If the Pontiff "Banned" Altar Females, How Many Would REALLY Comply?

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Why WOULD he do such a thing to begin with?

It is allowed, has been accepted throughout the Church (with a few exceptions 😉 ) and is now common practice.

To ban them now would only alienate a whole lotta folks, and for no particular purpose.
 
ethelzguy said:
Why WOULD he do such a thing to begin with?

It is allowed, has been accepted throughout the Church (with a few exceptions 😉 ) and is now common practice.

To ban them now would only alienate a whole lotta folks, and for no particular purpose.
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That’s not the question I asked.

That said, I don’t believe altar girls are allowed in the Eastern half of the Catholic Church or during the celebration of the EF in the Western Rite.

I’ll also add that ALLOWING THEM alienated a great many people for no particular reason. The sword cuts both ways…
 
ethelzguy said:
Why WOULD he do such a thing to begin with?

It is allowed, has been accepted throughout the Church (with a few exceptions 😉 ) and is now common practice.

To ban them now would only alienate a whole lotta folks, and for no particular purpose.
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Why would he do such a thing?
If Pope Benedict were to say that he was going to slowly replace the use of altar girls and only use boys because he believes that the Church needs to expose more boys to the lifestyle of the priesthood-that would be the reason why. It would be good for boys to get to know the priest, visit with him at his residence, veiw his lifestyle first hand. Maybe, just maybe, that would put the thought in his mind of becoming a priest as a possible vocation.
Surely the laity would understand the Pope’s motives.
 
Our_Refuge said:
Why would he do such a thing?
If Pope Benedict were to say that he was going to slowly replace the use of altar girls and only use boys because he believes that the Church needs to expose more boys to the lifestyle of the priesthood-that would be the reason why. It would be good for boys to get to know the priest, visit with him at his residence, veiw his lifestyle first hand. Maybe, just maybe, that would put the thought in his mind of becoming a priest as a possible vocation.
Surely the laity would understand the Pope’s motives.
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Even though the instances were very few, there was incredible damage to innocent boys preyed upon by priests who were predatory in their use of “alone time with Father”. There have to be other ways found to expose children to the lifestyle of priests and religious. That is not to say it couldn’t be in the context of the priest spending time with altar servers, only that the old days are NOT coming back, and for gravely appropriate reasons.

Actually, I think the “alone time with Father” that is being most neglected is time in the confessional. I think young men not frequenting confession has a lot more to do with our vocations crisis than the young ladies that are being allowed at the altar.
 
If the Pope Banned females from serving at the altar in the most iron clad/airtight sort of document, how many bishops and priests would simply ignore the directive? What sort (if any) uproar would it cause?
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My my, what a hypothetical.

How the devil do we know, and why the devil should we try to guess?
 
EasterJoy said:
Even though the instances were very few, there was incredible damage to innocent boys preyed upon by priests who were predatory in their use of “alone time with Father”. There have to be other ways found to expose children to the lifestyle of priests and religious. That is not to say it couldn’t be in the context of the priest spending time with altar servers, only that the old days are NOT coming back, and for gravely appropriate reasons.
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Hi EasterJoy; (I love your username by the way)🙂

I agree with this… No teacher, priest, or anyone should be spending time alone with one child at a time. I’m not so sure only a few innocent boys were affected, considering entire Dioceses were being sued for significant amounts of money, by quite a few accusers. I think some Dioceses were in major financial trouble over it. 😦 In the scheme of things, I think the percentage was like 1% or less than that, for all priests. But, these were only the cases we know about. Maybe a question for another thread would be…why was the microscope only on the RCC? I believe it should have been, but how about non Catholic Churches? I read a few years ago, that there is more child molestation between pastors, youth group leaders, etc…and children. Just makes me wonder why the media hates Catholics to the point of not telling the full truth.

Saying all that, what deeply saddens me is that our great priests of today–their reputations probably came into question because of what that 1% or less than, did. 😦 It’s a terrible shame, but the days are over when parents will blindly trust priests or teachers or really any adults other than family, to be completely alone with their children. Although the percentage was small, the media blew it up as though it was happening in every parish, which was so false. But, the media makes a strong impact, and I can’t help but wonder if over the past 8 years or so, if the ripple effects of that will further affect men wanting to become priests. We’ll just have to wait and see.
 
Spiller said:
That’s not the question I asked.

That said, I don’t believe altar girls are allowed in the Eastern half of the Catholic Church or during the celebration of the EF in the Western Rite.

I’ll also add that ALLOWING THEM alienated a great many people for no particular reason. The sword cuts both ways…
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For no particular reason? Other than the fact that Popes have condemned the practice in the past in no uncertain terms and the practice itself was spawned by dissent and abuse? We have a right to feel alienated, what’s Holy Mother Church doing to Herself!
 
JuanCarlos said:
For no particular reason? Other than the fact that Popes have condemned the practice in the past in no uncertain terms and the practice itself was spawned by dissent and abuse? We have a right to feel alienated, what’s Holy Mother Church doing to Herself!
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Sigh…

What do you call dissent which criticizes dissent?

Well, really. If Rome allows a certain thing, then isn’t the action of condemning Rome for allowing that certain thing called . . . dissent?
 
I don’t think there is a single reason why women could not be allowed to serve at the altar. I can think of at least three reasons why they should not have been allowed:
  • Take slots away from males who might be discerning a vocation
  • Upsets people – in this case MANY people
  • Change came only after heavy abuse
 
JuanCarlos said:
For no particular reason? Other than the fact that Popes have condemned the practice in the past in no uncertain terms and the practice itself was spawned by dissent and abuse? We have a right to feel alienated, what’s Holy Mother Church doing to Herself!
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You’re so emotional you have no idea what I actually typed! Quit leading with your chin! Female servers were allowed for no particular reason (all the men except priests did not die in war, etc.) and it alienated a great many.
 
consumedconvert said:
Sigh…

What do you call dissent which criticizes dissent?

