Why did the Holy See ever allow female altar servers.

[BlindManWalking]

Didn’t you say you go to a fssp parish anyway?

If I am in a situation where there is no EF Mass available, say during travel, or otherwise for whatever reason- should I not be able to go anywhere and know what to expect, and to know I’ll not be surprised?

How off-kilter are things when the OF is not ordinary at all, but different everywhere you go, and the EF embodies extreme faithfulness. Yes I know that’s not what EF stands for.

People who prefer the EF are cast as some rebels and crazy holdouts whose girls wear poodle skirts and leather jackets and the guys have greased hair and a switchblade. Yeah, technically we’re allowed in the soda shop, but no one really likes us there.

Meanwhile, multiple instances of abuse are granted in the matter of course despite multiple times of being told to stop. To justify it, they gotta pull out of context rabbits from a hat regarding exceptions which the Church currently doesn’t even face.

It’s like giving a little kid an inch. They’re just naturally going to take a mile.

I don’t honestly know what else can be done to the Mass and have it still be vaguely Catholic.

It’s like Cliff notes Catholicism.

"False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
"- Billy Shakespeare

 

[Brendan]

Brendan…I am really too tired of hearing about your parish…that it walks on water…so I’m putting you on my ignore button…

Did I mention that, on Saturday, Cardinal Burke from Rome will be the keynote speaker at our parish’s Lenten Symposium.

Last year, it was Mother Delores Hart

Two years ago, it was Cardinal Arinze

Our pastor is hosting a “Breakfast with the Bishop” in the rectory for our older altar boys (13+). He’ll cook breakfast for the Cardinal, the boys and their fathers. The boys will have an oppportunity to talk to his Emmenince about vocations. My son and I will be there.

Of course, he did the same for the girls and Mother Hart last year. My girls were a little too young, so they and my wife did not go

 

[ProVobis]

Since the Church for almost 2000 years never allowed women to serve at altar and there are numerous Papal writings pertaining to this practice being forbidden, why did Pope John Paul II allow this in 1994?

I think it goes back to the Old Testament but traditionally women weren’t allowed in the sanctuary during the liturgy at all, save for perhaps the Nuptial Mass in the last 100 years.

Since the barriers (like communion rails, etc.) apparently have been removed, women readers, cantors, processionalists, and now servers have now been allowed closer to the altar. However, I have yet to see female servers actually up there with the priest during the canon or EP.

 

[ProVobis]

Well, of course, girls don’t go to seminary, or become priests,

On the contrary. St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore has had women seminarians for quite some time.

 

[NewEnglandPriest]

Fr., when you have to buy an old football stadium, the numbers still won’t impress me… even Joel Osteen packs houses, and even the multitudes left Jesus when He dropped some heavy knowledge on em. Quality, not quantity. Quality will produce quantity in the quantity of quality’s level.

In many parts of New England there’s a Catholic parish on almost every corner so we have no need to buy football stadiums.
However, my point was merely that having a certain set of things does not necessarily mean boom or doom.

Your parish has 4 seminarians studying for the diocese? Or the diocese has 4 seminarians?

4 seminarians from the parish. Diocese has 20 something. Once again, I was responding to posters who claim that the way their parish does things is better because it has produced seminarians.

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

If I am in a situation where there is no EF Mass available, say during travel, or otherwise for whatever reason- should I not be able to go anywhere and know what to expect, and to know I’ll not be surprised?

How off-kilter are things when the OF is not ordinary at all, but different everywhere you go, and the EF embodies extreme faithfulness. Yes I know that’s not what EF stands for.

People who prefer the EF are cast as some rebels and crazy holdouts whose girls wear poodle skirts and leather jackets and the guys have greased hair and a switchblade. Yeah, technically we’re allowed in the soda shop, but no one really likes us there.

Meanwhile, multiple instances of abuse are granted in the matter of course despite multiple times of being told to stop. To justify it, they gotta pull out of context rabbits from a hat regarding exceptions which the Church currently doesn’t even face.

