Home Forums All Things Catholic Pro & Con: Altar Girls & Women Eucaristic Ministers?

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  • #1325
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    <img decoding=” title=”Smile” /> Hello, everybody!

    Say, what do we think these days of the role of women and girls in the Catholic Church?

    In my own Cathedral parish church here in El Paso, Texas, there’s maybe 5,000 of “us” and only two(2) hardworking priests, as our former deacon retired a while back.

    Thus, without the help of some very dedicated and determined ladies, getting Holy Communion to the sick of various hospitals would be very iffy, at least on a daily basis.

    In my parish, at least, it would be very hard to do.

    As for altar girls, gee, I don’ t really know.

    Because in small, remote rural parishes in the scrub, cactus and mesquite wilderness of this vast southwest Texas of thousands of square miles with little or no population, signing up as an altar girl is sometimes the [b:3myrt07c]only[/b:3myrt07c] way [b:3myrt07c]any[/b:3myrt07c] girl can get catechetical instruction, so to speak.

    I heard that from one of my sisters sometime back, speaking of her own small town in the middle of nowhere, and when I saw how well the girls were trained and how dedicated they were, I was impressed.

    Thanks to everybody in advance for any input on this issue.

    Dennis <img decoding=” title=”Smile” />

    #6678
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    GKC and Alcovey already shared my views on the matter.

    #6754
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    <img decoding=” title=”Very Happy” /> I live in a metro area and we have had alter girls for years and also women(and men) to give communion,I don’t see any problem with that.

    #6758
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    [quote:3dwh3bmp]GKC and Alcovey already shared my views on the matter.[/quote:3dwh3bmp]

    [color=darkred:3dwh3bmp]Post it for all to see. I’m curious.[/color:3dwh3bmp]

    #6759
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    [quote:kmlg8186]No altar girls. No EMs, at all, either. But you’re not really talking to me, I know. I’m a traditionallist Anglican.

    GKC[/quote:kmlg8186]
    [quote:kmlg8186]I’m with GKC on this one.

    These were abuses that were later reluctantly allowed in as concessions. The individual bishop or priest still has the option of not using them – though I think the diocese of Lincoln is the only diocese in the U.S. in which altar girls are not allowed by the bishop.[/quote:kmlg8186]
    [quote:kmlg8186]I speak, of course, as an outsider to the RC usages, but it seems to me there is a slippery slope involved. If females are vested (as appropriate to the function), performing minor liturgical functions, process and recess with the clergy, carrying crucifixes, thuribles, etc, are around the altar and assist in the Mass (I assume the altar girls are like our acolytes in this), to say nothing of females in the EM role (or, for that matter, anyone not in Holy Orders touching the consecrated elements at all), then a natural expectation arises. What stops them from being ordained and doing the rest of the service. You and I know what, but it is harder to make the arguement, in today’s world, then when no one was beyond the rail who was not male. [/quote:kmlg8186]
    [quote:kmlg8186]Yes, this is another area that frequently leads to abuse. The Holy See has frowned upon the widespread use of lay Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. But once the crack in the door was opened, it is hard to reign it back in. Communion in the hand also originated by this same process. While it is now licit, one wonders about the fruits of this practice. It is actually an exceptional provision, but in many places receiving on the tongue is not taught to first communicants as even an option.[/quote:kmlg8186]

    #6815
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    There is a massive, massive difference between an altar girl and ordaining women. My goodness.

    I can’t believe this is even a discussion.

    #6818
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I’m with you I see no reason woman should not be priests after all Mary was the Blessed one and she was raised body and soul into heaven cause she was immaculate(she might be smiling if woman become priests).I know the reason (they say man should only become priests) is because Jesus’s disciples were man but maybe Jesus didn’t chose any woman cause he believed they should be home with there family.

    #6821
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I posted His Holiness Pope John Paul II’s remarks on why women cannot be priests in another thread. It is more than simply all the Apostles were men.

    By the teaching of the universal magisterium of the Church, all priests are men because that is Jesus’s will.

    #6822
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    No my post was not intended to show approval for women priests. Women can’t be priests. They just *can’t*.

    But that is a totally different issue. I mean, from the simplest point of view, the Church says altar girls are fine (which means they are fine), but beyond that, what on Earth would be the problem with them? That it is too close to the preisthood? Don’t be ridiculous. You think anyone serving on the altar is thinking “Oh wow, I am so darn close to being ordained”?

    That’s absurd. I would know. I served on the alter for a long time, and did it with many other males and females, and this discussion is hilarious.

    #6833
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Most Eastern Catholic Churches still resist using female altar servers. One of the reasons is a long-standing tradition that only males are allowed behind the iconostasis, and then only for a valid reason. Also, there is sometimes an understanding in the Eastern Churches that serving at the altar is meant to aid in the discernment of a vocation to the diaconate or priesthood. However, some Eastern Catholic parishes do have altar girls today. This is increasingly common among Ukrainian Catholics, for example.

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