Pope supports altar girls. Praise God!

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“It is not enough to have altar girls, women readers or women as the president of Caritas,” he said. “Women in the church are more important than bishops and priests,” just like “Mary is more important than the apostles.”
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catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1303261.htm

I’m really likin this new Pope of ours. God bless Pope Francis! Praise God!

:extrahappy::clapping::dancing:
 
Judas_Thaddeus said:
Great, happy to hear that, but I don’t think girls altar servers have been
an issue for some time, as implied in the beginning of this statement:

Yet again: Good to Hear. 🙂
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Oh I know. But the reason I posted here is because there are a lot of Traditionalists who think altar girls should be abolished.

I hope this will help ppl see that there is nothing unholy or uncatholic about altar girls.
 
How is this supportive of altar girls? Sounds to me like he’s saying it’s better for the Church that women fulfill their true roles in the Church rather than just stuffing them into male roles in the name of “equality”. Mary made no attempt to be an Apostle nor to fill their roles.
 
aemcpa said:
How is this supportive of altar girls? Sounds to me like he’s saying it’s better for the Church that women fulfill their true roles in the Church rather than just stuffing them into male roles in the name of “equality”. Mary made no attempt to be an Apostle nor to fill their roles.
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Lol no he meant having altar girls is not enough… he wants more women doing even more things besides just that.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Why ever would Mary make an attempt to be an apostle?
Isn’t her position in the Church much, much, much higher than an apostle?!!

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Yep!

Besides, no one here ever said anything about Mary being an apostle (aka priest/bishop) so I don’t know where that came from.
 
Understand…concur…but…the infamous “but”…

What strikes me is that Priests have always been the most important in the Church…in my training…and I believe that would most likely always be the case – the most important…because without them…no Mass…No Eucharist…no Sacraments…(same for Deacons who can minister…Baptism, Matrimony…and of course in the Liturgy of Word and is also an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist).

Even our Blessed Mother had to receive her Eucharistic Risen Son from Peter in the Upper Room…during nine day novenas waiting for the Holy Spirit to come down on the them…and for all the years she remained on Earth…until her Assumption into Heaven.
For guys like me…priests are clearly more important…No Priest…No Sacrament of Confession. :eek:

I think…I get what Pope Francis is saying…and I strongly concur…we need Women in really to…spiritual, apostolate and especially leadership roles/positions. Women have been clearly marginalized over the centuries. If you look at the Apostolic Age…the Nicene Age…the Post Nicene age…in all of these eras…women were “long-ball hitters”…batting in the “power positions”…in the lineup…and were counted on for great things. Like Jesus…the Church broke the cultural molds…then got “cultural” again…

…but I don;t think that one is elevating men over women in “importance in the Church”…to say/maintain that Priests are the more important…in a ministry of Sacraments and Liturgical context. Many parish consolidations have Women Parish Administrators (aka pastors)…and a priest only shows up for Liturgy and Sacraments…the Woman Administrator is clearly in charge…tells him what is scheduled…but not “more important”…and I don;t believe that I am wrong…in this sacrament/liturgy context…and that the point/distinction needs to be explicitly made/maintained.

Am I out in left field…or does my point make sense?..or maybe its just “old school”…a needless point.

Pax Christi
 
Judas_Thaddeus said:
Great, happy to hear that, but I don’t think girls altar servers have been
an issue for some time, as implied in the beginning of this statement:

Yet again: Good to Hear. 🙂
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oh, some people sitll have issues with it, believe me. now considering, the church is the one who made up the position of altar boys in the first place, doen’st she have tha authority to include girls if she wants. it’s not like the bible talks about altar servers at all. in fact, if we want to get really traditional, it would probably just be the priests and deacons doing everything
 
DaddyGirl said:
I KNOW!!!
It was the first point I noticed and commented on after his press conference!!!

For those bishops and priests who still do not want and do not allow female altar severs at their churches…do you think the pope’s verbal support will influence them?

I mean, Pope John Paul II obviously supported female altar severs when he officially confirmed it decades ago…but still, to hear the current pope voice his unwavering support for female altar servers (and his hope to create more roles for females in the church)…one would think or hope the pope’s official words would have an impact on the priests/bishops who waver.

Last year on this forum, we were debating about a news story of a bishop/priest who had suddenly removed the girl altar servers from a church without explanation (the girls were in tears about it). I wonder if this bishop and priest, for example, will now reconsider and reverse their actions following Pope Francis’ assertive and brillilant words in support of female altar servers.

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Canon Law leaves it in the hands of the Bishop of each Particular Church…so it is really the Bishop’s personal…Shepard of souls…decision. It’s not the Pastor’s or Priest’s call…unless the Bishop explicitly gives them that authority.

Pax Christi
 
Last time I checked, parishes without altar girls which practice liturgical piety seem to have more vocations than those that do. The 60s are over, altar girls are a bad idea in my opinion. A church full of women will have no vocations period.

The pope is not advocating more women in the liturgy, but for women to be more like the Blessed Virgin Mary.
 
