"t might take a while for things to get back to normal, but would it be a disaster if if you were short of altar boys for a while?"
For the parish, no. Altar servers are optional in the Novus Ordo.
For my daughter, yeah, I think it would be pretty ugly if she got a letter in the mail saying "your service is no longer needed"
"I think it would be pretty ugly if she got a letter in the mail saying "your service is no longer needed"
So do I. She certainly deserves a long, thorough explanation of Church history and the reasons that the entire Church is ending that particular practice, delivered kindly and face-to-face.