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AltarMan
Guest
Responses like yours are not unexpected. Sometimes the truth can be just a tad gritty to deal with.
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AltarMan
Guest
I long ago rejected that excuse. Please see above.
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Annunciata
Guest
Couldn’t think of anything else to say…huh? don’t talk down to me Mr. Altarman this is not hard for me to deal w/ at all.
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Giannawannabe
Guest
I just want to say that I belong to a somewhat liberal parish. We actually attend Mass elsewhere most of the time…but that’s a different story. Anyway, my son is going through Altar Boy training right now. I was utterly astonished when we arrived to the first meeting…EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE KIDS WERE BOYS!!! There were 10 of them. This parish has altar servers that are girls–not many, mostly boys. I have 2 daughters and have not encouraged them one way or another to serve. They have shown no interest. My son has, and that is why I pushed him. BTW, it was all moms who brought their boys, but for the most part it was because the dads were working (early evening), and all of us moms had the rest of our kids with us.
Just wanted to give a different perspective here.
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George_Waters
Guest
My apologies for using Lector and reader interchangeably, you are correct.
Approximately 33% of all our ushers are female. Visit my parish and we’ll continue to fascinate you!
Why do you believe the position of greeter seems especially suited to females?
Yes, it would be nice to not need to use Extraordinary Ministers, but the only time I have seen enough priests and deacons was at the funeral of our retired bishop. Guess they need to work on their recruitment huh?
Women can be sacristans in our parish.
Really? I am considering the permanent deaconate based on my experience as a sacristan. Do you have any evidence to support this claim?
Once again do you have any evidence to support this claim?
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daniellet
Guest
Are you saying that men and boys are slackers? Could that be because mothers (women) have failed to raise their boys properly? I think men and women are failing equally well in this society and I don’t think women are picking up any slack.
Danielle (mom of all boys)
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a_cermak
Guest
I wouldn’t call boys or men slackers. But they do less frequently attend church than women. Look at your average church service. It’s even more apparent in the evangelical groups. Women simply are more faithful church goers. Some have theorized it’s because Christian worship is to feminine–though how that can be when it is a male God that is being worshipped is beyond me.
There is an alarm being sounded about boys falling behind girls in academics. Right now, boys are more likely to drop out of high school, not to attend college or to drop out of college prior to acquiring a diploma. I’m not sure it’s anything that anyone need be alarmed about. Boys pursue careers in dangerous occupations such as soldiering and mining more than women do and so the incomes won’t be as disparate as people assume.
Pax,
Amy
There is an alarm being sounded about boys falling behind girls in academics. Right now, boys are more likely to drop out of high school, not to attend college or to drop out of college prior to acquiring a diploma. I’m not sure it’s anything that anyone need be alarmed about. Boys pursue careers in dangerous occupations such as soldiering and mining more than women do and so the incomes won’t be as disparate as people assume.
Pax,
Amy
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George_Waters
Guest
So, “just in case” we should only allow boys to serve? Oh, I see. If a boy said he is NOT going to be a priest or a permanent deacon than he should be excluded too right? If this is only about giving potential future priests and deacons an opportunity than he should be excluded.
You have repeatedly rejected the claim by several people that fewer and fewer boys wish to serve. If this is not the case than why are parishes allowing girls to serve and what evidence do you have to support your assertion
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Claudee
Guest
I understand that having the boys serve may be to see if there is an interest in the priesthood. But could not the same be said of the girls serving at the altar that they may want to enter into Sisterhood after having been a server.
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vrunca
Guest
I was going to go back and read everything after mine, but I can see this is just a bunch of rudeness and inability to accept and be obedient to the Bishops decission, so I am not wasting my time! Like a lot of other forums this comes up and all these little people who think they know more than the Bishops and Oh my, the Great John Paul II, also will argue and argue. Oh well, you will be in my prayers, so you will learn to be more obedient to the Bishops and Popes!!
God Bless!!
God Bless!!
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George_Waters
Guest
Great post maryalene! I felt I reached a higher level of maturity when I realized I did not know everything and began to be even more obedient to Holy Mother Church. Good advice for everyone!
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ComradeAndrei
Guest
From a link that another person posted-
“Therefore the Holy See’s recommendation is to retain as far as possible the custom of having only boys as servers. But it leaves to the bishop the choice of permitting women and girls for a good reason and to the pastor of each parish the decision as to whether to act on the bishop’s permission.”
While the Holy See has stated that it is permissable to have female altar servers, it is far from an irrevocable decree. The bishop may “permit” but the pastor of each parish can likewise permit or not. Thus, it is merely an option.
Men should continue to hold the primacy in all matters liturgical. It has been the tradition of the Church that it was a man’s place to serve at the altar and to hold what used to be all the minor orders (such as lector or acolyte). Now, that is tradition with the “little t”. I am fine with some things changing, and even some things that I don’t like I can still accept. However, I think we still need to encourage boys to be altar boys.