Tony_Micelli said:
Last time I checked, parishes without altar girls which practice liturgical piety seem to have more vocations than those that do. The 60s are over, altar girls are a bad idea in my opinion. A church full of women will have no vocations period.
you should relaly think before you post something. do you know how bad this sounds? it probably wasn’t your intention. but let’s just say it’s a good thing i trust jesus and his church more than people’s personal opinion

The pope is not advocating more women in the liturgy, but for women to be more like the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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i doubt this is the problem, boys are less likely to become priests nowadays because there are so many career options out there. in nthe past, it was an appealing position because of education and all that. i know, the point is to serve god but there are factors besides that.

as much as some people like to think, it’s not all about “vocation”, it’s about serving god. ok so, the rules were a little different in the past but that’s all they are rules. there is no mandate about altar servers in the new testament which generally means the church was left to organize that for herselg. not that i’m for women’s ordination, that is a completely different issue altogether. and believe me, no altar girl thinks she is going to becme a priest later on.

please be a little charitable towards other people, if my priest did not allow me to become an altar server, i probably wouldn’t be where i am today in my faith. being constantly discriminated against is no laughing matter and with my altar serving team, i finally experienced what the service of god and others and well as christ’s love for us is supposed to look like. there were any problems at all, always a good balance, boys as well as girls. there was never a shortage signing up because there were too many girls or anything like that. martha served, so can we. the gates of hel will never prevail against his church. even after most of the priests were killed when church and state separation started occurring, god still provided priests, do you really think a few girls will stop him?
 
As with all things, the Holy Spirit leads us into strange waters, but into deeper truth. In this statement, we see the Pope Francis upholding the tradition of the male priesthood, enforcing the point of Blessed John Paul that a male priesthood is a matter of dogma, and then giving women the honor due them as daughters of Mary. He uses girl altar servers as part of this message, upholding the role of women, while different in some respects, is equal in dignity.

I don’t know if they were a good idea or a bad idea when they started being used, but they do give us an insight in the importance of women in the Church, especially for those who have not fully appreciated this their equality.
 
What’s the big deal? :confused: The Church does indeed allow altar girls although it does show a clear preference for males serving at the altar. 👍

While I certainly recognize the Church allows altar girls I personally believe that all the positions for serving at the altar should be allocated to boys and men who might just be fostering a vocation as a priest or deacon. :extrahappy:

The excuse that “we don’t have enough males” is a non-starter in most cases. :rolleyes: So is the notion that serving at the altar prepares females for religious life in the same manner that it helps to foster vocations to the priesthood and diaconate.

Finally on a historical note, I find it repugnant how altar girls were used even when the Church did not allow them. :mad: It’s almost as if the sexists coerced the Church into allowing altar girls. :eek: That alone should have precluded their use. 👍

Hopefully one day serving at the altar will one day be limited to males once again :clapping: but that will be the Church’s call and I will abide.
 
aemcpa said:
How is this supportive of altar girls? Sounds to me like he’s saying it’s better for the Church that women fulfill their true roles in the Church rather than just stuffing them into male roles in the name of “equality”. Mary made no attempt to be an Apostle nor to fill their roles.
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:extrahappy::clapping::dancing: :extrahappy: :clapping::dancing:
 
angell1 said:
oh, some people sitll have issues with it, believe me. now considering, the church is the one who made up the position of altar boys in the first place, doen’st she have tha authority to include girls if she wants. it’s not like the bible talks about altar servers at all. in fact, if we want to get really traditional, it would probably just be the priests and deacons doing everything
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Here in the Philippines females are not allowed to be altar servers or EMHC’s but they are normally the commentators and readers.
I have no problem with that.

As for the Pope he did not say females should be altar servers. Catholics jumping to such conclusions are just like non-Catholics jumping to the conclusion the Pope meant women should be priests.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Right…I was blurry on if it was the priest or the bishop, that’s why I was listing both…thanks for clarifying.
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The Bishop has to allow it for his diocese, the Pastor has to allow it for his parish then it’s up to the priest celebrating Mass to decide.

If a visiting priest comes into a parish that regularly uses female altar servers he is perfectly within his rights to refuse to have them serve at a Mass he’s celebrating.
 
Lancer said:
Canon Law leaves it in the hands of the Bishop of each Particular Church…so it is really the Bishop’s personal…Shepard of souls…decision. It’s not the Pastor’s or Priest’s call…unless the Bishop explicitly gives them that authority.

Pax Christi
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Actually, Canon Law and a letter released by the Holy See in 2002 allows the priest celebrating each Mass to decide if he want altar servers who are girls. If he doesn’t want them to serve, they cannot.
 
thistle said:
As for the Pope he did not say females should be altar servers. Catholics jumping to such conclusions are just like non-Catholics jumping to the conclusion the Pope meant women should be priests.
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Exactly! He didn’t tell all girls and woman to become altar servers! To think so would be jumping to conclusions. 👍
 
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