Dedicating this week’s post to discussions on altar servers has proved to open the floodgates. As the first post to the first discussion claims “Altar girls are an abomination and have repressed priestly vocations.”
Now at first blush I want to dismiss this comment, because the word abomination is outrageous. Altar girls may not be your cup of tea but to call these young ladies a word like that is simply stupid and mean!
But as you know, dear readers, I am King of Fairness, so I also want to think about the second part of this statement in a wider way. And also to talk about a second element–are there more altar girls because the boys simply stay away now?
“To say that these adolescents and young teen have been the cause of the repression of priestly vocations since 1995 gives these girls a whole lot of power that they probably don’t know they have. That’s quite a statement!” said one pastoral associate I know. I think that’s one accurate way to look at it. The decline in priestly vocations come from a wealth of sources and I don’t think we can pin in on the rise of altar girls or even female lay ministers for that matter.
However, my own altar boy experience cautions me a bit. Not because I don’t think girls should be on the altar as servers but because the experience beyond the altar was a bonding experience for us boys. We were more than just altar servers we were a church organization that engaged in service, recreational activities (especially) and trips. I don’t think I would have had a problem with girls being along for the ride on any of these (in fact, often we would have girls join us for the trips to Six Flags, etc.) but it may have changed the group dynamic a bit and thus it may indeed have soured some of the guys on taking part.
So my thought is the following: all should be invited to serve at the altar. All should be invited to social activities beyond that service at the altar as well. But we also should take some time to encourage activities for single sex groups that’s appropriate as well.
Lastly, I had the pleasure of serving mass with Cardinal O’Connor, who was a proponent of girls serving at the altar, as a young man. He always greeted his servers and he would even remember names if you were there a second time. He also would encourage boys to think about becoming priests and young girls to consider lives as sisters. That indeed is important for both to hear and more importantly, it’s important for the women to have models of Sisters in their lives that they can emulate. Otherwise, it can become the bait and switch where girls may think that they can become priests. And as open as many of us are to that idea, it doesn’t seem to be on the horizon just yet, if at all. Therefore, we need to give them trusted mentors who they can look to and who they might wish to become more like as women.
But to shun girls from the altar because they’re more eager to help than the boys are, or the boys want to use the altar boys like the Hee-man woman haters club is just not a great idea.
And just look at the way that this young lady to the left of John Paul II is looking at him…is that worth 1000 words? Is she not going to be moved by that moment to be closer to God and the church in her life?
I have a call into CARA to see if they have any data on Altar girls and will look online later to see what I can find.
28 comments
JMS says:
March 3, 2010 at 11:20 am (UTC -4 )
Do you know when it became acceptable to have female altar servers? During my youth and catechism, I am certain that it was still only offered to boys. When I returned to the church after college was when I first saw female altar servers and honestly, it was difficult to get used to. Now I am used to it, but I can never decide if [the fact that I am used to it] is a good thing or a bad thing.
Jason says:
March 3, 2010 at 1:03 pm (UTC -4 )
I loved serving at the altar as a young man. It’s part of the reason I discerned a vocation to the priesthood. But it can’t be the only reason–if the call wasn’t there, being an altar boy wouldn’t have mattered, and if the call was, I don’t think it was altar service that exclusively tuned my heart to hear it.
But there’s no reason, is there, why altar service is the domain of children alone. These, I’ve been at parishes that only use adult servers, and parishes that have boys and girls. At Fordham, of course, students, male and female, serve at the altar. I welcome the opportunity and still love that service, and the men and women who serve have a great dedication to service not just at the altar but in the broader Church.
I read about a parish, in the Philippines I think, that used “altar server families.” Basically, an entire family would serve at the altar at a given mass. I thought this was a novel and great idea. It encouraged the family participation, and avoided some of the arguments about boys v. girls at the altar.
