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Where Are the Altar Boys?
catholic exchange ^ | 2/4/03 | James K. Fitzpatrick

Posted on 01/08/2004 1:40:50 PM PST by johnb2004

Uh-oh...I can hear the sighs of protest, see the finger-wagging and scolding that will greet that last paragraph in certain circles in the modern Church. Feminist and New Age-types will insist that serving at Mass should not be the early stages of some Catholic good old boy network. I can hear the schoolmarmish voices of reproach admonishing that upstanding and "sensitive" young men should learn to rise above their macho derision of "girl's work," and be a real man. You know, like Alan Alda.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Charismatic Christian; Ecumenism; Evangelical Christian; Mainline Protestant; Ministry/Outreach; Moral Issues; Orthodox Christian; Other Christian; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics; Theology; Worship
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To: Desdemona; sinkspur
Sinky overstates his case. As much as there is for Altar Boys to do in a Novus Ordo Mass, there's much more for them to do in a Tridentine Mass.
21 posted on 01/08/2004 2:31:15 PM PST by ArrogantBustard
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To: ArrogantBustard
Yeah, I know, but being female, I'm sort of sensitive about my age.
22 posted on 01/08/2004 2:32:42 PM PST by Desdemona (Kempis' Imitation of Christ online! http://www.leaderu.com/cyber/books/imitation/imitation.html)
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Is this thread a practice run for a SNL skit?

Woody.
23 posted on 01/08/2004 2:32:43 PM PST by CCWoody (Recognize that all true Christians will be Calvinists in glory,...)
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To: conservonator
Some dioceses, and some parishes, go out of their way to make sure there's nothing for the Altar Boys to do. Then they abolish the Altar Boys, and have adult women do some of the Altar Boy things, while the boys sit in the congregation. The Dreadful Diocese of Richmond is full of this phenomenon. It's a shame, and a disgrace to the bishop, the priests, and the mothers who perpetrate and condone it.

Oh, and there are virtually no vocations to the Priesthood being answered in the DDR.

24 posted on 01/08/2004 2:34:21 PM PST by ArrogantBustard
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To: johnb2004
The author apparently is not a slave to pop culture.

Pop culture? The sex abuse scandal was in all the papers down here in Texas.

And not in the entertainment section.

25 posted on 01/08/2004 2:34:39 PM PST by sinkspur (Adopt a shelter dog or cat! You'll save one life, and maybe two!)
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To: sinkspur
i was referring to his views on altar servers.
26 posted on 01/08/2004 2:36:38 PM PST by johnb2004
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To: CCWoody
Is this thread a practice run for a SNL skit?

When I was in eighth grade, our diocese had a contest for altar boys. Priests would test us on altar movements, Latin responses, and things like "how far in advance should the charcoal in the incense thurible be lit at a Funeral Mass."

I won first place that year. Got a rubber chicken lunch out of it at the Serra Club.

27 posted on 01/08/2004 2:42:08 PM PST by sinkspur (Adopt a shelter dog or cat! You'll save one life, and maybe two!)
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To: ArrogantBustard
It must really suck to be you ... do you enjoy having mind like a sewer?

What exactly are you reading into my comment, AB? All I said was that they were hiding out of fear. I didn't say what they were afraid of. You must have dredged up something in that noggin of yours that I didn't put there.

28 posted on 01/08/2004 2:47:55 PM PST by Alex Murphy (Athanasius contra mundum!)
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To: ArrogantBustard
Some dioceses, and some parishes, go out of their way to make sure there's nothing for the Altar Boys to do.

An acolyte’s lament…

First they came for the sensor and I said, “good, all that incense made me sneeze.”
Then they came for the Patons, and I said, “good, they made my arms tired.”
Then they came for the bells and I said , ”good, I was always off on my timing and Father gave me nasty looks.”
Then they came for the candles(well most of them anyway) and I said “good, I could never get the high one lit.”
Then they brought in the girls and I said, “Whoa, I didn’t know this was a chick thing.” So I left.

29 posted on 01/08/2004 2:48:42 PM PST by conservonator (To be Catholic is to enjoy the fullness of Christian faith.)
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To: conservonator
Like that, it's funny.
30 posted on 01/08/2004 2:50:06 PM PST by drstevej (Beware Cajuns bearing GIFs)
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To: conservonator
LOL! Great post
31 posted on 01/08/2004 2:51:11 PM PST by Pyro7480 ("We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid" - Benjamin Franklin)
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To: johnb2004
bump for fulfilled prophecy :-(

(This was exactly what conservatives predicted when the Vatican caved on the altar girl issue.)

32 posted on 01/08/2004 2:58:46 PM PST by Campion
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To: John Beresford Tipton; sinkspur
Thank you for reminding me that I had read remarks before, something to the effect, "Thank God that I am not like the rest of men."

I may just be worse the most. But I found that comment sadly sinkspurian.

33 posted on 01/08/2004 3:16:33 PM PST by NeoCaveman (se habla espanol)
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To: dubyaismypresident
But I found that comment sadly sinkspurian.

Actually, I use that phrase quite often to refer to certain people around this place who look down their noses at the rest of us.

34 posted on 01/08/2004 3:22:09 PM PST by sinkspur (Adopt a shelter dog or cat! You'll save one life, and maybe two!)
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To: conservonator
Right on.
35 posted on 01/08/2004 3:22:27 PM PST by NeoCaveman (se habla espanol)
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To: sinkspur
Actually, I use that phrase quite often to refer to certain people around this place who look down their noses at the rest of us.

No, I meant the first comment he made not his quote.

36 posted on 01/08/2004 3:23:08 PM PST by NeoCaveman (se habla espanol)
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To: sinkspur
And us? You got a mouse in your pocket. Shouldn't you be out on other threads calling people names?

I ran across that last night and got a good laugh at it. Who says jerkweed? Is it a regional thing?

37 posted on 01/08/2004 3:27:12 PM PST by NeoCaveman (se habla espanol)
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To: dubyaismypresident
That post is pulled. Dang.
38 posted on 01/08/2004 3:29:53 PM PST by drstevej (Beware Cajuns bearing GIFs)
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To: dubyaismypresident
Who says jerkweed? Is it a regional thing?

I dunno. I heard it someplace. Don't remember.

39 posted on 01/08/2004 3:30:07 PM PST by sinkspur (Adopt a shelter dog or cat! You'll save one life, and maybe two!)
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To: drstevej; sinkspur
Someone (not me) must have hit abuse on the poster.

So Deac, what is a jerkweed?
40 posted on 01/08/2004 3:31:49 PM PST by NeoCaveman (se habla espanol)
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