Holy Thursday washing of the feet

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adrift

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I am having difficulty with the Holy Thursday service at the Church I attended.

After the priest washed a man’s feet, others in the congregation came forward and started washing each others feet. Women washed childrens feet Lay men washed priest feet etc.

I was told that many parishes do it this way. I was shocked but I am not sure if there was anything wrong.

Does anyone have any comments that would help me?
 
adrift said:
I am having difficulty with the Holy Thursday service at the Church I attended.

After the priest washed a man’s feet, others in the congregation came forward and started washing each others feet. Women washed childrens feet Lay men washed priest feet etc.

I was told that many parishes do it this way. I was shocked but I am not sure if there was anything wrong.

Does anyone have any comments that would help me?
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Only the ordained may wash. In the Byzantine Rite, only the bishop may wash.
 
When I first started attending Mass, the priest washed men, women and children’s feet. Since then, I have switched to a very orthodox Mass and the priest only washes men’s feet during Holy Thursday.
 
T_More said:
When I first started attending Mass, the priest washed men, women and children’s feet. Since then, I have switched to a very orthodox Mass and the priest only washes men’s feet during Holy Thursday.
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You know, its not about who’s feet are washed but who are washing the feet. That is why it must be an ordained man (in the Roman Church) or just the bishop (Byzantine) because this is their gesture of showing that they have taken Christ’s commandment and challenge to those who seek to be the greatest to be the lowliest of servants.
 
I have been at parishes where only Ordained wash the feet of men. I have never seen womens’ or children’s feet washed. I think it goes against the Tradition of the Last Supper, this is my opinion of course, if the Church teaches otherwise, then please by all means correct me so I can stand with the Magisterium of the Church. It goes to Jesus washing His Apostoles feet, and His Apostoles were men. I would have been greatly disturbed to see what you describe in the OP.

I’ll see if I can drag up some more information relevant to this post. Now I am interested as to the why only men get their feet washed, I think I am correct, but I want to make sure. If noone else finds anything, and I do find something, I’ll come back and post what I find in this thread.

God bless.
 
Unfortunately Rome gave permission to the Bishop’s to decide if it was “pastorally necessary” to wash women’s feet and the practice has run amok. Actually it had already run amok but this almost gave credence to that.
Totally loses the meaning of the ceremony for me.
 
The Circular Letter Concerning the Preparation and Celebration of the Easter Feasts, Paschales Solemnitatis is very clear about what is to happen on Holy Thursday. It was published on January 16, 1988. It says:
  1. The washing of the feet of chosen men which, according to tradition, is performed on this day, represents the service and charity of Christ, who came “not to be served, but to serve.” [58] This tradition should be maintained, and its proper significance explained.
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Of course it is very clear that it is men who have their feet washed - it doesn’t specify how many, but traditionally twelve would be chosen. However, the last line is interesting - that the proper significance of the practice should be explained. It seems to me that if the proper significance were being explained, there would be no question of anyone but the priest washing the feet or anyone but men having their feet washed.

Regrettably, the USCCB’s committee on Divine Worship seems to be causing confusion on this matter. On its website it has a question and answer from one year before Paschales Solemnitatis was published regarding the washing of womens’ feet. Point 4 of the article acknowledges that “it has become customary in some places to invite both men and women” to participate in this rite. The following point, 5, then states that this variation differs from “the rubric of the Sacramentary which mentions only men”. So, the USCCB itself admits that the practice is at odds with the Sacramentary, but there is no indication that special permission has been given to justify or permit this discrepancy. Perhaps the USCCB has gotten permission in the meantime to allow women to have their feet washed, but I would expect that that Q&A from the USCCB would have been superseded by Paschales Solemnitatis which appeared a year later (perhaps someone who is more qualified than I could clarify that).
 
In my parish, my priest washed the feet of 12 people, both men and women. I had my foot washed on Holy Thursday and i’m a woman.

I can’t remember if I was told this or if I have read it somewhere that it was just fine to have everyone in the parish wash each other’s feet. It is an act of service. Every parish does things differently.

