Posted on 01/28/2015 10:42:11 AM PST by keat
A Roman Catholic church in San Francisco has become one of a handful around the country to prohibit girls from being altar servers.
The Rev. Joseph Illo decided to train only boys to assist him at Mass after he was assigned to Star of the Sea Church in the Richmond district last year because he thinks the primary purpose of altar service is preparation for the priesthood, which women are ineligible to join, Illo told television station KPIX.
"The specifics of serving at the altar is a priestly function," Illo said. "And the Catholic church does not ordain women."
Illo said in a statement posted on the church's website Sunday that boys often lose interest in altar service when the programs are co-ed because "girls generally do a better job."
"I want to emphasize that we are not discontinuing altar girls because females are somehow incapable or unworthy. Girls are generally more capable and certainly just as worthy as boys," the statement said. "It is simply giving boys a role they can call their own, and more importantly recognizing the priesthood as a specifically fatherly charism."
Existing altar girls will be allowed to continue carrying the cross, washing the priest's hands and performing other duties of altar servers until they are phased out through Star of the Sea's new boys-only program, Illo said.
Girls and women have been permitted to serve Mass alongside priests since Pope John Paul II approved the practice in 1994. But a mixed-gender altar service is not a requirement, and the decision is usually left up to local bishops. San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone authorized Star of the Sea's move to only having altar boys.
Some churchgoers told KPIX they were unhappy with the change.
"Those who can or cannot serve based on gender, that is discriminatory," parishioner Dunstan Alabanza said.
He's flattering the girls and their parents strategically here, so they won't feel hurt, which they shouldn't. However, my observation is the opposite. What 99 percent of the girls can't pull off, mostly through no fault of their own, is that you're not supposed to notice altar servers, especially not as individuals.
The best, most appropriate servers by a country mile are the boys who serve the Traditional Latin Mass. At the most organized parishes, they are a little military unit—synchronized, eyes front, in step, and seamless. Often, the priests wouldn't know which way to turn next without them. Altar boys are there, in part, to honor the Blessed Sacrament and protect it. Like soldiers, they enjoy the cameraderie and compete to do the best job. There's essentially no reason a male between the ages of 7 and 20 should be sitting in the pews during High Mass.
Altar service isn't just about becoming priests. It's about becoming men who serve God sacrificially, whether as laymen or clerics.
Good post! When I was growing up, the boys were a little military unit at all Masses. Low, high, whatever. Not that they didn’t occasionally screw up and get hit by the priest.
The problem isn’t priests hitting altar boys. The problem was with priests hitting on altar boys.
One big difference from today is that in the 70’s most Catholic parishes were also running a school. So there was a ready supply of boys nearby. Parishes with a school are the exception and not the rule nowadays, so it takes some heroic recruiting efforts to get ANY young people to volunteer for altar service.
The girls in our church do a fine job, and frankly I don’t think we can afford to turn-down their offer of service.
Oh, stop. Little girls have no place on the altar. NO PLACE.
If there is a problem with homosexuality in the clergy, it must be addressed. It will not be solved by little girl altar boys.
Says who?
Where is it written that females cannot serve as altar girls or lay readers or Eucharistic ministers? I grew up with that. Never saw an issue with it.
Well, you grew up with it so you don’t see the weirdness. Sort of like growing up with transsexuals and not seeing that they are freakish.
No women on the altar for 2000 years but suddenly we have Vatican 2 and all hell breaks loose. Some of us who remember the deep reverence of pre-Vatican 2 Masses will never give in to this politically correct stuff.
Well I was born in the post Vatican II world, with Mass said in English and with female participation in Mass. I see nothing weird at all about that. The more participation the better IMHO. There is nothing in the Bible that I am aware of the requires Mass be said exclusively in Latin or that excludes all female participation.
Well, your generation is part of the problem. Nothing personal just fact.
When altar service starts, the kids are at that age where the boys think girls are "yucky" and the girls think the boys are "slow" because girls are developmentally a little ahead at that age. But boys, having been taught that a gentleman does not hit a female, have no real way to respond to the disdain with which they are treated by the girls. So they avoid them.
When you force the kids to work together, the boys just passively drop out because they don't want to deal with all the conflict and drama. So you have nobody left but the girls, plus any boys whose parents MAKE them participate.
I've experienced this in both a "high church" Episcopal parish and our current Catholic parish. The problem is pretty stark, and these two parishes solved it in different ways. The ECs had all-male and all-female "teams", which channeled the animosity into team rivalry - not ideal for service on the altar, but better than the constant pick-pick-pick. The Catholics solved it by making the altar server program ultra-military in nature, with drills, rank, promotions, insignia, etc. That winnowed out most of the "girly-girls" and made things more attractive for the boys. I would say that the program is about 50/50.
But aside from practical considerations, and aside from the obvious point that a female Catholic altar server can never become a priest, there's another point: the Catholic Church is becoming very feminized, because when you have ladies running things they tend to just sail in and take over, and the men are happy to sit back and let them do it.
I'm not the only one observing this:
Thank you for your kind words. I’m not that young myself. But I grew up with Mass in English and females serving as altar girls, lay readers, and Eucharistic Ministers, among other duties including choir, ushers, and just about everything else short of those functions limited only for priests. It doesn’t trouble me. The Bible does not prohibit Mass said in English nor does it prohibit female participation in Church functions.
We already do have married in our archdiocese, mostly converts from the Episcopalian Church and they do just as well as the celibate priests. No issues at all. Priests are also permitted to marry in Catholic rites in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and of course Orthodox priests are permitted to be married. No one has issues with this.
I suspect it’s because the little girls don’t appeal to the happy priests and bishops...
Father Illo is a wonderful and very orthodox priest. He has a backbone. In 2008 he wrote a letter his parishioners that they should go to confession if they voted for Obama.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/11/29/56697/another-catholic-pastor-labels.html
Altar service was traditionally the way boys got interested in the priesthood. Priests were much more masculine in those days, not the glad-handing, soft, joke-cracking social justice types we have now, and they were also a good role model for the boys.
It has been shown that you get more priestly vocations in parishes where the servers are boys. That’s just how it is. Girls have other vocations.
“Well, your generation is part of the problem. “
Wow, how can you throw a whole generation into a pile, mix it up, and accuse them of whatever you think is wrong? I thought only liberals did that?
I was an altar boy from the time I was 6 (learning latin) until I was 18,. I remember the Tridentine Mass very well. And I have no issue with female altar servers.
The bigotry and bias against the Church on FR continues to amaze me. This is a return a traditional Catholic position. If you are Catholic, I think it’s a good thing. We can’t talk about it. If you aren’t Catholic... buzz off. Your sniping is not a welcome addition to the conversation and only serves to distract from the real issues.
The comments write themselves.
Well, that’s disappointing, Tom! You’re usually all over the Catholic threads being very conservative.
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