Vatican paper comes in praise of altar girls [John Allen]

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snowbee said:
Quote:“The exclusion of girls from all of this, for the sole reason of their being female, has always weighed heavily and represented a deep inequality within Catholic education,” it said…Permitting girls to assist at the altar “has meant the idea they were impure because of their gender came to an end” and has meant girls, too, “could live out this extraordinarily important formative experience,” it said.

Dangerous, because this same reasoning could be used to argue for women to be made priests. There is reasoning to allow only males in the sanctuary only, not simply scriptural but traditional as well. Slippery slope.
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That is the point that Fr. Z was making in his critique of the author’s piece.
 
pnewton said:
I had a question that was not answered earlier. Should boys and men that either:

a) have not desire to ever be a priest, or
b) have weighted the question and chosen a vocation apart from the priesthood
c) wed

be allowed to serve as altar servers are any where near the altar?
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That’s fine. I know of several men who are altar servers since there might not be enough boys. They don’t necessarily need a vocation to serve at the altar but it does help to encourage vocations in young boys which is why it is very important to stop the silly practice of allowing girls to be altar servers and to serve in other liturgical functions. It adds to the feminizing of the Church and leads to less vocations.
 
Nothing like picking on little girls to prove how Catholic we are… :rolleyes:
 
NewEnglandPries said:
Nothing like picking on little girls to prove how Catholic we are… :rolleyes:
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Come, Father, that is not the case, and you know it. :mad:

The author of the original piece is a radical feminist, and has been at odds with Church teaching. Her assertion over the impurity of girls is down right absurd.

Also, it is well within the bounds to question this ~15 year old (not “decades”) practice, particularly if boys are no longer serving and the (priestly) vocational culture of serving is thus harmed.
 
CDNowak said:
Come, Father, that is not the case, and you know it. :mad:

The author of the original piece is a radical feminist, and has been at odds with Church teaching. Her assertion over the impurity of girls is down right absurd.
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l’osservatore romano, what a liberal rag…:rolleyes:
Also, it is well within the bounds to question this ~15 year old (not “decades”) practice, particularly if boys are no longer serving and the (priestly) vocational culture of serving is thus harmed.
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Yup, until 15 years ago, seminaries were full, vocations were booming, and then poof altar girls killed it all. 👍

And, indeed, apparently let’s question it and anyone who supports it must be some kind of radical liberal trying to destroy the priesthood.
 
ProVobis said:
Like telling them they can’t be priests and shouldn’t even think about it?
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Right, because priests = altar servers. Handing the priest the cruets is a real in persona christi act. Oh the chaos that reigns!
 
Just wondering out loud… does that mean if a Bishop prohibits the practice in his diocese that he is “picking on little girls,” or does his authority as Ordinary mean more than that?
 
NewEnglandPries said:
Right, because priests = altar servers. Handing the priest the cruets is a real in persona christi act. Oh the chaos that reigns!
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Everytime I served, I imagined what it would be like to say the Mass. Is there anyone who has ever served Mass never thought about saying the Mass? I’d be surprised if there were.
 
ProVobis said:
Everytime I served, I imagined what it would be like to say the Mass. Is there anyone who has ever served Mass never thought about saying the Mass? I’d be surprised if there were.
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When I was a kid everytime I attended Mass I imagined what it would be like to say Mass. Perhaps then Mass attendance should be limited to only men.
 
DOShea said:
Just wondering out loud… does that mean if a Bishop prohibits the practice in his diocese that he is “picking on little girls,” or does his authority as Ordinary mean more than that?
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If everytime the issue came up the bishop felt the need to reinforce that he hates the idea of altar girls, then yes.
The level of negative attention focused on this issue whenever any poster dares raise it is beyond belief.
 
ProVobis said:
Everytime I served, I imagined what it would be like to say the Mass. Is there anyone who has ever served Mass never thought about saying the Mass? I’d be surprised if there were.
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I’ve never served but I always thought I could make a better homily than the priest 😃
 
NewEnglandPries said:
l’osservatore romano, what a liberal rag…:rolleyes:

Yup, until 15 years ago, seminaries were full, vocations were booming, and then poof altar girls killed it all. 👍

And, indeed, apparently let’s question it and anyone who supports it must be some kind of radical liberal trying to destroy the priesthood.
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After that…I think I’ll go home and have a good cry…😃

or have the sudden urge to clean my white westinghouse fridge, cook a pot roast…take a valium and go to bed…😦

I soooo guilty for souring vocations…because I am an impure female. What’s a girl to do???🤷
 
ProVobis said:
We’re listening. Say what’s on your mind. 🙂
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Highlight there the part “I always thought.” Doesn’t everybody think they can do a better job than the other guy? I dunno, I guess most priests try hard but like many I’m just hard to satisfy 😃
 
benedictgal said:
That is true. Evidently, Fr. Z is on the same wavelength when he gave his take (in the red highlights) to what the author wrote:

**[And we now careen into the thought of a feminist…] **"For girls, entering into the space of the altar has meant the end of any attribution of impurity to their sex, **[Does it? I didn’t think this was really an issue. But since L’Osservatore Romano brings it up, perhaps we ought to reexamine why God Himself gave divine positive laws in the Old Testament concerning these matters. We live under the NEW covenant, of course. But obviously God thought that the differences of sex meant something.] **

**Differences in the sexes yes, biologically…not on the basis of pure and impure. A priest is not purer/better than anyone else…he is a man, a human. In the days of the Old Testament, “man” was not only law, but religion.

You can read his whole take in its entirety here:
wdtprs.com/blog/page/2/**

I would hope that those who think that sun rises and sets on any priest, realize that their opinions are those of any mortal human being.
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NewEnglandPries said:
l’osservatore romano, what a liberal rag…:rolleyes:
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Not always liberal, but they have published a lot of nonsense of late (the infamous Beatles article, outdated movie recommendations, dissenting articles on end of life issues). This particular author, however, is liberal and faithful enough to write for the Tablet or NCReporter any day. :rolleyes:
Yup, until 15 years ago, seminaries were full, vocations were booming, and then poof altar girls killed it all. 👍
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I for one have never argued it is more than a symptom, the cause more likely is the dismissive, sarcastic priests.😦
And, indeed, apparently let’s question it and anyone who supports it must be some kind of radical liberal trying to destroy the priesthood.
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Let’s not assume anything, whether people argue for or against altar girls.

Please, Father, show the respect you wish to see. If the clergy can’t discus this rationally what hope is there?😦
 
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