Vocations & Girl-Altar Boys

[Bob67]

**The traditional place of altar boys is a source of vocations, & the tendency of some younger boys to not want to share activities with girls.

So, The Big Question is Not whether girls can do just as good as the boys,
The Important Question is:

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Does Having Girl Altar Boys Help with Vocations To The Priesthood, or Hurt it?****

 

[marchoi]

Perhaps a better question is whether female altar servers DETRACT from vocations to the priesthood?

 

[iamscifimike]

Perhaps a better question is whether female altar servers DETRACT from vocations to the priesthood?

Seems like that is in the question and I believe they do.

I was never an altar boy, and I am not now a priest. I would feel bad for telling a girl that she cannot serve the altar but, it seems to me that this has become a social activity that a boy can participate with girls as opposed to a social activity where boys can look at a possible vocation involving celibacy. I know if when I would have been an altar boy and if there was an altar girl next to me, I don’t care how unflattering the robe was, I would have been distracted.

 

[BrendanD]

Let me rephrase that…
Does having only male altar boys help vocations to the Sisterhood, or hurt?

 

[Gizmo]

Bob67,

Your question is biased and so are the possible answers that you made available. My sister is an altar server and I am friends with many families whose daughters have been altar servers and I do not think of them as ‘girl altar boys’.

The practice of having girls serve at the altar had not always existed in the Church but today it is most certainly allowed, since at least 1992 when the CDF document came out clarifying a part of Canon Law that dealt with that subject. I believe that it is the practice if not the requirement that boys and girls cannot serve together – at least in my Diocese it is the case.

I think that, if trained how to serve reverently, both boys and girls could be led to a life of a consecrated vocation in the Church. After all it is God who calls men and women to live lives of celibacy for the Kingdom and not necessarily because of their many years of being an altar server. I am sure this held true with vocations even back in the day when a girl being able to serve at the altar was still forbidden.

 

[Gizmo]

Let me rephrase that…
Does having only male altar boys help vocations to the Sisterhood, or hurt?

Well I guess the obvious answer would be no. Boys are not called to be Sisters just as girls are not called to be Brothers or Priests; for the obvious reasons. But is it possible that a girl could be inspired by a boy when it comes to the practicing their faith or vice versa – I would say yes.

 

[soonfathermauro]

you know I dont think it really matters, the point of the altar servers is indeed a point of personal vocation I remember a poll I saw that 85% of alter servers feel a call to the priesthood if they continue on to be a priest thats up to them. In my case I didnt start alter serving untill I was 15 and I felt my call when I felt my call when I was 5 so the purpose of the alter servers is two-fold(I forgot to mention this) to serve the priest during the mass because not all the times you can have deacons at mass and two it is a form of Discernment oh yes before I finish in the matter of girl alter servers it can be seen as a form of Discernment for the religous life but my personal belief is that alter serving for girls can be used as a form of serving the church as well as self improvement I hope i did the best I can to answer your question

peace and blessing
mauro

 

[Lepanto]

Only a generation or so ago, only boys were altar boys AND our convents and seminaries were full.

Now, girls and boys are altar servers yet our convents and seminaries are empty.

 

[BrendanD]

Just because altar girls and a priest shortage happened in the same generation, doesn’t mean one causes the other.

Some people might say the lack of priests in some areas is the result of poor catechesis, rather than a problem created by altar girls. Some dioceses that only have altar boys have done very well with vocations recently, but kicking out the altar girls is not going to suddenly inspire droves of young men to become altar boys and enter seminary either.

It’s not like altar girls are serving instead of boys-- there’s plenty of room for both (at my church anyway.)

 

[BrendanD]

Somebody also mentioned that female altar servers are too “distracting” to the altar boys. If an altar boy is distracted simply by a having a girl stand next to him, he’s the one with the problem, not the girl.

 

[Gizmo]

Only a generation or so ago, only boys were altar boys AND our convents and seminaries were full.

Now, girls and boys are altar servers yet our convents and seminaries are empty.

Any lack of vocations has nothing to do with altar serving. Excuse the lack of a quotation but Cardinal Ratzinger said in (I think) Salt of the Earth, that the lack of vocations today has a lot to do with the lack of holiness in the family. That the less families practice their faith the less vocations will come out them.

Second, how many seminaries have you visited? You mustn’t have visited mine because we are filled to the capacity this year - again. I also know and have visited convents which are full too.

 

[FrankLawrence]

Poor catechesis, combined with increased worldliness in the media, less family values(more divorces, etc.) and rising levels of sexual awareness(due to the media and its effects), plus the seductive allure of evangelical protestantism(which I read is largely comprised of fallen-away Catholics) all contribute to the lack of vocations to the priesthood. In my opinion, altar girls have NOTHING to do with it. Deficiency of Catholics in their 20s and 30s attending Church = deficiency of vocations to the priesthood. So, the real issue that needs to be addressed is why have a disturbingly high number(Don’t ask me to quote statistics. I have none) of the Catholic children born Post-Vatican 2 failed to remain intrigued with the Church? Surely, we can’t blame that on altar girls.

