What are the rules regarding female altar servers?

[Acquinas]

What is the Church’s position on Girls/Women as Altar Servers for Mass and Services?
What is Canon Law have to say about Girls/Women as Altar Servers?
What would be the position of a Parish Priest who refused to allow Girls/Women who wished to offer themselves as Altar Servers?
Can a Parish Priest be compelled to have Girls/Women as Altar Servers even though he doesn’t want them?
Can a Parish Pastoral Council over-rule a Parish Priest in having Girls/Women as Altar Servers?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Canon 230 §2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law permitted lay men and women to perform certain roles at Mass that were previously reserved to minor orders. Altar servers fall under this umbrella and since the canon clearly does not restrict this permission to males only then females are also permitted.

In 1994 there was still confusion over whether Canon 230 permitted female altar servers so the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued an authoritative interpretation permitting altar girls.

The letter also makes clear that the canon grants permission and not a right. Therefore a Bishop of a diocese has absolute sole discretion of what to permit in his diocese. The fact that a Bishop in one diocese permits female altar servers does not mean the Bishop in the neighboring diocese must do so as well.

In 2001 the Sacred Congregation issued a further clarification that while a Bishop may permit female altar servers in his diocese he cannot force the local pastors to do so.

Parish Councils cannot force a pastor to do anything. According to canon 536 §2 they posses only a consultative vote.