Well, really. If Rome allows a certain thing, then isn’t the action of condemning Rome for allowing that certain thing called . . . dissent?
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Not really, dissent is disobeying a prohibition, promoting disobedience and rejecting a teaching.

Criticizing a decision which was a result of appeasing an abuse to please the abusers is appealing to faithfulness to being true to a principle. The principle was that boys were specifically allowed to serve to foster vocations, to represent the truth of the hierarchy, to be true to traditon and to defend the truth of the Priesthood in its representation.
Since Rome even recommends boys to serve over girls, recommends service to foster vocations and upholds it as a proper custom it is right and good to uphold it, and defend it.

No one has condemned Rome or said Rome was bad, just that the decision was poor and should be repealed.
Now since the allowance was brought about by allowing a practice that was brought about by disobedience, those with the same mindset who originally disobeyed would continue with no movement to obeying the Pope. Why should they? They got their way by disobeying in the first place and promoting the practice by rejecting the Church’s teaching. A prohibition would just be ignored and looked at as a temporary thing that could be changed with enough disobedience.

In Christ
Scylla
 
=EasterJoy;3723916]Even though the instances were very few, there was incredible damage to innocent boys preyed upon by priests who were predatory in their use of “alone time with Father”. There have to be other ways found to expose children to the lifestyle of priests and religious. That is not to say it couldn’t be in the context of the priest spending time with altar servers, only that the old days are NOT coming back, and for gravely appropriate reasons.
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I completely disagree with you. I know four priests quite well. One is FSSP the others celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass. I would have no problem having altar boys spend time, socially, with these men. The ‘predatory’ priest is over blown. The vast majority are decent men who should be shown as role models and not as someone to be avoided. The OLD days need to come back. I was an altar boy in the 60’s. The altar boys would go fishing with “Father” or he would sometimes go with us on Boy Scout outings. I did not have a vocation but others did.
Actually, I think the “alone time with Father” that is being most neglected is time in the confessional. I think young men not frequenting confession has a lot more to do with our vocations crisis than the young ladies that are being allowed at the altar.
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Boys need to see how a priest lives up close and personal. The more altar boys the better. It will make a difference in vocations.
 
Our_Refuge said:
I completely disagree with you. I know four priests quite well. One is FSSP the others celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass. I would have no problem having altar boys spend time, socially, with these men. The ‘predatory’ priest is over blown. The vast majority are decent men who should be shown as role models and not as someone to be avoided. The OLD days need to come back. I was an altar boy in the 60’s. The altar boys would go fishing with “Father” or he would sometimes go with us on Boy Scout outings. I did not have a vocation but others did.

Boys need to see how a priest lives up close and personal. The more altar boys the better. It will make a difference in vocations.
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Then they should step up and volunteer. And the parents should encourage it…then maybe we wouldn’t ‘need’ female altar servers.
 
Our_Refuge said:
I completely disagree with you. I know four priests quite well. One is FSSP the others celebrate the Ordinary Form of the Mass. I would have no problem having altar boys spend time, socially, with these men. The ‘predatory’ priest is over blown. The vast majority are decent men who should be shown as role models and not as someone to be avoided. The OLD days need to come back. I was an altar boy in the 60’s. The altar boys would go fishing with “Father” or he would sometimes go with us on Boy Scout outings. I did not have a vocation but others did.

Boys need to see how a priest lives up close and personal. The more altar boys the better. It will make a difference in vocations.
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The OLD days are gone. They won’t ever come back. It’s over.

Try to move on. To keep sighing for the past is useless. Embrace the present and look forward to the future, which brings us all close to our eternal destiny and hopefully, our heavenly home with Our Lord.
 
Cat said:
The OLD days are gone. They won’t ever come back. It’s over.

Try to move on. To keep sighing for the past is useless. Embrace the present and look forward to the future, which brings us all close to our eternal destiny and hopefully, our heavenly home with Our Lord.
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The OLD days are coming back. Did you see Pope Benedict celebrating Mass with his BACK to the people or having a communion rail put in for his mass so all would kneel to receive communion?
Sorry Cat but it is BACK to the future!
 
Cat said:
The OLD days are gone. They won’t ever come back. It’s over.

Try to move on. To keep sighing for the past is useless. Embrace the present and look forward to the future, which brings us all close to our eternal destiny and hopefully, our heavenly home with Our Lord.
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The future should embrace the past, Jesus is the originator of the faith and to look to Jesus is to look forward and to look back at Him. Embrace our heritage and the beauty of the faith that Jesus gave us, unfortunately culture teaches to seek style. We should seek Jesus the center of our faith and reject style for substance.

I would stress to not embrace the present but to look to Jesus as the center and summit of our faith and to live in the present looking to Jesus. We should look to the past as that is where examples of Saintly people, our tradition and faith in Jesus is expressed and recorded. Look to their examples of love of Christ for guidance on how we can follow Christ also.

Now this doesn’t mean we can’t modernize the faith, we have already, microphones, speakers, lights, computers, recording devices, television, internet, mass communication, new evangelization, seeking better ways to express the faith, all these are great examples of modernization of the faith.

It is when we start to mess around with the faith just because it is fashionable or culture tells us to, is when we get into trouble. We should follow Christ first, not the world.

In Christ
Scylla
 
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