I also think there’s a place for single-sex children’s groups. Something I didn’t get to do as a boy was scouting, and I think it’s very common for parishes to have scouting troops. These seem like a great way to encourage Christian values among the youth.
GodGoogler says:
March 3, 2010 at 1:22 pm (UTC -4 )
JMS,
In 1994 the Pope gave permission to the Bishops to determine if they wanted to have altar girls in their diocese. So now it’s up to the local bishop to make the call.
Girls weren’t allowed when I was an altar server in the 80s.
GodGoogler says:
March 3, 2010 at 1:25 pm (UTC -4 )
Jason,
Excellent thoughts. I too was an altar server at Fordham at their 10PM mass. I loved the downtime it provided me in setting the microphones up before mass (when nobody was in the church I’d test the mics by saying “Let’s get ready to rumble.”
But some of my best friends served at the altar with me and I probably still have clothes that reek of incense as I was always the one who served as the “thurifer” at the big masses.
The downside was that all of my female classmates thought I was headed to the seminary. =)
Fran Rossi Szpylczyn says:
March 3, 2010 at 1:47 pm (UTC -4 )
When I was growing up (I was born in 1957) I was always sad that I could not be an altar server. At that time I would not have ever even imagined that there would be a discussion about this being possible, let alone doing so and who would have imagined conversations about diminished vocations and so forth.
I left the church in 1971 before there were female altar servers and when I returned in 1990 I was surprised… and glad.
As an adult I have done some serving, mostly as part of a funeral ministry that I was involved in; I often reeked of incense myself!
I work at one parish and worship at another where we have both boys and girls as servers. At my worship parish we also do have adult servers – male and female.
Mike I am glad to hear what you said about Cardinal O’Connor. I used to attend daily mass at the Cathedral, from 1990-1993 or so. He was wonderful presence there, so very pastoral. I am not surprised that he was encouraging of all vocations from all servers.
Thanks for the thought provoking conversation, as always. God bless.
Jen says:
March 3, 2010 at 2:42 pm (UTC -4 )
I think when people use ‘abomination’ to refer to another gender, it says way more about them than anything about women serving.
GodGoogler says:
March 4, 2010 at 12:36 am (UTC -4 )
Jen–
You ain’t just whistling Dixie there! So does that mean that Altar Girls are on par with abortion in their mind? That would be sad if someone thought that.
GodGoogler says:
March 4, 2010 at 12:41 am (UTC -4 )
Fran–
I got to serve with him twice in college at some Fordham anniversary things that he was part of. I was happy to be with him, even if I sometimes disagreed with some of his statements and some of his administrative policies. He was always pleasant and later in his career I always thought he looked tired. He may have been sick for far longer than we thought.
Regardless, a funny story. I held up the thurible for him at mass and my friend had the boat with the incense in it. He opened it for the Cardinal and then hit is finger on the hot thurible while Cardinal O’C was spooning out the incense.
Let’s just say the Cardinal got a good laugh when incense got spilled all over the Cathedra carpet and his shoes.
Linda says:
March 4, 2010 at 12:43 am (UTC -4 )
I think it’s the bait and switch though! If girls can’t be priests than won’t they get the idea that they could be called to the priesthood?
Fran Rossi Szpylczyn says:
March 4, 2010 at 8:58 am (UTC -4 )
Mike that is a great story about the incense! I am with you on O’Connor. I did not always agree with him, but going to mass made me see a side of him that I did not know. He did look tired for a long time and I think that he worked very hard and well. It is a lesson about acceptance, love, community and faith. No disrespect intended, but while the Archdiocese regained some financial footing under the next Cardinal, it lost some heart. That heart seems to have now returned in Tim Dolan. Even in regard to my remark, there are always lessons of community and faith and reconciliation, even if we can’t see our way to them at the time… if we are but willing to try.
PS – Altar girls – abomination? True indeed, it does say something about whomever says that and if abortion is indeed an abomination, and it is, altar girls are far from that.
