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The church used to have something for the girls: Sodality.

I was in it, and we girls did LOTS of things to serve the church.

But guess what? The pushy women Desdemona spoke of had most of them disbanded (I can think of only one still left, in rural Pennsylvania).

I remember not quite understanding what the problem was. They kept harping about how it was "demeaning" for the girls to be in a separate ministry and that the Sodality should be immediately disbanded and that all the young girls should be encouraged to become girl altar boys.

Well, it didn't happen immediately, but disband it they did, through attrition. They simply stopped asking the little girls if they wanted to join.

It took awhile, but soon enough, a new generation of little girls came about, and these little girls had never seen the Sodality's beautiful traditions, had never seen the processions we were so thrilled to join, had never seen the
white dresses and lace veils we got to wear to May Coronation and other celebrations...and they forgot about us. We became a fondly remembered but distant memory. Now, of course, most people don't even remember us at all.

So what do we have now? Well, we've got one or two altar boys and about a bazillion girl altar boys wearing those ridiculous Druid robes and flip-flops. The boys aren't interested in doing stuff with the girls -- girls infiltrate EVERYWHERE --there is NOWHERE where they can just be boys together.

Oh, and before you call me a milquetoast pantywaist, I can assure you that I could play ball with ANY of the boys -- and play it better than most. I spent a goodly portion of my day in jeans and sneakers. My mother forbade me from going outside the house if my hair wasn't firmly bound up by two long braids. I could shoot, hook my own worm, and clean my own fish. (And still do, BTW...)

But I could (and still can) sew, embroider, cook, and do all those things girls ought to be able to do.

So when you say that there isn't anything similar to altar boys for the girls, you need only look to those "pushy women" to find out WHY there isn't. This is their doing.

Regards,

PS: Being a redhead, pink is also one of my best colors, though I admit I didn't like it as a kid. Of course, both blue and green look good on me, too...

LOL! you and desdemona are a pair. Relatively few parishes had sodalities for girls. It was a minority. What on earth would dictate that by allowing girls to serve you'd HAVE to disband a sodality? That's like saying because Pepsi comes along, Coke is going to go out of business. Or if there is a YMCA in town, then the boy scouts will shut down. I guess women should just be happy being nurses too instead of being doctors if they want to. Some stupid man may get his ego bruised if a woman has to prod his dangly male parts, and some stupid woman might get jealous because that woman should have stayed "feminine" and not become a doctor.

Poor little thing. Why you sew, and embroider, and cook. Things women "Should" [to use your own word] know. Yes, all those things are good. And I don't knock them. Sewing and cooking are useful life skills to know. But I do question your usage of the phrase "should know" with the skill of embroidery. "Embroider?" You're not a real woman unless you know how to "embroider?" Get real.

But somewhere along with your pink blankie you were also handed a list that said "oh, but girls shouldn't be doctors, shouldn't be lawyers...the men in their lives would feel 'threatened' and they'd never be able to find a man to marry them....my, my....and be able to serve mass? Mercy, where's my smelling salts? What next, a woman having an abortion on the altar too?"

Get a grip. As Freud said: "Sometimes a cigar, is just a cigar." And a girl handing a cruet or two to the priest at mass is a girl handing a cruet or two to the priest at mass.

You two must have had a lot of Marcia Brady posters on your walls.

You like your own choice of "sewing, embroidery, cooking." Fine. Let OTHER girls/women have the choice of serving at the altar. She's not denying you your pleasures. As Jesus said to Martha: "Mary has choosen the better part, and it shall not be denied her."

If the boys want to "Do their own thing" they can still light farts in a field somewhere, pee up a wall in a playground after dark, and snap towels at each other's behinds at the Y. Oh, and Augusta. They can still have all male golf clubs if they want. There has to be somewhere for those guys who used to have a clubhouse that posted the sign "no grils aloud." The women can have their embroidery clubs to be catty in. Meow.