"Save the altar girls.” The prestigious and influential American Jesuit journal, America, which has always been one of the most liberal examples of “Made in the USA” Catholicism, is now mounting a campaign to save the altar girls, who have been penalized by parish priests favoring males as “potential future priests.” The Jesuits, whose journal articles have not gone unnoticed by the Vatican, say that serving mass is not a sacrament, and not even a ministry. It is simply a “service” that is open to all - even to lay people. The issue of altar girls is, in fact, purely “pastoral.” The first altar girls appeared in the most “progressive” countries, such as the United States, Holland, and France immediately after the Second Vatican Council. Until 1994, the Vatican considered this “opening” an “abuse” to be tolerated. For girls to enter the space of the altar means the end of any attribution of impurity to their sex; it means that they too can have this important formative experience in religious education, a different focus than liturgy, and an approach to faith through its heart.
Link (here) to Inside the Vatican to read the full article
Anyone who willingly sends their young son/daughter to serve in cramped quarters, i.e. before/after Mass out of view of others, with a priest these days has a screw loose. I thank God my pre-teen has no desire to be an altar girl, despite her weekly Mass attendance.
ReplyDeleteAmerica ceased being a credible journal of Catholic thought at least two decades ago.
ReplyDeleteService at the altar is not a right.
It is in fact true that serving as an altar boy is an effective way to introduce boys to thinking about God's call to priesthood. It is also a fact that where altar girls are permitted, boys tend not to want to be altar servers.
Alter girls drive out the service of alter boys. I hate the sound of heels galloping around the alter.
ReplyDelete