Girl Altar Servers

  • Thread starter Thread starter lil_john
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

lil_john

Guest
At the risk of opening a hornet’s nest, what does Canon Law state about girl altar servers? I suspect that the same is valid for female priests.

I have seen girl servers in Novus Orde Masses.
 
The Vatican allows Bishops to allow Female Altar Servers, but it is at the discretion of the Bishops. The rubrics of TLM do not allow for Female Altar Servers.

In the US, only Bishop Bruskewitz does not allow Female Altar Servers in his Diocese.
 
lil_john said:
At the risk of opening a hornet’s nest, what does Canon Law state about girl altar servers? I suspect that the same is valid for female priests.

I have seen girl servers in Novus Orde Masses.
Click to expand...
Check this link, I think it will answer your question.

ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur19.htm

Therefore the Holy See’s recommendation is to retain as far as possible the custom of having only boys as servers.

Notice the use of the word “custom”. That leads one to believe that it is a tradition, similar to a discipline. It isn’t dogma.
 
DorianGregorian said:
The Vatican allows Bishops to allow Female Altar Servers, but it is at the discretion of the Bishops. The rubrics of TLM do not allow for Female Altar Servers.

In the US, only Bishop Bruskewitz does not allow Female Altar Servers in his Diocese.
Click to expand...
That is what I heard.
I was an altar server (female) until I was 22, the last 5 years of those as head altar server and 4 years as the trainer for the new ones.
 
Janet1983 said:
That is what I heard.
I was an altar server (female) until I was 22, the last 5 years of those as head altar server and 4 years as the trainer for the new ones.
Click to expand...
Did the experience ever inspire in you an interest in the holy priesthood as a vocation?
 
In the OF Masses I attend, they don’t even have servers. A deacon usually accompanies the priest on the Sunday Masses and on weekdays they say the Mass alone.

What do servers do in the OF? I’m serious.
 
JPII forbade the practice. Bishops and priests were disobedient. Vatican caved. Same story as CITH. Tragic.
 
In Pope John Paul ll’s Encyclical Inaestimable Donum, he clearly states the role of women in the Celebration of the Mass. His Encyclical forbids women to become altar servers.
 
According to Fr. Jan Larson, formerly of the Hunthausen era in Seattle, when he wrote in the Catholic Northwest Progress, altar servers were really nothing more than decorative “flower pots”.

I hear he has been retired and ocassionally write a piece for Diocesan Newspapers. The last article I saw by him prompted me and several others to send some rather “heated” comments to the Bishop.

Female Altar servers; sorry gals, not my cup of tea. And another reason for attending the EF.
 
If I’m not mistaken, Bishops can allow pastors to have girl altar boys if they so desire, but no pastor is REQUIRED to use girl altar boys. I know a few pastors who refuse even though their Bishop allows it.
 
All four of our children were altar servers. Three sons and a daughter. Our daughter was the first female altar server at our parish. One of the priests once told my daughter when she was on the schedule to run along and get one of her brothers.

She came and sat with us and her brother went up.

We explained to her that this was the option of the priest. We asked the pastor to ensure that that priest only have male altar serves scheduled in the future to avoid this kind of public dismissal (she had already put on the alb and lit candles) Since lay woman also are involved as lectors in most parishes, and Eucharistic Ministers - involving young women as altar servers makes sense IMHO -

If the Bishop allows it in his diocese, and the pastor approves, I would hope that the other priests in the parish would accept that.

Blessings
 
4elise said:
What is CITH?
Click to expand...
Communion in the hand.

Sadly, Stevusmagnus is right. It took hold in Holland or West Germany or wherever as an act of disobedience.

He`s also right when he says that no priest can be FORCED to have altar girls. That statement from Rome is fairly recent. At least it protects priests who refuse to have them.
 
stevusmagnus said:
In Pope John Paul ll’s Encyclical Inaestimable Donum, he clearly states the role of women in the Celebration of the Mass. His Encyclical forbids women to become altar servers.
Click to expand...
We seem to have some conflicting information. In the interest of expediancy, could you post the relevant portions of Inaestimable Donum? I am interested in seeing what it says.
 
when I first saw girl altar servers, I was very surprised. during the entrance procession, there are 4 girl altar servers, and the lone male server got the job of holding the incense boat. I was very surprised, but still i don’t know how to respond. Instinct tells me that there’s something wrong there.

