CNS reports on this piece in the August 7th edition of the Vatican newspaper.
L’Osservatore Romano praises female altar servers
Comments
24 responses to “L’Osservatore Romano praises female altar servers”
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Two thoughts on this article:
First, the title is misleading. Girl servers ENDED prejudice and inequality? Maybe this is true if you consider altar servers alone; however, the prejudice and inequality faced by women in the Church (which has not ended) goes far beyond the allowance of female altar servers.
Second, “The pope thanked the young people for their important service to the church and said by assisting priests at the altar, they were helping bring Jesus closer to the people and helping to make him ever more present in the world.”
This quote seems to assume that Christ is not present in the “people” until Communion. The quote neglects Sacrosanctum Concilium 7, in which the Church affirms Christ’s ongoing presence in the sacraments, minister, Word, and praying assembly.
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What a burden it must be for the Pope to have every sentence, no matter how positive, parsed by those who oppose him.
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I hope someone tells Bishop Bagnard in France about this. He still refuses to have girls as altar servers. Apparently, he thinks that boys might not want to be altar servers any more if girls are allowed in…
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I guess the Pope still believes in transubstantiation. Well, that answers the quesiton, “Is the Pope a Catholic?”
I was privileged to be present at that audience. It was quite wonderful to see so many tens of thousands of young Altar boys and girls – the future of our Church will be in their hands.
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Mr. Drake, please read my remarks a little more carefully. You may find that your sarcasm is misplaced. First, I critique the article; I do not critique any direct quotation from the Pontiff. And second, I must ask (admittedly with a small degree of amusement) how you conclude that I oppose the Pontiff from one critique, which isn’t even directed at him?
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Jeffrey P. Regan : Two thoughts on this article:
Second, “The pope thanked the young people for their important service to the church and said by assisting priests at the altar, they were helping bring Jesus closer to the people and helping to make him ever more present in the world.”
This quote seems to assume that Christ is not present in the “people” until Communion…
Though I may disagree with you about inequality for women in the Church… I’ll not address that, but rather the quote from the Holy Father.
I think that the point is not that they are literally “helping make [Christ] present” by their service as altar boys– which though they are, they couldn’t do it without the priest, so I don’t think that is the point the Pope is trying to make.
Rather, it is by their pious living and devout lives as examples, most prominent in their ministry as altar boys, that they are making visible Christ’s presence to others.
That was how I understood the quote, and, I think, actually affirms the reference you made from SC. (Perhaps reading daggers in to the Pope’s words because it’s the Pope who said them?)
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Why do you keep refering to them as “altar boys”? Do you imagine that girls are not there? But that’s the wole point of the story. They are accepted. Strange. Why not “altar servers”?
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Haha.
Well, I thought the point of the article being the allowance of “altar girls,” though perhaps bringing “equality,” made no mention for the decline in vocations.
I figured I would mention altar boys to bring equality to the conversation, especially since altar boys were nowhere near a majority represented at St. Peter’s (from what I gather).
I rather view the whole thing as silly. The Church has obviously shot themselves in the foot with this one. And though altar girls are “allowed,” just as in other language in the Church, I don’t think this is the norm.
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Jeffrey– many apologies–
I presumed you were dissenting against the Pope’s quote, and it seems, so did John above, because it seems you are juxtaposing the Pope’s quote with Sacrosanctum Concilium.
If indeed, that was not your intention, again, apologies.
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Sounded that way to me as well. Apologies extended.
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But when will the girls serve a Papal Mass ?
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It probably won’t happen with this pope. I would venture to say he falls within the crowd that, while acknowledging that there is nothing particularly theologically wrong with girls serving Mass, believes that one way to encourage vocations to the priesthood may be to make altar service more appealing to boys by having only boys up there.
The logic of which I sort of go back and forth about. On one hand, I do remember being a kid, and loving the “treehouse” where there were “no girls allowed.” On the other hand, I grew out of that rather quickly by the time I actually knew what girls were. I can see it both ways.
My father served pre-VII when it was all boys, and he sure didn’t go the priesthood route. He does remember those days fondly, though, I think. Again, this is all anecdotal. Just relating experiences.
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L’Osservatore Romano praises female altar servers
Well not really, right? It’s an article by someone in particular, not an unsigned editorial that represents the view of the paper.
The article can be read (in Italian) here. It’s published under the byline of Lucetta Scaraffia, a journalist and a professor of professor of history at La Sapienza University in Rome.
