The Unprofitable Servant: Ah, Women!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Ah, Women!

The debate on female altar servers continue. Some people are able to make their case very well without resorting to stereotypes and insults and others - well, let's just say they perpetuate the assertion some hold that the Catholic Church is rife with misogynists.

One priest said if female altar servers have been drawn to religious vocations, he's unaware of it. Then there are the claims that the reason parents can't get their sons to serve is because they don't want to serve with girls.

I'm not going to re-hash the reasons why I permitted my daughter to serve at the Novus Ordo until this past year. They had nothing to do with equality and everything to do with the boys in our parish not being willing to step forward. We have, as we should, an all-male crew at the TLM. Do you know how many parishioners have stepped forward to join them? None. Zippo. Our servers all come from different parishes and the ones who are members became members AFTER they became servers.

To the credit of the priest who inadvertently started this latest firestorm, he did not merely seek to "get rid" of female servers. He gave them an opportunity to serve the Lord as sacristans. If a priest does not wish to have female servers, he should not have them, just as he should not feel forced to permit the optional exchange of peace when he celebrates Mass.

To be sure, there are women who believe they have a right to ordination and that serving at the altar is the first step toward that heresy. But by and large, most of the young ladies I know who serve or have served come from faithful Catholic families and they do not have an agenda except love for the Lord and His Holy Church.

Unfortunately, I passed the copy on to a priest friend who does not want girls on the altar with him, but I saw an interesting letter in a recent copy of The Adoremus Bulletin. An elderly priest, ordained sixty-something years ago, wrote to say that there were parishes he served that forbade girls at the altar that didn't have a single vocation to the priesthood, while the parish that did allow them had a substantial number of vocations to the religious life.

I couldn't care less whether girls are allowed to serve or not. I'm just offering my two cents worth that not every little girl who serves has aspirations of crashing the seminary. That's as ridiculous an assertion as the one forwarded by those women who believe they have a "right" to become priests.

“Ah! Poor women, how they are misunderstood! And yet they love God in much larger numbers than men do and during the Passion of Our Lord, women had more courage than the apostles since they braved the insults of the soldiers and dared to dry the adorable Face of Jesus. It is undoubtedly because of this that He allows misunderstanding to be their lot on earth, since He chose it for Himself. In heaven, He will show that His thoughts are not men’s thoughts, for then the last will be first”. St. Therese of Lisieux

7 comments:

Terry NelsonAugust 24, 2011 at 9:38 PM
For awhile I thought I'd prefer not to see altar girls, then a good priest told me they were allowed to fill that role. I accepted that and left it at that. I can't get excited about the issue - I try not to pay attention to the servers at Mass anyway.
ReplyDelete
Replies
meAugust 25, 2011 at 1:05 PM
very sane post on women and the church. Love the quote at the end too. Well done you! I am going to attempt to link to this. Fingers crossed, as techno I am not haha!
ReplyDelete
Replies
DanielAugust 25, 2011 at 2:00 PM
I've long been unsure on this subject. At OLP I knew only one other man who hadn't served at the altar before coming to seminary. We were somewhat unusual in that respect. So it would seem that there is some relation between alter serving and vocations to the priesthood. It's particularly influential if you have a seminarian serving at a parish. I know a man who came to seminary because he regularly served with a seminarian at his parish. He even got to spend a year in the same seminary as this man who inspired him, which I think was great for him. The men who serve at parishes sometimes have stories of boys who serve that come to them with questions about the seminary because they are interested.

On the other hand, there are the examples that you give involving girls who serve. What exactly is going on here? Really I'm not sure. I suspect that what is more important than who serves is the holiness and orthodoxy of the parish. If you do have such a parish, then I suspect all male altar servers might be helpful, particularly if there's seminarians involved. Honestly I'm not sure. Time will tell what works best.
ReplyDelete
Replies
GraceAugust 25, 2011 at 2:27 PM
What a cracker from St Therese! Thanks.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousAugust 25, 2011 at 4:35 PM
St. Therese, I have always believed that!

