Women as..well..assistants during mass?

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No, I found the Latin (NO) mass enriching.

I found the mass at the church mentioned in the OP to be too progressive for my tastes.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Are you not returning ONLY because there were women assisting? It made you feel so uncomfortable? Even if the priest might not be doing anything wrong? (I read most of the posts but not all so don’t see if you did find out if he was breaking an important rule…or if they were merely female alter servers, which has been allowed for twenty years)
That makes me so sad.
You said you found the mass enriching and that you enjoyed it very much!!!
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If (yes, that very important word) if what we read here is an accurate description of what was happening, it is indeed a serious abuse. A very serious one. When one stands at the altar with the priest and wears a stole and elevates the chalices, this comes dangerously close to simulating concelebration, and that is indeed a serious crime (not just an abuse) against the Church.

And for the record, I’m neither doubting the accuracy or truth of what we read, nor am I saying that it was simulated concelebration. I am only saying that if it was, then it is a serious matter.
 
PrayForMeStJude said:
The OP said they were wearing stoles.
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Indeed, it appeared to the OP that they were wearing stoles. But perhaps they were not stoles, perhaps they were some kind of “ministerial sash” that the parish has EMHC wear. While it would be rather strange and probably a bit confusing and inappropriate they would not be wearing actual stoles or pretending to be.
Or perhaps it was just some kind of design on a new fangled alb that EMHC there wear and from a certain angle it looked like a stole.
Or perhaps it was just shadows playing tricks on the eyes.

The bottom line is I don’t know, you don’t know, no one here knows. Some posters suggested the OP immediately contact the bishop’s office and report it. I merely pointed out a better thing to do is talk with the pastor and find out what really is going on before jumping to conclusions.
You really don’t think that kind of thing goes on?
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I never claimed it didn’t but sometimes we think we see things or we misinterpret what we see. This is especially true when in unfamiliar places.
The suspicion is a bit insulting, don’t you think?
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Unless someone is going to claim to be 100% right all the time about everything that comes across their field of vision, then its certainly not insulting to suggest they ask the pastor about what they saw.

I clearly stated that I did not question the OP’s honesty or sincerity but that perhaps s/he should ask about those things before going to the bishop’s office.
 
NewEnglandPries said:
Indeed, it appeared to the OP that they were wearing stoles. But perhaps they were not stoles, perhaps they were some kind of “ministerial sash” that the parish has EMHC wear.
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While not quite as serious, lay people should still not be wearing things easily confused with stoles.
 
TheMc said:
While not quite as serious, lay people should still not be wearing things easily confused with stoles.
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If they were not wearing stoles does that mean it is ok that they elevate the sacred vessels at consecration?
 
I saw this happen when we were vacationing in San Antonio Tx also. The person greeting people at the door assured me and my family that this was a Roman Catholic Church.
 
grandfather said:
If they were not wearing stoles does that mean it is ok that they elevate the sacred vessels at consecration?
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The OP never said the vessels were elevated at the consecration by the assistants. The OP stated they “assisted with the elevation (though not the blessing) of the extra chalices.” Was this elevation at the consecration or the doxology or the lamb of God? The OP doesn’t say. All elevations would be wrong, but some (during consecration) would be more worrisome than others.

Also, is the OP sure they were chalices? Could they have been ciboriums? Could they have been incense bowls?
 
NewEnglandPries said:
The OP never said the vessels were elevated at the consecration by the assistants. The OP stated they “assisted with the elevation (though not the blessing) of the extra chalices.” Was this elevation at the consecration or the doxology or the lamb of God? The OP doesn’t say. All elevations would be wrong, but some (during consecration) would be more worrisome than others.

Also, is the OP sure they were chalices? Could they have been ciboriums? Could they have been incense bowls?
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Original Poster,

What exactly happened on the altar with the women you thought were wearing vestments? What did they do there?
 
no, they were most certainly chalices, and it was at the consecration.
 
DaddyGirl said:
Are you not returning ONLY because there were women assisting? It made you feel so uncomfortable? Even if the priest might not be doing anything wrong? (I read most of the posts but not all so don’t see if you did find out if he was breaking an important rule…or if they were merely female alter servers, which has been allowed for twenty years)
That makes me so sad.
You said you found the mass enriching and that you enjoyed it very much!!!
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If there were lay men at the altar elevating chalices and wearing clerical garb, that would be just as much of a reason to stay away. And yes, this is an important rule, as Father just pointed out. It isn’t even just an abuse, it is a crime.
 
oh my. How you will all so much love this parish more when I tell you that the congregation recites the blessing of the bread and wine at the same time as the priest.

I was told when I first walked in that it was going to be a bit different from what I was used to, and that the church oriented itself more towards the laity.

There was more than once I considered walking out, did I not think it an offense to God to walk out of a mass, even a reasonably unorthodox one.
 
mburn16 said:
oh my. How you will all so much love this parish more when I tell you that the congregation recites the blessing of the bread and wine at the same time as the priest.

I was told when I first walked in that it was going to be a bit different from what I was used to, and that the church oriented itself more towards the laity.

There was more than once I considered walking out, did I not think it an offense to God to walk out of a mass, even a reasonably unorthodox one.
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Nothing surprises me. Much worse went on in the local parish near me: a woman vested saying mass, with a priest in street clothes sitting in the congregation, all with the knowledge and approval of the bishop who was sitting in his office a few hundred feet away.

Thank God things are slowly improving.

The best thing to do is find another parish. If the entire diocese is like this, find another rite. You can inform the local bishop about the abuse, but he probably already knows. You can write to Rome that gets hundereds of not thousands of such reports all the time.

Whenever you see this type of abuse it is usually accompanied by other disorder lurking in the shadows that will eventually emerge. The parish mentioned above had one pastor sentenced to the state penitentiary for many years for molesting altar boys. Another pastor lost his faculties. Several of the priests simply walked away from their vows. The archdiocese settled abuse claims for many millions.

The Church has been battered in a spiritual war. Thank God things are slowly improving.
 
grandfather said:
Nothing surprises me. Much worse went on in the local parish near me: a woman vested saying mass, with a priest in street clothes sitting in the congregation, all with the knowledge and approval of the bishop who was sitting in his office a few hundred feet away.
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Are you serious?!
 
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