 

[J_G]

It’s not like altar girls are serving instead of boys-- there’s plenty of room for both (at my church anyway.)

There may be plenty of room, but i know that i never became an altar boy because girls were serving. i don’t know exactly why, but i as a young boy did not want to do a girl’s job (and yes, the numbers were so uneven in my parish that only girls were serving for most of my time in CCD, now there are some boys). If i could do it over again, i’d be an altar boy.

 

[BrendanD]

There may be plenty of room, but i know that i never became an altar boy because girls were serving. i don’t know exactly why, but i as a young boy did not want to do a girl’s job (and yes, the numbers were so uneven in my parish that only girls were serving for most of my time in CCD, now there are some boys). If i could do it over again, i’d be an altar boy.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. Do you think girls should be allowed as altar servers?

 

[J_G]

I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. Do you think girls should be allowed as altar servers?

Personally, no, i don’t think they should be. However, the Church says that they can, and i can’t argue with that. Allowing girls to be altar servers (in my opinion) is planting the seeds for girls wanting to be priests. In some of my CCD classes, the girls used that very argument (that if they can be altar servers, they should be allowed to be priests). It is also my belief that the vocations crisis was not caused or is being continued because of female altar servers. That problem comes from teaching the faith poorly and unholy families. If every family went to mass and confession weekly, vocations would be overfilling.

 

[iamscifimike]

Somebody also mentioned that female altar servers are too “distracting” to the altar boys. If an altar boy is distracted simply by a having a girl stand next to him, he’s the one with the problem, not the girl.

You are right, he would and I do have a problem. I was quite torn as a kid. I feel God has brought me to a good place. I feel I was not called though I desired the priesthood (another topic) now I have three boys and I pray that at least one hears the call to the priesthood.

I only was trying to point out that altar service could be a good form of male Christian fellowship like the Boy Scouts. An activity where a life without female companionship can be experienced… These opportunities are increasingly rare. My experience with the scouts was less than holy.

 

[baltobetsy]

Through the eyes of grade-school boys, girls have cooties. (This is not the same as older boys and adult men not being able to interact with girls and women. It is a normal developmental stage.) If girls are serving, boys who want to avoid cooties will not serve. Pretty soon, it’s more than 90% girls, and boys are not interested in participating in a “girl thing.”

Complicating all this is the fact that girls often do the job better than the boys. So the girls get praised and thanked and held up as an example, and the boys get corrected and made to feel inferior. Yet another reason the baseball team or soccer league looks better to them than serving at the altar.

If altar service is restricted to boys, there are no worries about cooties, doing a girl’s job or being compared unfavorably to a girl. Boys are able to watch the priest at work and express an interest in doing the same thing. Being at the altar becomes a masculine thing, and I think we all agree that we want our priests to be appropriately manly.

So this was my long way of saying that I think it best that only boys serve at the altar. Girls can develop their religious vocations by doing activities more closely related to religious life - volunteering to tutor, collect and serve food to the poor, etc., instead of watching the priest work when they will never be able to follow in his vocational footsteps.

Betsy

 

[cecilia97]

There may be plenty of room, but i know that i never became an altar boy because girls were serving. i don’t know exactly why, but i as a young boy did not want to do a girl’s job (and yes, the numbers were so uneven in my parish that only girls were serving for most of my time in CCD, now there are some boys). If i could do it over again, i’d be an altar boy.

I see this argument often on CAF so I’ve started watching more closely at my parish. A few moths ago we had two female acolytes. Last week we had 3 male and 2 female acolytes. I continue to keep tabs.

 

[cecilia97]

Second, how many seminaries have you visited? You mustn’t have visited mine because we are filled to the capacity this year - again. I also know and have visited convents which are full too.

I think our seminary is full to the gills, too. The pendulum is always going to swing, probably.

 

[Lepanto]

Second, how many seminaries have you visited?

About five. Two of them that I used to attend back in the 80s are now closed. If you are in seminary then I will pray for you – you will soon be running 2 or 3 parishes simultaneously.

You mustn’t have visited mine because we are filled to the capacity this year - again. I also know and have visited convents which are full too.

Then you have had some exceptional experiences, because the statistics don’t bear you out:

vocation.com/content-ahrk.htm

Also, you may want to read this book. As a priest, you may find yourself the only male on the parish staff besides possibly the janitor.

amazon.com/Church-Impotent-Feminization-Christianity/dp/1890626198/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5389719-7466844?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182899944&sr=1-1