It’s like giving a little kid an inch. They’re just naturally going to take a mile.

I don’t honestly know what else can be done to the Mass and have it still be vaguely Catholic.

It’s like Cliff notes Catholicism.

"False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
"- Billy Shakespeare

I have no problem with people who prefer the TLM. What I do have a problem with is people who put done a perfectly valid Mass-the NO.

That tells me they do not listen to Rome but instead go off their own “feelings” as if they know more then Holy Mother Church.

That’s my momma your talking about!

 

[Cristiano]

I have no problem with people who prefer the TLM. What I do have a problem with is people who put done a perfectly valid Mass-the NO.

That tells me they do not listen to Rome but instead go off their own “feelings” as if they know more then Holy Mother Church.

That’s my momma your talking about!

I think that the poster was expressing a strong sense of frustration with illicit behaviors and when someone does that then his feelings are well aligned with the directives of Holy Mother Church. It is not about putting down a valid form of the Mass, it is about not accepting illicit behaviors. If he were pitting one valid and licit form against another valid and licit form then I would completely agree with you.

 

[Brendan]

4 seminarians from the parish. Diocese has 20 something. Once again, I was responding to posters who claim that the way their parish does things is better because it has produced seminarians.

Yep, we have four in as well, which is rather light for us. Two for the diocesan priesthood, with 2 studying for ordination in religious orders ( Dominican and Benedictine )

 

[Brendan]

And how many countries and dioceses are they from?

Formerly some of these dioceses had their own seminaries, chock full of their own folks.

How many are from our own diocese?

We actually sent one to a different diocese.

One of the two ordained last year from our parish was ordained into a different diocese. While he was at the local seminary, he got to know seminarians from other diocese in Michigan. The Diocese of Marquette (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) was in special need for more priests. So he though about going there instead of Detroit.

But then he got thinking some more, and though maybe he should got to the Diocese in the world that is most need of priests.

This past May, he was ordained into the Diocese of Mogadishu, Somalia.

He was ordained by the Bishop of Djibouti, as the last bishop of Mogadishu was murdered in 1989 and the Holy See has not filled that vacancy yet.

So sometimes, it goes both ways

 

[superamazingman]

It’s always interesting. My daily parish (close to my work) is more traditional minded…extended altar rails and such…although they do have female altar servers and I have seen some weird things there and there is a tendancy to rush through the Mass.

My home parish which doesn’t have altar rails at all, distributes under both species, has female lectors and EMHC’s…seems much more reverent. Our priest takes time for things and is very careful. All three of our weekend Masses are pretty much full.

I went to both for Ash Wednesday and it was interesting to note the differences.

So…now we need to stay in the traditional forum to follow the mind of the church?

 

[Kathryn_Ann]

Sure…duh…if a Bishop doesn’t allow it…that’s it. If a priest doesn’t allow it…that’s it…end of story.

But if they do…why all the second guessing of Rome? I guess the laity thinks they know more then the clergy??

Yes! :angel1: I too have always wondered about all the “second guessing” (by some of the laity) of Our Holy Father and the decisions coming from The Vatican. With Canon Law and the Magisterium, and thousands of years of tradition from which to refer in these questions, we can have faith in their decisions.

I’ve never felt that women in the Church are “lesser” beings at all. In fact, we are celebrated as inheriting those lovely gifts inspired by Our Lady: acting as compassionate mothers, daughters, sisters, care givers, saints and some as Doctors of the Church.
:nun1: St. Catherine of Sienna’s wisdom was crucial at a most pivotal point in Church history. :nun2:

So when we hear of a decision on altar servers and the like, we need not feel threatened at all. A wise woman, whether mother, daughter, sister, saint or Doctor, will “ponder these things in her heart” as Our Lady has shown us, before lashing out in anger for fear of being over-looked. We are not only put on a pedestal, we as women of the Church have always been on the front lines as Ark-Bearers of Christ’s loving peace. Sometimes that peace is truly, amid all the fray and all the controversy, a “peace that passeth all understanding.” :harp::heaven::harp: