Washing of the Feet: Women "apostles"

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In our parish this year, some of the “apostles” whose feet were washed were women. Obviously, women followed Jesus during his earthly ministry, but it kind of bothers me that women portrayed the actual apostles during the feet-washing.

I guess I see it as yet another incursion of political-correctness revising a historical event.

Am I wrong to be a little bothered by this?
 
I never thought of the foot-washing as being a literal acting-out where each person was supposed to be one of the original 12 Apostles.
They are just representing the people who serve God/ the Church in some way.
 
At the parish I was baptized at, during last week’s Holy Thursday, we did have a representation of the original 12 for feet washing. And some included women - including my own girlfriend.

The priest would wash our feet first, and then we went out and helped wash the feet of the congregation.

You could argue it is both ways, that the post-conciliar Church is more politically correct and inclusive, certainly. In fact, the famous televangelist preacher Joel Osteen has praised the post-conciliar Church (Pope Francis in particular) for being much more inclusive, especially towards Protestants. Many a traditionalist Catholic would decry this, and Protestant fundamentalists on the other side decry Osteen’s attitudes towards the Church as well. There are still many Protestants very much against any reconciliation with the Holy Mother Church they broke away from 500 years ago.

On the other hand yes, you could also argue it isn’t a literal representation of the 12, but a representation of people serving God, and carrying out for other people what was done for them.
 
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I think they have washed women’s feet on Holy Thursday for over a decade now. Pope Francis has washed the feet of Muslim women.
 
Well, then, perhaps our parish has done it previously as well, but I just don’t remember it.
 
My old parish would select women to have their feet washed.
Personally, I think they should select people before the Mass begins. A n 11 or 12 year old boy was chosen by our priest to have his feet washed. This young boy, in turn, chose me. I
declined and the priest made a comment about my declining. I explained to the family who were sitting in my same pew that my arthritis in my knees and ankle was really bad
and I was in a lot of pain. Walking was difficult and taking my shoes off and putting them on was hard. It was awkward and then the priest making the comment made me feel bad. I have avoided attending the Holy Thursday Mass since and it had been one of my favorite ways to begin the Triduum.
 
An overreaction, imo. They’re not portraying the actual disciples. They’re portraying the Church. Following Jesus’ example by showing servant leadership.

The church here is pretty ““patriarchal”” yet they have been washing the feet of women for quite some time now.
 
The Holy Thursday celebrations have always had a strong connection to the priesthood, since obviously the Last Supper is when Jesus instituted both the Eucharist and the priesthood. Inclusion of women erases any symbolic connection between the foot washing ritual and the priesthood, which I find unfortunate.

I believe the ritual was inserted in the Mass during the 1955 liturgical reforms. Before that, if I’m not mistaken, is wasn’t performed during Mass.
 
Pope Francis made it clear that either men or women may have their feet washed now. So it’s not an abuse. Can you still be bothered by it? Sure. But it doesn’t serve much purpose. None of us are in a position to change that rule, so getting upset is a waste of energy.

The foot washing is really symbolic in 2 ways: (1) the institution of the priesthood; and (2) leadership through service. In terms of #1, it makes sense to only have men get their feet washed, but with regards to #2, there’s really no reason why anyone couldn’t have their feet washed.

To me it makes more sense that the priest (who acts in persona Christi when he administers the sacraments) is imitating Jesus rather viewing the recipients of the foot washing as imitating the apostles. Even when it was reserved to just men, those men were not priests nor generally likely to become priests.

It bothered me when parishes would do that before Pope Francis changed the rule simply because they were (often knowingly) disregarding the rubric. But now that it’s been changed, it doesn’t bother me.
 
Genesis315 said:
Since Pope Francis, like many clergy these days, “breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants,” he did not observe this. He later updated the rubrics to match his own practice.
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Umm… ‘supreme pontiff’, remember? He does have the authority to do this…!
Lea101 said:
They’re not portraying the actual disciples. They’re portraying the Church. Following Jesus’ example by showing servant leadership.
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This! 👍
 
Asinner said:
The Holy Thursday celebrations have always had a strong connection to the priesthood, since obviously the Last Supper is when Jesus instituted both the Eucharist and the priesthood. Inclusion of women erases any symbolic connection between the foot washing ritual and the priesthood, which I find unfortunate.
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This is exactly the reason that I find the practice of inserting women into this particular ritual upsetting (and I am a woman).
 
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Genesis315 said:
Since Pope Francis, like many clergy these days, “breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants,” he did not observe this. He later updated the rubrics to match his own practice.
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The Pope, by virtue of his office, broke nothing. He is the final word on liturgical law and is free to make exceptions, and/or change the law.

It was not the first time a Pope has done this. Many liturgical changes, even pre-Council (e.g. 1955 Holy Week reforms) were first tried experimentally before becoming official and included in the rubrics.
 
First of all, it represents service to the church and others. Second of all, look at what Mary Magdalene did, washing Jesus’ feet with her hair.
 
Many interesting points. I guess it’s the appearance of revisionist-history that bothers me. Just my opinion, and thus subject to change without notice.

I’m pretty much a traditionalist. Heck, I pine for the days when the Dallas Cowboys players stuck with the team until retirement, instead of swapping out players with various teams so much. I feel like I’m rooting for a corporation now, instead of a “team.”
 
EnglishTeacher said:
This is exactly the reason that I find the practice of inserting women into this particular ritual upsetting (and I am a woman).
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In that case, shouldn’t it just be men who are about to become priests, rather than lay men?

Before they started washing the feet of women, random men were chosen. Or at least it was the case here.
 
The problem, though, would be getting 12 seminarians in every parish on Holy Thursday.
 
They typically do have a group of preselected people at every parish I’ve been at. Your experience is unusual. Most parishes do not put people “on the spot” like that.
 
The purpose of foot washing on Holy Thursday isn’t so much the reenactment of Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles, but rather, remembering the message of why Jesus did this and why we must serve each other and not try to be above them. This includes women, non catholics and the otherwise rejected of our society.

Jim
 
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The Gospel for that liturgy is from the last supper, where the Eucharist was instituted. Only the apostles, men, had their feet washed. Only these same men were instructed to do the same to others, that is, to serve others. Only men received the body of Christ. So, if we are to extend the logic that this symbol should apply only to men, then by extension, women should be excluded from service and from receiving the Eucharist. Furthermore, we who are not priest should not receive the Eucharist. The logic is fuzzy. We read the lessons from the Gospels every day seldom exclude men, women, ourselves, from the teaching Jesus gave. We understand the universal applicability.

Most of the time, political correctness and moral correctness coincide. We should always judge the former by the latter.
 
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