We should be reminded that there are cultures which demean females so much that ultimately, female fetuses are subject to being aborted. That is a sobering thought on how women are treated and held in regard.
Jeanne Grunert says:
March 4, 2010 at 10:47 am (UTC -4 )
If it weren’t for altar girls, we wouldn’t have ANY servers. Boys think it’s silly and uncool, girls are still ready to help. I think the notion that being an altar boy was some sort of “preparation” or encouragement for vocations is laughable. Just because I sing with the choir and have sung at churches since childhood doesn’t mean it was “preparation” for a career at the Metropolitan Opera House. The church needs MORE encouragement to women and girls to participate whenever it is appropriate, not less. I don’t believe in women priests or deacons, but I DO believe women need to serve as wide a role as possible in the church today – and I am so glad to see the wonderful girls at the altar and the women lectors and leaders at our church.
GodGoogler says:
March 4, 2010 at 1:52 pm (UTC -4 )
Jeanne–
Excellent thoughts. I’m not sure if its true that we wouldn’t have ANY servers if we didn’t have girls. I think the problem is that we stop short at invitation. We simply don’t invite the boys because we never had to before these recent times. Parents would automatically send us their sons to serve at the altar (I know mine did!). Baby boomers are suspicious of the institution and rail against their sons “serving” the needs of the establishment (the church and more importantly, priests). So the next two generations will need a more intentional invitation to take part–both male and female.
It may be that women are more apt to volunteer but that’s true of joining things in general. Women usually are joiners, men would rather be in the cave.
Anyone disagree?
GodGoogler says:
March 4, 2010 at 3:37 pm (UTC -4 )
CARA doesn’t have any specific data per se on Altar Girls, but 70% of the ordination class of 2009 were altar boys. So you can draw your own conclusions as I will in tomorrow’s post.
GodGoogler says:
March 5, 2010 at 8:53 am (UTC -4 )
Via Facebook
From Melissa McKerroll Francis :
“I was an altar server in 1974.
The chief reason we were brought on board then, and I know my friend Sr. Ellen Enright (a Buffalo native, small world) will attest to this since she is the one who scheduled us, is because there were not enough boys. She gave them one week to recruit new servers and told them if they didn’t find some more boys she would allow the girls to serve.
That’s how it was in Sault Ste. Marie in 1974, anyway.
I wish *people* would quit trying to pin the priest shortage on women. Like it’s our fault. Because we don’t encourage them enough or get out of their way enough or fail them in some other way.
Bah.”
GodGoogler says:
March 6, 2010 at 11:43 am (UTC -4 )
Via Facebook:
From Lyn Monteith:
“I became an altar server in 1980. I’m proud of my Parish for allowing girls to be altar servers at a time when it wasn’t really allowed. It was a wonderful experience.”
Jen says:
March 6, 2010 at 3:56 pm (UTC -4 )
The one thing people who’re so quick to demonize girl or women altar servers is that those girls will usually grow up and have children of their own. You’d better believe their kids will be encouraged to serve when old enough, if their experience was positive. I can’t imagine a greater support of a priest’s vocation, if his mom served at his first Mass.
GodGoogler says:
March 7, 2010 at 5:06 pm (UTC -4 )
Now THAT is a cool thought!
Michelle says:
March 7, 2010 at 9:23 pm (UTC -4 )
Vocations to the priesthood dropped in the Philadelphia Archdiocese long before it permitted altar girls, it’s one data point, but a large one, which makes it unlikely that that altar girls affect vocations. If anything — since there is a lag time between becoming an altar server and being ordained, I’d hazard a guess that permitting girls to serve is correlated to a slight uptick in subsequent vocations in this diocese!
God Googler says:
March 8, 2010 at 5:47 pm (UTC -4 )
Via Facebook:
From Kathryn Kirk:
“I can’t think of any time in my life when I have not wanted to be involved in something because boys/men were present or involved. As much as I can remember there’s never been a color I didn’t like, a job I didn’t want, or a toy I didn’t want to play with because it was associated with boys. Yet, we as a society regularly claim a boy’s distaste for things related to girls as normal and acceptable.
