Not only that, but the priests that are produced by such families carry the same tradiional philosophy.
Its St. Andrews Cathedral in Victoria, BC…and yeah we do have a few ordinations a year…but I haven’t counted them…that is an interesting point…should get the numbers…It is more than “an original purpose”, it has been shown that serving at the altar encourages priestly vocations. That comes directly from the Vatican
Indeed, 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 (cf. ibid.)
A great example is my own parish. We have only altar boys, and that has been true for at least the last decade since the pastor has been here.
Out of a parish of about 950 families, we have 1-2 men from our parish go into the seminary each year. We have had 12 men from our parish ordained to the priesthood in the last 10 years. We have 4 in the seminary right now, at various stages, which is actually a record low2 are studying for the diocesan priesthood, and two for the priesthood in religious life.
The record of similarly sized parishes in our Archdiocese (or even those that are much larger) that have altar girls, is substantially less.
Bruce, what size is your parish, and how many men have been ordained from your parish in the last several years?
You are referring to Jesus Christ…not Jesus of Nazareth. I agree with your statements and those are reserved for the Christ. When I say Jesus was limited I refer to his human form and his socio-cultural and economic position in 1st century Israel…he of course would follow tradition in this patriarchial society…that does not meant that truth was limited by a patriarchial format…that’s all I am saying…your view above is well respected by me and I share with you that view of Jesus Christ.
Not all male alter servers lead to the priesthood either…so what is the point? The church allows them…are we saying that having females as altar servers doesn’t enhance their spiritual lives? These are the same females that we unleash out into the secular world. If we want them to grow towards a vocation of religious life or marriage…a marriage where they will be bringing up our future priests and deacons…then how could any enrichment of their spiritual lives hurt?
:clapping:
Hi Nicky. We go round in circles on this one; Jesus of Nazareth was limited to his time and tradition. Did Jesus anywhere in scripture say that women should not be priests or that alter service was limited to boys. These are church rules. Many church rules have been dropped over the centuries because they are no longer useful for the times. I think limiting alter service to just boys may have worked well in the past…but we have a different understanding these days of gender and there is nothing to stop girls in being alter servers.
We’re not talking about their spiritual lives. This has got to do with tradition, vocations, and the masculinity of the sanctuary. The fact is, altar serving is the pool for priestly vocations in the Church. Girl altar servers started as an act of disobedience, probably fuelled by the want for women prysts by the feminists.
You’re essentially positing the Arian heresy. I just want to make that point. Do you believe Jesus Christ was fully divine? That He was God made flesh, and that he was just as much God as the Father was or the Holy Spirit?
Yeah, I don’t want to get banned for yelling “heretic” at anyone. But, what trickster has said is the textbook definition of someone that believes in Arianism. And, the Catholic Church doesn’t call it “Arianism”, they call it “the Arian heresy”. Just like they don’t say “Albigensianism” they say “the Albigensian heresy”
Semper. Arianism is a belief that says Jesus was not fully God…and if you read my postings you will clearly see that is not what I am saying. I am saying that Jesus had pre-existence, an existence in the form of Jesus of Nazareth (the incarnation) and Jesus the Christ, the Cosmic everlasting Jesus of all time. The entire nature of Jesus has been the same always, he is everlasting and that my friend is basic catholic teaching.
Hmm…not sure why people are shocked at that statement…I learned about it in Catholic theology course where our professor is an Oblate priest as well…so I’m not being radical by any means…perhaps I am not finding the right words to express what I am getting at…so we’ll keep trying…
Two different questions.
Did you go to St. Paul’s by any chance?Hmm…not sure why people are shocked at that statement…I learned about it in Catholic theology course where our professor is an Oblate priest as well…so I’m not being radical by any means…perhaps I am not finding the right words to express what I am getting at…so we’ll keep trying…
Bruce
Jesus did things that flew in the face of the religious laws of his time. If he had wanted to call women to be apostles he would have done so.
And not all jet fighter pilots become astronauts, but that is where they recruit astronauts from, don’t they?
Lets take a look at the Saints. Almost all of the male saints were, at some point, altar boys.
lame
I have never witnessed boy and girl alter servers seeming to flirt and get silly during Mass and I assume no one else has either. This thread is meant by the OP (as far as I understand) to be an exchange of ideas about girls serving at the alter. Please respect that.