Mother Miriam on EWTN states that women should not be in the Sanctuary

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lenny
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Oh ok, I thought it was. The seperation is where the elevation begins.
 
Lenny said:
Oh ok, I thought it was. The seperation is where the elevation begins.
Click to expand...
Right and in the sanctuary is the altar which is the table where the consecration of the Eucharist takes place.
She must mean the sanctuary because nobody stands on top of the altar.
 
Lenny said:
So you though Mother Miriam was suggesting that no one should stand on the altar?
Lets not be obtuse now.
Click to expand...
Listen my friend. I asked civilly a simple question about the thread title. Does she mean the altar or the sanctuary. To me it is the sanctuary but YOU are the one who keeps telling me it’s the altar which of course is nonsense. You then didn’t know what the sanctuary is. Now you are caught out you make a personal insult.
 
Lenny said:
I defer to your greatness.
Click to expand...
There is nothing great about me but at least in these forums over the years when I have been shown to be wrong I admit it and accept it.
You seem to have a problem doing that.
This is my last post here because it’s a waste of breath trying to discuss with you.
 
Mother Miriam may be suggesting(my presumption here) that abandoning age old practices of the Church may not be so healthy for her.
 
This has nothing to do with “uncomfortable truths”. Thistle is a very orthodox poster and is not from USA. They asked a question, which you seem to have read a lot of unusual implications into, for no good reason at all.

I myself did not hear what Mother Miriam actually said, but I know in USA sometimes older Catholics will say “On the Altar” when they technically mean “in the sanctuary”. I heard this use of “On the Altar” many times in my own family from people who pre-dated Vatican II. It may be that Mother Miriam is using this colloquial expression for all I know. In any event, as two of us (myself and CajunJoy) already posted further up the thread that she clearly meant “In the sanctuary”, there is no reason for you to do anything other than simply answer the question.
 
Last edited:
Thanks @Margaret_Ann

Obviously Mother means the sanctuary, which is also called the “altar area,” sometimes people use shorthand and say (a little imprecisely) “the altar,” when they mean the sanctuary.

You can simply look at the context of the person speaking/writing to determine if they mean the altar area or the altar (table of sacrifice).
I have a friend from the [American] South who asks if you want a Coke, and if you say “yes,” he asks what kind: Coke, Diet Coke, Root Beer, 7-Up. Where he’s from Coke is both a generic term for soda pop and a specific flavor of soda pop.
Click to expand...
Mother is speaking about a former practice whereas women did not enter the sanctuary. This was before the existence of EMsHC, and the like.

Even in the modern age, post Vatican II, there were particular places where this practice continued.

The bishop of Lincoln, NE was one such example. In the Cathedral he installed a second pulpit for women to read from that was outside the sanctuary; whereas lay men could read from the Ambo, which is located inside the sanctuary/altar area.

Thankfully these exceptions are going away.

Deacon Christopher
 
Tis_Bearself said:
This has nothing to do with “uncomfortable truths”. Thistle is a very orthodox poster and is not from USA. They asked a question, which you seem to have read a lot of unusual implications into, for no good reason at all.

I myself did not hear what Mother Miriam actually said, but I know in USA sometimes older Catholics will say “On the Altar” when they technically mean “in the sanctuary”. I heard this use of “On the Altar” many times in my own family from people who pre-dated Vatican II. It may be that Mother Miriam is using this colloquial expression for all I know. In any event, as two of us (myself and CajunJoy) already posted further up the thread that she clearly meant “In the sanctuary”, there is no reason for you to do anything other than simply answer the question.
Click to expand...
i have heard the expression ‘on the altar’ here in my parish in the UK. It is a traditional colloquialism it would seem, and I agree there is no need to pull people up over it and pretend to misunderstand it to mean literally standing on the altar, when that would be ridiculous.

It’s a bit like pretending to misunderstand somebody saying they were going ‘on the train’ to somewhere and asking were they going to perch on the roof instead of travelling inside.
 
Last edited:
Diaconia said:
Thanks @Margaret_Ann

Obviously Mother means the sanctuary, which is also called the “altar area,” sometimes people use shorthand and say (a little imprecisely) “the altar,” when they mean the sanctuary.

You can simply look at the context of the person speaking/writing to determine if they mean the altar area or the altar (table of sacrifice).
I have a friend from the [American] South who asks if you want a Coke, and if you say “yes,” he asks what kind: Coke, Diet Coke, Root Beer, 7-Up. Where he’s from Coke is both a generic term for soda pop and a specific flavor of soda pop.
Click to expand...
May I please ask you to clarify something? When you say “thankfully these exceptions are going away”, you imply that a bishop who chooses not to have women in the sanctuary is wrong / bad / outdated (or something). How is it that the Church allows bishops to make this choice? Do you know better than the Church, or the bishops who choose not to have women in the sanctuary?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Maybe Mother Miriam should keep her opinions to herself.
 
Last edited:
Thank you; I was about to make the same statement about “on the altar” and “in the sanctuary”.
 
Lenny said:
synod where women are now being elevated to positions of deaconess outside of any orders from the Holy see.
Click to expand...
Would you please post a news story where a woman was ordained as a Deacon in the Catholic Church? Not in some schismatic group, some Protestant group, but by a valid Catholic Bishop?
 
The Deacon is permitted to have an opinion.

I personally don’t have an issue with the Bishop of Lincoln NE. My father was from that diocese and it was a big hotbed of anti-Catholic sentiment (I’m being kind here in putting it mildly) right up through the 1960s. Perhaps in view of that, the Bishop felt that being very traditional was necessary. In any event he’s allowed to do it by the Church. That’s my own personal opinion.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top