Susan
ReplyDelete
Replies
TLWAugust 25, 2011 at 5:46 PM
Terry, I'm with you, I just can't get worked up about it. Of course, I am oblivious to the reasons why girls were permitted in the first place.

I have to be honest and tell all of you that there are times when I wonder if the arrival of girls in the sacristy in any way stemmed the flood of the sexual abuse of boys and other males who served the church or became close to priests. Please don't misunderstand - I'm not saying that those who oppose girls do so because they prefer boys for nefarious reasons. I am not saying that at all. I'm simply wondering out loud if there is any correlation between the two events.

I just wish the acrimony could be laid aside.

Susan and Grace, yes!

Daniel, we need more priests, and if altar boys are the way to help foster a vocation, that's fine with me. I just think there are parents who may have planted the idea in their sons' heads that they don't want to serve with girls because THEY have a problem with it. Boys don't serve for the same reason so many Catholics can't be bothered to go to Mass on Sunday - too many other "more important" things to do.

Ros, good luck with that! I'm in the same boat with you, technically speaking!
ReplyDelete
Replies
MannyAugust 25, 2011 at 7:38 PM
Unless someone tells me there's a biblical reason for excluding girls from serviong as altar servers, then I'm for girls doing it. Just because someone cites tradition is idiotic and really simple minded. There is a biblical reason why priests must be male. I am completely against women becoming priests. As far as I know there is no biblical reason for girls helping. Goodness, other than priests most people who do church activity are women, and not by a close margin. If it weren't for women the Catholic church would crumble.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Comments which reflect true Christian charity are always welcome. Comments which attack the Pope, the Church, priests or other bloggers will go in the dustbin, especially if they are anonymous. Thank you and God Bless you!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Mary, Queen of Peace

Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of Virgins, Mother of Mercy, hope and comfort of dejected and desolate souls, through that sword of sorrow which pierced thy tender heart whilst thine only Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord, suffered death and ignominy on the cross; through that filial tenderness and pure love He had for thee, grieving in thy grief, whilst from His cross He recommended thee to the care and protection of His beloved disciple, St. John, take pity, I beseech thee, on my poverty and necessities; have compassion on my anxieties and cares; assist and comfort me in all my infirmities and miseries, of every kind whatsoever. Thou art the Mother of Mercies, the sweet comforter and only refuge of the needy and the orphan, of the desolate and afflicted. Cast, therefore, an eye of pity on a miserable, forlorn child of Eve, and hear my prayer; for since, in just punishment of my sins, I find myself encompassed by a multitude of evils, and oppressed with much anguish of spirit, wither can I fly for more secure shelter, O amiable Mother of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, than under the wings of thy maternal protection? Attend, therefore, I beseech thee, with an ear of pity and compassion, to my humble and earnest request. I ask it, through the bowels of mercy of thy dear Son; Through that love and condescension wherewith He embraced our nature, when, in compliance with the divine Will, thou gavest thy consent, and whom, after the expiration of nine months thou didst bring forth from the chaste enclosure of thy womb, to visit the world, and bless it with His presence. I ask it, through that anguish of mind wherewith thy beloved Son, our dear Saviour, was overwhelmed on the Mount of Olives, when He besought His eternal Father to remove from Him, if possible, the bitter chalice of His future passion. I ask it, through the threefold repetition of His prayers in the garden, whence afterwards, with dolorous steps and mournful tears, thou didst accompany Him to the doleful theatre of His death and sufferings. I ask it, through the welts and bruises of His virginal flesh, occasioned by the cords and whips wherewith He was bound and scourged, when stripped of His seamless garment, for which His executioners afterwards cast lots. I ask it, through the scoffs and ignominies by which He was insulted; the false accusations and unjust sentence by which He was condemned to death, and which He bore with heavenly patience. I ask it, through His bitter tears and bloody sweat; His silence and resignation; His sadness and grief of heart. I ask it, through the blood which trickled from His royal and Sacred Head, when struck with the sceptre of a reed and pierced with His crown of thorns. I ask it, through the excruciating torments He suffered, when His hands and feet were fastened with gross nails to the tree of the cross. I ask it, through His vehement thirst, and bitter potion of vinegar and gall. I ask it, through His dereliction on the cross when He exclaimed, "My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?" I ask it, through His mercy extended to the good thief, and through His recommending His precious soul and spirit into the hands of His eternal Father before He expired, saying, "It is consummated." I ask it, through the blood mixed with water, which issued from His Sacred Side when pierced with a lance, and whence a flood of grace and mercy has flowed to us. I ask it, through His immaculate life, bitter passion and ignominious death on the cross, at which nature itself was thrown into convulsions, by the bursting of rocks, rending of the veil of the Temple, the earthquake, and the darkness of the sun and moon. I ask it, through His descent into hell, where He confronted the Saints of the old law with His presence, and led the captivity captive. I ask it, through His glorious victory over death, when He arose again to life on the third day, and through the joy which His appearance for forty days after gave thee, His blessed Mother, His Apostles, and the rest of His Disciples; when in thine and their presence He miraculously ascended into heaven. I ask it, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, infused into the hearts of His Disciples, when He descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues, and by which they were inspired with zeal in the conversion of the world, when they went to preach the gospel. I ask it, through the awful appearance of thy Son, at the last dreadful day, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world, by fire. I ask it, through the compassion He bore thee in His life, and the unspeakable joy thou didst feel at thine assumption into heaven, where thou art eternally absorbed in the sweet contemplation of His divine perfections. O glorious and ever blessed Virgin! comfort the heart of thy supplicant, by obtaining for me, (Mention your prayer intention here...) And as I am persuaded my Divine Saviour doth honour thee as His beloved Mother, to whom He refuses nothing, because thou asketh nothing contrary to His honour, so let me speedily experience the efficacy of thy powerful intercession, according to the tenderness of thy maternal affection, and His filial loving heart, who mercifully granteth the requests and complieth with the desires of those that love and fear Him. Wherefore, O most blessed Virgin, beside the object of my present petition, and whatever else I may stand in need of, obtain for me also of thy dear Son, our Lord and our God, a lively faith, firm hope, perfect charity, true contrition of heart, unfeigned tears of compunction, sincere confession, condign satisfaction, abstinence from sin, love of God and my neighbour, contempt of the world, patience to suffer affronts and ignominies, nay, even, if necessary, an opprobrious death itself, for love of thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Obtain likewise for me, O sacred Mother of God, perseverance in good works, performance of good resolutions, mortification of self-will, a pious conversation through life, and, at my last moments, strong and sincere repentance, accompanied by such a lively and attentive presence of mind, as may enable me to receive the last Sacrament of the Church worthily, and die in thy friendship and favour. Lastly, obtain through thy Son, I beseech thee, for the souls of my parents, brethren, relatives and benefactors, both living and dead, life everlasting, from the only Giver of every good and perfect gift, the Lord God Almighty, to Whom be all power now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of St. Bonaventure

Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God;
may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.

What You Read On This Blog....

You may use anything I have written on this blog. You do not need to credit me, though it would be nice if you did to increase traffic to this blog. Somewhere in "The Story of a Soul", St. Therese commented that she could not concern herself with whether someone took credit for one of her ideas or observations because, after all, everything that is good and holy is inspired not by ourselves but by the Holy Spirit. If you find something useful here that you'd like to print on your own blog or elsewhere, be my guest. It doesn't "belong" to me in the first place.

If you email me, rest assured nothing you send me will be used, unless you have explicitly granted me permission to do so.

Blog links which appear on The Unprofitable Servant may contain content with which I do not necessarily agree.

God Bless You!

The Unprofitable Servant

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Ah, Women!

7 comments:

Mary, Queen of Peace

St Michael the Archangel

St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

St. Teresa Benedicta of The Cross