Posted on 02/21/2025 3:26:35 PM PST by ebb tide
Sri Lankan Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo has tried to ban girls from serving as altar servers in his archdiocese, on the grounds that the role of altar server is potentially part of the pathway to the male-only priesthood and having girls as altar servers could impact vocations.
In a 22 October 2024 letter addressed to the priests of his diocese, which has since come to light, Ranjith said: “It has been brought to my knowledge that several parishes in the Archdiocese of Colombo have appointed girls as altar servers.
“In this context, I wish to reiterate, what I stated at the presbyteral meeting held on Oct. 21, 2024, that no girls should be invited to serve at the altar, as altar servers in the archdiocese.”
Ranjith insisted that “it should always be young boys” who take on the role of altar server, “because this is one of the main sources of vocations to the priesthood in Sri Lanka and it will affect the number of candidates entering the seminaries, [the risk of which] we cannot take”.
“Since females are not allowed to be ordained priests, we have to make that decision,” he said, warning priests that “this cannot be changed at your discretion”.
He asked them to comply with the rule “as faithfully as possible and do not think that it is in your faculty to grant [otherwise]”, and thanked them for their “usual cooperation”.
Ranjith, 77, has served as archbishop of Sri Lanka since 2009 and was given a red hat by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, after previously holding various positions in Vatican diplomacy, including as the Vatican’s envoy to Indonesia and East Timor, and as secretary of the then-Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments from 2005-2009.
He also served as adjunct secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples from 2001-2004.
Ranjith, who has been dubbed by some as the “little Ratzinger” due to his short stature and more conservative theological leanings, raised several eyebrows with the letter, especially as Pope Francis himself formally lifted the ban on girls becoming altar servers three years ago.
In 2021, Pope Francis issued a new law formalising the ability for women and girls to be lectors and altar servers at Mass, something which had long been common practice in Western countries such as the United States but had yet to be written formally into law.
Previous to that, in 2016 Pope Francis made a similar gesture when he modified the rubric for the foot-washing ritual during Mass on Holy Thursday, formally allowing women to be selected, and putting an official stamp on a practice that, again, had been common for years in countries such as the United States.
These moves were hailed by many progressives as significant steps forward in terms of facilitating a greater sense of inclusion for women in the Church.
Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has gone to great lengths to underline the role of women in the Catholic Church and has spoken often about the need to place more competent, professionally apt women in positions of authority, leadership and governance.
He has named several women to leadership roles in Vatican departments and has appointed several women to his Council for the Economy and has even appointed women to a group that helps vet candidates for the episcopacy.
The role of women was a major talking point during the Pope’s recently concluded Synod of Bishops on Synodality, and it has also been a primary talking point in this year’s meetings of the Council of Cardinals, the advisory body that assists Pope Francis in matters of governance and reform.
Though specific issues such as women’s priestly ordination and their ordination as deacons have currently been taken off of the table, the discussion on how to more fully incorporate women into meaningful positions of leadership in the Church continues.
Yet while the practice of women serving as lectors, acolytes and altar servers had long been commonplace in western countries prior to Pope Francis’s edicts – making Ranjith’s letter a potential shock to some who might feel they are reading something from far in the Church’s past – this is not necessarily the case for the Catholic Church in all areas of the global South, many of which still tend to have more conservative leanings.
As a theological conservative, Ranjith could also be motivated in his decision by the traditional view that an altar server is a formal aide to the priest who – acting in persona Christi (“in the person of Christ”) – has to be male in order to offer the Eucharist and the rest of the sacraments available to the faithful.
Ranjith’s ban on girl altar servers will likely ruffle the feathers of many Catholic women and progressives who see the move as an impediment to progress, and potentially also a direct rebuke of Pope Francis and his reforms.
However, in his 2021 edict formalising the ability of women to serve as lectors, acolytes and altar servers, Francis said its implementation would depend on the discernment of local bishops, and the specific needs of evangelisation in their territories.
In Ministeria quaedam, the Pope instructed bishops to establish “adequate criteria” for both the “discernment and the preparation of men and women candidates” to these roles, according to the specific criteria he outlined in the text, and “subject to the approval of the Holy See and according to the needs of evangelization in their territory”.
Sri Lanka is a nation where Christianity is a minority, as 70 per cent of the population of around 21.6 million are Buddhist, followed by Hindus and Muslims.
Christians themselves make up just seven to eight per cent of the population, most of whom are Catholic, with Catholics numbering somewhere around 1.5 million.
Catholicism in Sri Lanka remains the only major religious denomination that crosses the local ethnic divide separating Sinhalese and Tamil communities, with a significant portion of both camps adhering to the Catholic Church.
Ping
He should
was given a red hat by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010
Did the hat say MAGA?
Let males have their own space and stop this “female” stuff.
If girls can grow up to be religious and nuns, just as boys can grow up to be priests, why should girls not serve at the altar?
(I don’t think Jesus pronounced upon any of this stuff.)
All the apostles were men idiot.
Good.
My brother, sister and I were all altar servers in the early 80s. The church then declared no girls could be altar servers. Sister was no longer an altar server. No big issue in our household. It was what it was.My brother and I continued and sister moved over to the choir.
Yes, and cultural discrimination against the female of the species was rife at the time.
As a non Catholic, I just asked a question.
Your manner of expression suggests that you are a lovely Christian, and I’m sure Jesus would be proud of you.
/s
A template from the original temple of Hashem. No women priests or women serving in any of those roles. So when Christ returns, who will be serving? Just open that last book, you can figure it out. I believe in you.
Just like the cultural discriination against the female species at Christ's Last Supper, in His time?
Get your ass back to DUmmies
Well duh. Church leaders in that denomination prefer little boys. Everyone knows that.
Because religious women and nuns (like religious men and monks) don't serve at the altar.
Only clergy (priests, bishops, and sometimes deacons) serve at the altar.
They do....but not as altar boys at mass. Stop displacing boys any time you please.
Yep. I agree.
Explain Lay Eucharistic ministers who are both men and women...
“cultural discrimination”
You’re concerned with status. The priesthood may be viewed through that lens; it’s a human thing to do.
The priesthood was created with service as it’s purpose not status.
Male and female are different from the beginning and the service of priesthood was reserved for men by God.
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