Anger at Vatican plan to ban altar girls

Gaurdian (UK) ^ | 24 September 2003 | John Hooper

[fml]

--That all pales in comparison to the sex scandals that the church finds itself embroiled in. --

The church is much more than the sex scandals - but you know that, you just don't care.

[kittymyrib]

I have observed that liberal ministers of all stripes tend to stand in front of the altar, as if taking center stage and focusing attention on themselves. There they expound and/or entertain those in the "audience". Conservative pastors stand in the pulpit or to the side of the altar, which symbolizes the place where God is present holds our attention.

[Petronski]

...go out of its way to offend those very people.

The faithful are not offended. Apparently you are.

[sinkspur]

In think the Catholic church has far more serious problems to address rather than worrying about little girls or hand-clapping.

It does, and the reaction to this "draft" has already caused the Vatican to move the release date of anything final to early 2004.

These restrictions will be much watered down in any final document, if, indeed, they're even IN a final document.

[sinkspur]

In think the Catholic church has far more serious problems to address rather than worrying about little girls or hand-clapping.

It does, and the reaction to this "draft" has already caused the Vatican to move the release date of anything final to early 2004.

These restrictions will be much watered down in any final document, if, indeed, they're even IN a final document.

[fml]

It's not a popularity contest. Its faith, the next generation just as the generations before will be strong.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

It MUSTN'T happen.

I wasn't raised Catholic, but my mother has been fearful for the churches in America, her fear is because the churches are being assaulted continuously from the Left. I agree with her. And America will only remain a strong and good nation, if its churches remain strong and good. America is not America, without God.

[ArrogantBustard]

They don't have enough priests

because the radical feminazi lesbians who have infiltrated the diocesan bureaucracies don't want new priests ... unless those priests happen to be radical feminazi lesbians. (See Church of England for details on how that works out.)

and they are working very hard to

reestablish fidelity to the Faith handed down to us from the Apostles. In those areas where the Church is most Traditional and orthodox, it has no trouble recruiting young, holy, orthodox men to be priests.

I guess it only looks suicidal to the abyssmally ignorant.

[wideawake]

While this is true, it is also true that banning them will not keep them Catholic.

If one is not orthodox, one is not Catholic.

And it will not encourage them to raise their children Catholic.

It is unlikely that a heretic would raise Catholics in the first place.

It's interesting that about 40% of "Catholic" women don't raise their children Catholic, while women like my mother who have a horror of such innovations as altar girls have raised devoutly Catholic families.

The Catholic Church is not now, nor has it ever been, about marketing.

It is about the truth.

[livius]

have observed that liberal ministers of all stripes tend to stand in front of the altar,

This is a very accurate observation. Now that's something that really makes my blood boil, when I see Father Nitwit parading around in front of the altar with his TV-star type microphone.

[geaux]

While this is true, it is also true that banning them will not keep them Catholic. And it will not encourage them to raise their children Catholic.

How in the world do you reach that conclusion? Based on your commets, it appears you are not Catholic. I'm a Catholic woman raising my kids Catholic. Not serving as an alter girl did not run me off. Letting alter girls in would.

[ArrogantBustard]

You have a sewer of a mind.

[RosieCotton]

The proof will be in the next generation.

Perhaps. But maybe not in the way you think.

Our parish is among the most orthodox in the diocese (or was...we have a new priest now and I'm still forming an opinion about him). It's small, but we currently have three young men studying for the priesthood and several others thinking about it. That's way more than any other parish in the state, the big towns included. And that seems to be true in a lot of places - the more traditional parishes are flourishing...the ones that cater to popular culture are not.

[wideawake]

The proof will be in the next generation.

The proof is already here.

The only Catholic parishes that are both gaining in numbers and producing new vocations are conservative parishes where altar girls are unknown.

This is not a well-kept secret - there are reasons why conservative dioceses like Lincoln, NE - with one-twentieth the Catholic population of liberal Chicago - have forty times as many seminarians than places like Chicago where altar girls are common.

Radical feminism doesn't play in Catholic city.

[stanz]

Just trying to be logical here. What do you think the church's priorities should be? Straightening out the legal mess or stifling members of the flock?

[geaux]

The whole leftist infiltration is offensive to me and, as others have pointed out, alter girls and gay priests are all part of the same agenda.

[SauronOfMordor]

The Catholic Church got along just fine without alter girls for 2000 years. I've only heard about alter girls in the last decade or so.

[nickcarraway]

What evidence do you have that they are working to alienate this group? Specifically for the reasons you say.

For what it's worth, I have only heard women complain about altar girls. I only know women who have switched churches for this reason. Do you know the reasons why they may have certain functions for women and certain functions for men?

Do you likewise believe that Judaism is a suicidal religion, because there are certain areas/functions restricted to men for the express reason that they believe women are more inherently spiritual, so their is a necessity to enrich the men?

[mtbopfuyn]

Thanks for the article. Glad to see others of the same mind rather than flamers dumping on those of us who don't blindly agree with everything that comes out of the Vatican.