Concerning the Venerable John Paul, the Great’s Inaestimabile Donum, here’s the quote:

***18. There are, of course, various roles that women can perform in the liturgical assembly: these include reading the Word of God and proclaiming the intentions of the Prayer of the Faithful. Women are not, however, permitted to act as altar servers.
see it for yourself:papalencyclicals.net/JP02/JP2inaest.htm

Gracias to the one who pointed this letter to us.

PS: ID gave a footnote regarding the female altar servers:
27. Cf. Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Instruction Liturgicae instaurationes, no. 7.

I researched about it and here’s what I found:
7. In conformity with norms traditional in the Church, women (single, married, religious), whether in churches, homes, convents, schools, or institutions for women, are barred from serving the priest at the altar.

According to the norms established for these matters, however, women are allowed to:

a. proclaim the readings, except the gospel. They are to make sure that, with the help of modern sound equipment, they can be comfortably heard by all. The conferences of bishops are to give specific directions on the place best suited for women to read the word of God in the liturgical assembly.

b. announce the intentions in the general intercessions;

c. lead the liturgical assembly in singing and play the organ or other instruments;

d. read the commentary assisting the people toward a better understanding of the rite;

e. attend to other functions, customarily filled by women in other settings, as a service to the congregation, for example, ushering, organizing processions, taking up the collection.[29]
 
I disagree with girl altar servers. I believe that priests should do more to encourage boys to serve the altar. We have a priest shortage, and one of the ways to foster vocations would be to have male-only altar servers. If our priests did more to encourage young boys to serve the altar, I am sure that we would have more priests in the future.
 
japscarousel said:
when I first saw girl altar servers, I was very surprised. during the entrance procession, there are 4 girl altar servers, and the lone male server got the job of holding the incense boat. I was very surprised, but still i don’t know how to respond. Instinct tells me that there’s something wrong there.

Concerning the Venerable John Paul, the Great’s Inaestimabile Donum, here’s the quote:

***18. There are, of course, various roles that women can perform in the liturgical assembly: these include reading the Word of God and proclaiming the intentions of the Prayer of the Faithful. Women are not, however, permitted to act as altar servers.
see it for yourself:papalencyclicals.net/JP02/JP2inaest.htm

Gracias to the one who pointed this letter to us.

PS: ID gave a footnote regarding the female altar servers:
27. Cf. Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, Instruction Liturgicae instaurationes, no. 7.

I researched about it and here’s what I found:
7. In conformity with norms traditional in the Church, women (single, married, religious), whether in churches, homes, convents, schools, or institutions for women, are barred from serving the priest at the altar.

According to the norms established for these matters, however, women are allowed to:

a. proclaim the readings, except the gospel. They are to make sure that, with the help of modern sound equipment, they can be comfortably heard by all. The conferences of bishops are to give specific directions on the place best suited for women to read the word of God in the liturgical assembly.

b. announce the intentions in the general intercessions;

c. lead the liturgical assembly in singing and play the organ or other instruments;

d. read the commentary assisting the people toward a better understanding of the rite;

e. attend to other functions, customarily filled by women in other settings, as a service to the congregation, for example, ushering, organizing processions, taking up the collection.[29]
Click to expand...
First of all this document is from 1980. It was in 94 or 95 (my daughter was the first group of girl servers in our parish) that girls/women were given permission to serve.
 
Women were at the foot of the Cross, so there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with female altar servers. However, females can’t become priests and serving at the altar is a way of developing future priests (tradesman and apprentice). The role has more depth in the Usus Antiquior as much of the server’s job in the Novus Ordo was scrapped.
 
However, females can’t become priests and serving at the altar is a way of developing future priests (tradesman and apprentice).
Click to expand...
Exactly. This is why it is why the role should be restricted to males-only. I am not saying that girls cannot exercise ministry within the Church, but perhaps they would be better suited to things other than altar serving. We must do all we can to encourage vocations to the priesthood, and I believe male-only altar serving is one way we can do this.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top