If we say to girls: your service is less desired because it drives away the boys, doesn’t this speak to a higher value we place on the boys’ service than the girls. Does not God value them both equally?”
ArkCatholicGirl says:
March 30, 2010 at 3:23 pm (UTC -4 )
I don’t think that the lack of vocations stems from allowing girls to serve on the altar, although I do not altogether agree with the practice myself. The lack of vocations stems from a lack of emphasis and importance placed on vocations to the religious life by parents and even Catholic Schools. Parents (and Catholic Schools) need to encourage their children (and students) to consider vocations and that vocations are a valid choice. Our generation has had a de-emphasis on vocations. My upbringing, though steeped in Catholic values and faith did not even suggest the religious life as a valid choice. I think if we emphasized the importance of vocations to the religious life and placed a greater value on spiritual leadership as opposed to the prestige and economic promises of other careers, more young men and women would be open to religious life.
Deacon John M. Bresnahan says:
May 13, 2010 at 5:06 pm (UTC -4 )
When altar girls started being allowed most who know the psychology of young people at the ages most serve at the altar could have told anyone who would listen that there would soon be few altar boys as the number of altar girls grew. It is bad enough that servers wear robes (dresses to most boys at this age), but to be surrounded by females in matching dresses is just too much feminization for boys who are at the stage where they are beginning the struggle to establish their male identity in the wider world.
Damian G. Karlo says:
June 16, 2011 at 2:58 am (UTC -4 )
You let in girls, soon they will take over, boys will not want to serve any longer, there will be no more vocations to the priesthood. It’s that simple – and that diabolical.
GodGoogler says:
June 16, 2011 at 8:41 am (UTC -4 )
I hope if you have a daughter, she knows you think females are diabolical.
GodGoogler says:
June 16, 2011 at 8:42 am (UTC -4 )
Then it’s our fault that we don’t teach them how to co-exist.
Damian G. Karlo says:
June 16, 2011 at 4:25 pm (UTC -4 )
No, the deliberate destruction of the Church through lack of vocations is diabolical. It’s been going on since Vatican II…
GodGoogler says:
June 16, 2011 at 6:14 pm (UTC -4 )
Damian,
Do you really think people don’t want to have priests? C’mon! You’re smarter than that.
There is no evidence that Altar girls has done anything but promote future active Catholics.
Damian G. Karlo says:
June 18, 2011 at 4:51 am (UTC -4 )
Freemasons, Communists, and Satanists have infiltrated the Church. They are bent on its ultimate destruction. The death of vocations is a primary goal of this cabal of evil men. Whenever I have the misfortune of having to attend a Novus Ordo service (wedding, funeral, or first communion) I see almost nothing but girls serving on the ‘altar.’ It’s obvious the boys no longer wish to serve mass, and hence the few vocations of the past will be even fewer and farther between.
GodGoogler says:
June 18, 2011 at 6:14 am (UTC -4 )
Awww…the boys don’t want to serve. Sniff…I almost feel bad for them because they may have to interact with females.
This is our fault. We’ve let them walk. In our parish we have a pretty even balance because we work at it.
Oh and guess what? I was an altar boy for years, through high school…it was a thriving ministry. How many did we send to the priesthood. Zero. How many are active Catholics, my guess is about seven out of 40 members. Why are they active? FAMILIES! The family kept the value of being in a parish alive, other altar boys were present as kids but their parents never went so it stopped when they stopped serving, usually in high school.
So if mom and dad’s little boy doesn’t want to serve then mom and dad should convince them of the importance and not wimp out because they might have to serve with a girl!
Btw, we didn’t have girls as servers, but in the short time that we have them the consistent trend is the same.
Have fun hunting commies and Freemasons in your basement.