altar. I will stick with this Holy Tradition. The loss of boys serving is twofold. (1) heresy of contraception by the parents. When the child accepts this he cannot see the marital relationship of the priest in the Mass as the bridgroom and they as groomsman.
(2) feminization of the liturgy by the introduction of girls serving and the heretical use of ‘inclusive’ language.

I’ve been asked to be an adult server to help the servers and teach them. I had to refuse due to the abuse of girls serving. Am I to not teach them the symbolic nature of the mass and their place in it because of girl-altar-boys??

The abuse of women serving is a liturgical heresy at best.
 
Deacon Tony560:
Quite a discussion. Many pilgrams visiting Rome in the last 20 years have reported that not many men attend Mass regularly. Even before the new instruction allowing ladies to be altar servers, ladies were serving at the altar in Italy. It was either the ladies or no help. At our parish, we have a few boys, who like to serve, but sometimes their parents can’t get them to Mass on time. For English Masses, besides the boys, we currently have 2 altar girls. One is in her sixties and one is 10. We have another 10 year old girl that wants to help. At our Spanish Mass, we have 3 girls and 1 boy. I have noticed that the girls are more likely to show up and behave better. For many years, we only had 1 altar boy, who only helped at one Mass. Sometimes as a deacon, I still have to do the altar serving, which I enjoy, but as I get older, it is harder to run back and forth. I can not see denying the girls a chance to serve God in this special way. The pastor can still encourage priestly vocations in other ways.
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I can see this scenario. I understand your plight.

AND, I must say, not knowing your neighborhood aside…Sounds like you have a shortage of CHILDREN??? Yikes! Older parish?? Young couples with tiny kids?? Uh, small families (for whatever reason, fill in the blank??:hmmm: )

Our parish is blessed with very large families. There are 20-25 boys on the altar server roster. As with anything, there are boys who love it and take it seriously, and others who are doing it because their parents expect them to.
 
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INRI:
Back to point: the use of female altar servers is at best a stop-gap; it will not help the vocations crisis and may, in fact, only make it worse.
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Here is a reference to your point I read at another discussion group…
"the most recent letter on female altar servers from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments indicates somewhat more than a tacit recognition by the Holy See that the allowing of female altar servers by Rome has not proved to be the unalloyed boon for the Church’s official liturgy and worship which its proponents once hoped and pushed for. Indeed, the letter perhaps constitutes a belated realization of the truth of what many voices warned about at the time, namely, that if altar girls were brought in, there would be a tendency for altar boys to disappear.

Certainly this phenomenon has been evident: many of the boys who might otherwise have been interested in altar service as a special prerogative and duty of theirs are now almost bound to show less interest. It became yet one more activity in which boys are supposed to “compete” with girls – or, in fact, as primarily a role for girls."
 
netmil(name removed by moderator):
Here is a reference to your point I read at another discussion group…“the most recent letter on female altar servers from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments indicates somewhat more than a tacit recognition by the Holy See that the allowing of female altar servers by Rome has not proved to be the unalloyed boon for the Church’s official liturgy and worship which its proponents once hoped and pushed for. …”
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Typical of the untruths and mistatements you find in some discussion groups. My theory is if the facts are on your side, you don’t need to make things up. Proponents of allows women to serve never joined in a claim that it would be an “unalloyed boon.” Nor has the Holy Office said that serving at the Mass is best done by boys that don’t like girls.
 
Where are the boys? Why aren’t parents making sure their sons know how important serving is. I am not anti-girls, I have two girls who are servers (as is their brother). If there were enough boys to serve, I would not allow my girls to serve. Why has it become up to the boys if they want to serve? Isn’t it a responsibility to do what is needed for the church?
 
In my experience, working with altar servers of both sexes, the biggest argument against allowing girls to serve was stated by one person above, but has been lost in the shuffle. This reason should resonate with people on both ends of the liberal-conservative spectrum. It is simply cruel to allow girls to serve at Mass and fill a liturgical function when they can never be admitted to the ordained priesthood. The functions of the server are so tied to the liturgical action that it is nearly impossible to convince girls, once they have been allowed to participate, that they cannot aspire further. We have created a huge “PR” problem by letting girls serve.
 
midwest mom:
Where are the boys? Why aren’t parents making sure their sons know how important serving is. I am not anti-girls, I have two girls who are servers (as is their brother). If there were enough boys to serve, I would not allow my girls to serve. Why has it become up to the boys if they want to serve? Isn’t it a responsibility to do what is needed for the church?
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There are plenty of boys out there. They don’t show up because the girls are there. This age group is difficult. Serving should also be open to highschool and college age young men.

-Ted
 
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katherine2:
Typical of the untruths and mistatements you find in some discussion groups. My theory is if the facts are on your side, you don’t need to make things up. Proponents of allows women to serve never joined in a claim that it would be an “unalloyed boon.” Nor has the Holy Office said that serving at the Mass is best done by boys that don’t like girls.
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I should have put the reference in.

adoremus.org/CDW-AltarServers.html

Now, since we know that it is not some discussion group poster “making up facts” perhaps you can open your mind a little to this.
I read no where in the above post about “boys who don’t like girls”

This is from the article…
"The Congregation’s letter re-emphasized the similar l994 letter announcing the ruling of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts (PCILT)3, that “it will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar”.
The new letter also repeats that “the obligation to support groups of altar boys will always remain, not least of all due to the well-known assistance that such programs have provided since time immemorial in** encouraging future priestly vocations**”. Thus the Congregation places renewed emphasis on what almost everybody always knew: boys who have served at the altar become priests in larger numbers than boys who have not. The new letter to bishops adds a further stress on the limited nature of this “temporary” service, and notes with especial clarity: “the non-ordained faithful do not have a right to service at the altar”.

Unlike some posters, I will not post an opinion without a reference to back it up. I may forget to add the reference but when I am asked about it, I know where to get it. We look foolish when we put in opinions that we cannot back.
 
Defensor Fidei:
There are plenty of boys out there. They don’t show up because the girls are there. This age group is difficult. Serving should also be open to highschool and college age young men.

-Ted
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Our priest, Dear Father Ben, starts the boys at four to be Altar Servers. They may only carry a candle, but they are wonderful to watch. Any unmarried man can be an Altar Server, so we have boys of all ages and some older men. They are brilliant!

Pssst…there are people who don’t believe your statement, “They don’t show up because the girls are there.” but I do!!!
😃
 
Defensor Fidei:
There are plenty of boys out there. They don’t show up because the girls are there. This age group is difficult. Serving should also be open to highschool and college age young men.

-Ted
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Of course there are plenty of boys out there. However, it is simply not true that they don’t show up because the girls are there. Poppycock! And serving *is *also open to highschool and college aged young men! Come on, now, brother!
 
space ghost:
I think that the church sees no harm or they would have not allowed it… I will trust in the wisdom of Rome!
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Like first confession after first communion?
That was a great idea too.
 
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