Posted on 01/13/2007 10:09:52 AM PST by Dennis Paul Morony
For all it's been going on for years now, not everyone agrees with me that using girls (and young women) as altar servers might be worth keeping in the future.
Recently, however, this begin to change when I was visiting relatives in a small country parish located deep in the South Texas brush, cattle, goat, and cactus country, not far from where John Wayne made "The Alamo."
The lady of the house pointed out that for many girls in such small out of the way places, training to become an altar server is the closest girls (as well as boys) can ever get to a Catholic Religious Education.
In this case, at least, the results were pretty impressive.
At Communion time every altar server, boy or girl, was ready with her (or his) long-handled wooden deal with a round thing at the end. I was impressed, as I hadn't seen them used in years, outside traditional Latin Masses.
"So, what say? Yea or Nay? Do we keep on with altar girls in the future? Or do we throw the baby out with the bath water?"
Thanks!
Dennis
Starting girl altar boys was dumb.
Stopping them abrubtly would be even dumber.
I think it was a bad idea from the beginning. That said, I have heard of one pastor who uses it to "recruit" girls for the religious life. The boy and girl altar servers have separate retreats and events, and the girls are encouraged to think about becoming nuns or sisters, while the boys are encouraged to think about the priesthood.
That said, I don't think they can be stopped until the real bane of everybody's existence, the hebes (cupbearers, that is, the little old ladies who "distribute" Communion every three feet down the aisle of the church) are done away with. There's no need for them.
Interestingly, it sounds in the case of your church as if they must give Communion the old style.
Some priests that inherited parishes with girl altar-boys came up with a good idea. They still allow the girls to serve but have them wear little nun habits. Really ticks off the feminists.
Livius, my friend!
Thanks for reminding me of something I've tried to block in my mind, not always successfully, especially since I've gradually come to realize that maybe as many as 30% to 40% of the youngest members often show signs of a chemical dependency, to put it politely!
Thus, what you say is Only too true...
Dennis
Great idea! I've never seen that - but I bet it does have smoke coming out of more than a few feminist ears. Hah!
Allowing of altar girls was THE WORST mistake of Pope John Paul II papacy, and no amount of sugar coating in my eyes can justify such a rupture of tradition.
The girls at the parish you mentioned have plenty of other chances to gain a religous education rather than pushing boys off the altar. Thorw the baby out with the bathwater? Sorry, the whole mess is pure poison.
Actually, per capita, more female religous come from parishes that have no altar girls.
That's a patten.
I have two little girls and I have absolutely no problem telling them that serving on the altar is a boy's job. Not that they couldn't do the actual physical tasks, and in many cases do them better, but it is a step in discerning a vocation to the priesthood.
My three year old already knows all the altar terms and how they are used (thank you catechism of the Good Shepard). She isn't going to miss out by not being up there on the altar performing. And she's smart enough to know that at an early age.
I quite seriously doubt that any boys are "pushed off the altar". Far more likely is that not enough boys volunteer. Certainly that is the case in my church.
There's nothing wrong with altar girls.
Bad idea...even in Bracketville.
"At Communion time every altar server, boy or girl, was ready with her (or his) long-handled wooden deal with a round thing at the end. I was impressed, as I hadn't seen them used in years, outside traditional Latin Masses"
It's a pretty minor problem in Church and if you really did impose their immediate elimination, a lot of people will be alienated. I go to a very conservative NO that does have the female servers too and it appears to work ok. They have lots of servers at Mass, up to 10 or 12 (boys and girls) in a small church and they all do a good job.
If we ever get the Universal indult, it will be interesting how this issue is treated in Tridentine rite. Here, one can argue easily it's for boys only.
The modernists treated the faith of so many with contempt by arbitrarily imposing so many changes. Orthodox Catholics should allow charity to take precedence if the matter is not of sin and with time try to restore the better liturgical choices.
In my parish the number of boys willing to do altar service declined precipitously with the introduction of girl altar boys. We still get the boys but it is more by coercion of the parents. That said, the girls who do serve do a generally more dedicated job and stay with it longer. I think they should be phased out.
In my parish the number of boys willing to do altar service declined precipitously with the introduction of girl altar boys. We still get the boys but it is more by coercion of the parents. That said, the girls who do serve do a generally more dedicated job and stay with it longer. I think they should be phased out.
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