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.
I said “decent” not holy. Oh, you’re not a Catholic, are you?
Protestants believe criticism of their church is a sacrament and can’t figure out why everyone doesn’t do it.
If you believe this, you place yourself outside the Catholic Church. Since you opine about vocations, I must ask: Do you know any young men preparing for the priesthood? I know quite a few -- I could name about 20 offhand, plus other recently ordained. Also, I know where they come from and what has motivated them. We may not be getting many vocations from your extreme end of the spectrum -- or outside the spectrum, which is where you seem to be. But that's OK.
Good.
I am a validly ordained deacon in the Roman Catholic tradition. Are you questioning that? Your opinion matters me not. If I’m not “catholic” enough for you and a few others on this forum, so be it. But I’ve been ministering to God’s people for over 12 years. I am comfortable with the Lord and the Church on ALL that I have done in service to and for others. But I can tell you, I am done with this thread.
Well, that’s a relief.
Most practicing American Catholics see altar serving as a way for children and young adults to serve the Church. Involvement. Responsibility.
When the practice of having any-child altar servers is changed to having male-only altar servers, THEN it turns into a matter of rights.
The rest of your post then applies, but the value of the Eucharist is obscured by the now-changed countersign of “no-females allowed”
Should girls have been allowed to be altar servers in the first place? Probably not. But changing it back is worse than leaving it like it is.
You may be under the impression that girl altar servers is a display of feminist activism. But I’ve never seen even a hint of that. Not as an altar boy, nor as a parent.
I am old enough to remember pre-Vatican II. Prior to Vatican II, there WAS a viewpoint that altar serving was preparation for the priesthood. After Vatican II, but BEFORE female altar servers, that viewpoint changed from priesthood preparation to layperson involvement in the Mass. That attitude changed a good 10 years before girls were allowed to serve.
After my last experience with a “deacon” at FR, you bet I question it.
If you are not a younger man, you almost surely received no catechesis or else defective catechesis as a child. If you received training for the “permanent” diaconate, that does nothing to restore my confidence, as most such programs are toxic.
Please start by reading what I’ve posted above about genuine participation at Mass. It has nothing at all to do with clericalizing the laity, which only confuses the faithful and has been (twice, that I know of) condemned by Pope Francis. You needn’t conform to my opinions to be Catholic, but it would be nice if you conformed to the tradition to which you claim to belong.
I don’t believe Latin should be outlawed and I have no problem with the Latin Mass. But I also have no problem with Mass said in English. The Bible does not prohibit Mass from being said in any particular language.
Likewise I have no problem with celibate priests, but I also have no problem with married priests either. The Bible does not prohibit priests from being married, to the contrary is promotes a married clergy and priests were expected to be married in the Bible.
Finally I have no problem with people who receive Holy Communion on the tongue, but it is not prohibited to receive it in the hand either. Nothing in the Bible prohibits you from receiving Holy Communion in your hand.
I do not like it when some Catholics say you’re not Catholic enough because you don’t do things exactly the way they do.
In addition, I have not been able to find anything in the Bible which prohibits females from serving as altar girls, lay readers, Eucharistic Ministers or in other supporting roles in the Mass. NOTHING.
Spell much?
That is great!
It is metaphysically impossible for a woman to be a “Eucharistic Minister.”
Words mean things, and “Eucharist Minister” is reserved to men who have received Holy Orders.
What you are thinking of is “Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist.”
I meant to say “Eucharistic Minister” in the second sentence there. Precision is important in these matters.
Sorry but this is crazy talk! Rights? We’re talking about the most solemn sacrament - the very basis of Catholicism. The Catholic Church is not a democracy - only in the minds of some American Catholics (who are basically Protestant in thinking).
While attending Mass out of town some time ago, I was very distracted by an altar girl who insisted on twisting and untwisting a hank of her long hair in what seems to have become an ungainly fad among some teen girls.
Argh. I mistyped again. “Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion” in the last sentence. I’m going to stop now.
Are you a Catholic?
Yes! I had a similar experience. I was forced to go to a sloppy suburban Mass when an in-law was getting married or something. The priest had to YELL at the “altar girl” who was running around, her feet pounding on the floor. It was a total disgrace.
Does this bizarre theology you describe have an explanation for why the apostles were all men?
Wonderful description. Thank you.
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