I could see why boys would be less willing to act as altar boys-they don’t want to do something that can be seen as “girly”. It is a matter of psychology, whether it is “good” or “makes sense” or “sexist” or whatever is a whole other question. Boys don’t want to play ball or do all their other boy things with girls-why would they want to serve Mass with them either? Being an altar BOY was always a matter of being in the domain of the male. Once that changed, the “group” lost its sense of cohesiveness. It was like being in the exclusive club that got to help Father at Mass, and it is an honor. Once it is opened up to everyone, it looses that appeal and that aire of dignity and just becomes something that mom and/or dad “make” you do.
We live in a culture that tells us that religion is for fools or that it is supposed to be some touchy-feely warm n’ fuzzy and you can see where men have not stayed part of the Church like they should. Basically, the Church has gotten “sissified” and some men see themselves defined in ways which the secular world defines as masculine. Women (for various reasons, most of them good) have filled in the gap. However, the Church is a patriarchal hierarchy-and is one necessarily.That presents a problem. One of my priests lamented not that long ago on that very subject. Praise God for all those willing to serve the Church, but we really need to put things back into their proper order.
Men need to drop the idea that religion is “woman’s business” and realize that true masculinity is based in Christ Himself. Service to the Church is the most manly role one can have! Women need to remember their place in Church. If we forget this, we will continue to have the problems we do with people thinking that women should be priests and all this nonsense.
In parishes that I’ve been to where only boys are allowed, it seems like they never have a shortage of boys willing to serve. In parishes where girls are not only allowed but seemingly encouraged, you’d think there weren’t 3 or 4 boys in the whole parish.
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ComradeAndrei
Guest
…cont
We don’t need girls to serve at the altar. If people just stressed the dignity of assisting at the altar, I think a lot more boys would go for it.
I learned a lot from seeing how other dioceses do things. Namely Lincoln.
I don’t know if the Diocese of Lincoln does not allow girls to be servers, but I haven’t seen any. They aren’t in a shortage of servers either.
We don’t need girls to serve at the altar. If people just stressed the dignity of assisting at the altar, I think a lot more boys would go for it.
Well, as the quote above points out, this whole alter girl thing is entirely optional, it is merely “permited” by Rome to be merely “permited” by the local Ordinaries and the Pastor of an individual parish church may or may not, upon his own choice, make use of this permission.
Whoa, hold on there a second. There is a BIG difference between not agreeing with a mere permission and being disobedient to the Bishops and Pope. I don’t think anyone is saying that, in spite of Rome, girls can’t serve.
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JKirkLVNV
Guest
Hmmmm…our bulletins are just stacked up at the back and we help ourselves.
One thing I do wish we had and a lady could do this: I hate announcements in the middle of Mass (between the Prayers of the Faithful and the beginning of the actual Mass, as it were). I wish they’d do them at the beginning, before Mass started. A lay person could stand at the ambo, rattle off the announcements, maybe remind folks of the rubrics concerning the reception of Holy Communion, sit down, give everyone a chance to recover from having to hear the announcements, then the priest could start the service. It would keep Mass more seamless.
Or they could just assume we can actually read the bulletin.
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a_cermak
Guest
Name one Roman Catholic parish where there is a woman priest. I bet you can’t. So why are you worried about it? Rome has spoken clearly on this subject. So why do you care about others’ “thought sins”? Not everyone agrees with Rome. People are still grumbling sayings it’s not fair. Why do you care? Until the grumblers can convince a bishop to ordain a female (at which rate he would be automatically excommunicated) why does it matter what others think?
I think you could have worded the first sentence of the quote a little more sensitively.
Pax,
Amy
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ComradeAndrei
Guest
All out heresy starts as mere “thought sins”. It matters what others think because we have a charitable duty (otherwise known as a spiritual work of mercy) to “admonish the sinner” and to “instruct the ignorant”.
That is one aspect of the problem I speak of, the overindulgence of political correctness and capitulating to the opinions of others. Men need to remember their place in Church-is that “insensitive”?
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AltarMan
Guest
You can throw-up all the excuses for, and advantages of altar girls, but in the end they should be supressed so the position of altar server can be used to foster vocations to the priesthood and diaconate.
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AltarMan
Guest
Because those thoughts are often voiced through words of dissent and dissent is corrosive to the Church.
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Catholic2003
Guest
The “only” part doesn’t come from the Holy See.
Here is what Redemptionis Sacramentum actually said:
I guess the author is following the “spirit” of Redemptionis Sacramentum, with about the same degree of fidelity as those who claim to follow the “spirit of Vatican II”.
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AltarMan
Guest
It’s interesting to note that at my parish we have a shortage of “greeters” and “ushers” but a huge surplus of EMsHC…
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