While the newspaper is “semi-official”, we’ve been reminded in the past, that its articles carry the weight of its authors’ authority and not the weight of an official Vatican line.
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Samuel – true enough, it’s the article of an author. But it’s pretty common to report in this way – “The New York Times reports that lobbyists are fighting finance reform” – actually, only one reporter wrote the article.
I gather that you’re doing damage control – don’t want praise for girl servers to have too much authority behind it??
awr
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To be fair, though, it is one thing to “report” and quite another thing to “praise.” It is no scandal to anyone for an entire paper to “report” something, but to “praise” indicates expression of an opinion that not everyone at the paper might share.
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I’ve found myself wondering if those who are of the “having boys serve at the altar will encourage priestly vocations in them” mindset think that having girls serve at the altar WON’T, somehow, instill/inspire the same thing in them? Again, I’m not sure of the vocational causality – it’s probably rare to find a man in priestly formation who wasn’t an altar server, but I’ve never been able to find a vocations person who can point me to any concrete evidence that there’s a direct causal link between the two. (“If only John had been an altar boy, THEN he would have gone on to ordination.”)
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I think those with that mindset probably also believe that having girls serve at the altar would give them false hope of the priesthood, if that’s what you’re getting at.
And no, I don’t think a direct causal link has been demonstrated. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence (and plenty against, I’m sure–surely some priests had a horrible time serving!), but I don’t think anyone can look back and make the determination that someone would have joined the priesthood if only. I believe the hope is that they might, if exposed, since it would provide the next closest thing as experience.
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Alan– I can address the musing from personal firsthand experience, though it would be good to see a study.
The number one comment I heard from young boys when asked if they wanted to be altar servers was “that’s for girls”. They’re at the age where they don’t like girls!
Now, whether or not someone who might have been an altar server might have become a priest, I think is rather inconsequential. The fact that most all priests were altar boys is a matter of fact (as you pointed out).
The point isn’t that just because they’re a server, they may become a priest, it’s that it opens them up to the idea, to be able to properly discern. I was an altar boy and I’m married. Now I’m a DRE, and in charge of the altar servers. It was very formative for me.
I am in a parish that allows both, it being the PC thing. But I noticed that when I put a rigorous program in place for servers, many of the girls decided they didn’t want to do it anymore of their own accord.
The boys, however, flocked to it! They need that order and focus. It helps them to pray better at Mass, rather than be distracted by younger siblings, and helps them to at a young age have an intimate experience of God.
It makes sense to me that this is why it is helpful in discernment of a priestly vocation– after all, they are modeling their behavior on the altar after the priest in front of them, and they are taught how to pray and have reverence for Christ present in the Eucharist. Surely this is a good thing. I say no to altar girls for this reason.
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I asked a priest about this a while back. He said that in our diocese only half of the priests in our diocese were altar servers. I assumed that the vast majority of priests were altar servers, but he corrected me. Does anyone have solid numbers on this?
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I know that we have a fair number of priests in our Diocese who came to Catholicism as adults, so I doubt they would have been altar servers as boys.
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I was an altar boy in the 1970s, but might not have done it if girls were allowed. I don’t recall thinking about the gender restrictions too much. I just assumed that only men were allowed up there. We had a nice system of apprenticeship and seniority which helped to retain all of us into our teens. I remember being quite proud of being one of the 2 “first call” servers for funerals when I was in high school. It was nice to get out class for a little while and it made me a bit more comfortable in emotionally heightened situations. My friend and I were always determined to do the best job we could for the family, realizing the situation. Altar girls? It’s not my call and I can see pros and cons for it. I think I might prefer that a given Mass be all one gender though. Boys and girls act differently when placed together at that age.
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In England, most parishes will have both girls and boys. If anything, there are more girls than boys.
There are also age-related and developmental factors. My experience would indicate that some teenage boys rather like being altar servers because that way they can be around the teenage girls….
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Today’s Tablet reports that the Papal Masses in the UK in September will include girl altar servers. The report says that this has the blessing of the Pope himself. He was very moved by the recent gathering of servers in Rome, which included many girl servers.
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In fact 60% of the servers present at the rally in Rome were girls, according to the statistics. Is it possible that the Pope had never encountered girl altar servers before? Or not in such numbers?
It certainly seems to have made an impression on him.
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