truthfinder Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 st, which is why even young altar servers in the ancient rite would wear cassocks, an attire exclusively reserved for clerics. The fact that altar-girls do not dawn cassocks is probably the one thing I can say was a prudential decision. Maybe where you are, but in many places girls did (and do) wear cassocks to serve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avemaria Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I think it's really because it gives the young girls a false identity of their vocation. It has also been boys only in all of church history, and there is no good reason to change that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ark Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I've seen girls in robes but never cassocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elizabeth09 Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Maybe because it's San Francisco. Or maybe not. I hope that where I live, there will be an increase in boy servers then girls. As an alter server, no one had ask if I thought girls would become priests. But as soon as the Latin Mass became real to me, the more I don't want to serve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Nice to see you again, Elizabeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrysostom Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I serve at my church back home when I visit. It's all boys and the occasional older guy. Our priests are heroes to them (to me too!) and there's a lively boyish camaraderie there too. They are learning to be reverent, that it isn't "sissy" to dress in cassocks and surplices or to pay attention to finer considerations of posture, etc. Participation is high. This is indeed a little space for them and it's wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vyvy07 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I myself served daily masses and Sunday masses. My church and many churches in my diocese allows female servers. I have never felt the want or thought of becoming a priest, but being a server has definitely made me more aware of the sacredness of the altar and the Eucharist. Through my experience of altar serving, I have wondered about my possible vocation to the religious life. For the most part and with other female altar servers I know, none of us have ever wanted to become priests. My own cousin is currently a seminarian, and I believe very strongly that the priesthood is only for males. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman82 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 When did the preaching of basic christian morality become discriminatory and divisive? When it "hits too close to home" for some of the hearers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 If these critics don’t want to be Catholic anymore, maybe they should become Protestant http://www.sfgate.com/news/item/Catholics-Ad-38983.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NadaTeTurbe Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 I myself served daily masses and Sunday masses. My church and many churches in my diocese allows female servers. I have never felt the want or thought of becoming a priest, but being a server has definitely made me more aware of the sacredness of the altar and the Eucharist. Through my experience of altar serving, I have wondered about my possible vocation to the religious life. For the most part and with other female altar servers I know, none of us have ever wanted to become priests. My own cousin is currently a seminarian, and I believe very strongly that the priesthood is only for males. Me too ! I am an altar girl... It have always been the case in my parish, I think. We're a good group with something like 50/50. I felt my religious vocation while being an altar server. And I don't feel like a protestant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little2add Posted April 27, 2015 Author Share Posted April 27, 2015 (edited) Former alter boys gift to his hometown http://www.wktv.com/news/The_unveiling_of_the_Pieta.html (St John's does have alter girls ). This town is Father (Angelicchio) Paul's hometown too Edited April 27, 2015 by little2add Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriela Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 I serve at my church back home when I visit. It's all boys and the occasional older guy. Our priests are heroes to them (to me too!) and there's a lively boyish camaraderie there too. They are learning to be reverent, that it isn't "sissy" to dress in cassocks and surplices or to pay attention to finer considerations of posture, etc. Participation is high. This is indeed a little space for them and it's wonderful. "Boyish camaraderie" is what I see in my parish, where girls are allowed to serve, but the majority are boys. And when it's all boys, like at the big Masses (Easter Vigil, etc.), the servers skitter about like a swarm of ornery little cherubs. Everywhere you look there are little gangs of them huddled up, excitedly playing with fire, untangling lace, whispering about God knows what. It's adorable. I love seeing boys with a sense of purpose. Somehow they come off as both mischievous and holy at the same time. It delights me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthfinder Posted April 27, 2015 Share Posted April 27, 2015 Lol, at the parish where I was at, the boys were actually taught how to sit still for the hour and a half necessary. It was hardest on the youngest ones, but they really did want to be there. But oh boy, watch out as soon as they got out of their cassocks - you'd have to traverse the wrestling match outside the hall afterwards!. I think it will serve the boys well; it certainly is instilling in them a lot of patience and reserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartermia Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 I have been a server for a local parish for the past 5 years (since I was 10.) I am the only remaining server in my class of originally 14 servers; 9 of them boys. Everyone wanted to server when we were little but then (as usual) we got older and parents stopped forcing my classmates to come to Mass so we stopped having them serve. It is like this in about ever class here in this parish; except the boys do seem to be the ones sticking around (I am just that odd girl who serves with them all !) I am the unofficial Master of Ceremonies says Fr. B (parochial vicar) and he said he wouldn't trust "the boys" to do that. I have served funerals, Easter services, Confirmation w/ the bishop, etc and the boys have no problem with me serving. Someone mentioned earlier about the Blessed Mother sitting at the foot of the Cross but she also probably helped prepare the meal for the Last Supper. Serving has taught me how to sacrifice my time (waking up early in the summer for daily Mass), responsibility (being MC), dedication, reverence, and how to love Our Lord by assisting in Persona Christ. I know I will never be a priest and I hope that the other altar girls will know that serving at the altar and celebrating Mass at the altar are two different things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puellapaschalis Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 I know I will never be a priest and I hope that the other altar girls will know that serving at the altar and celebrating Mass at the altar are two different things. But still bound up very closely together; it is supposed to be clerics - who are by definition men - who serve at the altar. When the numbers are not there, as in most parishes, it is reasonable to let lay men serve at the altar, provided I suppose they have at least some sense of what they are doing and why (as well as the other normal requirements), but to extend it to women, who by definition are not and cannot be clerics, shows a lack of awareness (on the part of the Church at large, the bishops, scandalously many clergy and faithful, etc) of what serving at the altar is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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