I’m still learning a lot about Catholic teachings so I really can’t say what is right or wrong.
 
Thanks for the answers but I want to clarify something. It isn’t the priest washing feet it is the congregation washing feet. The priest sometimes sits down and watches as women wash feet.

Has anyone heard of this practice?
 
Seatuck said:
Unfortunately Rome gave permission to the Bishop’s to decide if it was “pastorally necessary” to wash women’s feet and the practice has run amok. Actually it had already run amok but this almost gave credence to that.
Totally loses the meaning of the ceremony for me.
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where is this permission?
 
adrift said:
Thanks for the answers but I want to clarify something. It isn’t the priest washing feet it is the congregation washing feet. The priest sometimes sits down and watches as women wash feet.

Has anyone heard of this practice?
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still wrong.
 
FatHead said:
where is this permission?
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Yup. I gotta see this one in writing. The Latin instruction “**viri **selecti” seems pretty clear.

That said, my parish has had everything from the padre washing women’s feet to everybody washing everyone else’s feet.
I don’t know what it is about the time around Easter that brings out the illicit, loosey goosey, and downright crazy stuff so much more than the rest of the year. The epitome of this craziness was the time when our “music ministers” played “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” as we we processing out of the church on Easter Sunday. That one was even a bit much for our rather modernist padre, who told them not to play it again, although it really wasn’t much worse than the dance music they played at the Offertory.
Since the nearest rock solid parish is about a seven hour round trip away, I just do my best to stay away as much as I can from my local church from Palm Sunday to Pentecost. I don’t like it, but it is what it is.
 
adrift said:
Thanks for the answers but I want to clarify something. It isn’t the priest washing feet it is the congregation washing feet. The priest sometimes sits down and watches as women wash feet.

Has anyone heard of this practice?
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Yes, its called a pedicure parlor. 😃
 
ConstantineTG said:
You know, its not about who’s feet are washed but who are washing the feet. That is why it must be an ordained man (in the Roman Church) or just the bishop (Byzantine) because this is their gesture of showing that they have taken Christ’s commandment and challenge to those who seek to be the greatest to be the lowliest of servants.
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Thanks, Constantine, but that’s not why I switched. I was merely sharing that it’s different from parish to parish.
 
adrift said:
Is there any documents that would allow or not allow this practice?

This thread isn’t about if women priest can be washed. I think that is a setteled issue

adoremus.org/97-03_pokorsky.htm
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yes, the missal says clearly that only men should get their feet washedd then later rome clarified and said the same thing. if you need the actual document quotes someone else can help you with those.

what do you mean by “This thread isn’t about if women priest can be washed”???

the only thing that is allowed is the priest washing the feet of some men, anything else is wrong and shouldt be done no matter what the priest say
 
T_More said:
Thanks, Constantine, but that’s not why I switched. I was merely sharing that it’s different from parish to parish.
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In the Philippines the 12 men who gets their feet washed are even costumed like the disciples. Some even have name tags on their stole/sash. And whoever the group picks on gets to be Judas 😃

It is indeed different from place to place. Some like to preserve the tradition that only men get their feet washed. Some don’t. Again mainly because the symbolism is on who is washing the feet, not who gets their feet washed. Also in parishes like mine, I remember during the service with the washing of the feet, there were like literally like 10 people in the nave. I was serving at the altar with the Bishop and 3 priests. All three priests got their feet washed by the Bishop, but we certainly have women there including the Sisters and some senior members of the parish council and women’s league.
 
Seatuck said:
Unfortunately Rome gave permission to the Bishop’s to decide if it was “pastorally necessary” to wash women’s feet and the practice has run amok. Actually it had already run amok but this almost gave credence to that.
Totally loses the meaning of the ceremony for me.
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It was not a blanket permission. It was only granted, as far as I know, to the Cardinal Archbishop of Boston and no one else.

There is actually a deeper meaning than just service. Bear in mind that this act happened within the context of the ordination rite of the Apostles into the priesthood of Christ. This was their ritual purification in preparation for what was to come.
 
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