From Saint Theresa Catholic Church h/t FrZ!
When I was a little little kid, there were seminarians who were Acolytes. Those of younger days were called Altar Boys. The phrase Altar Boy was so ingrained, so right somehow, that when the priest, going against all church legislation, allowed girls to serve, everyone but everyone, without batting an eye, called them Girl Altar Boys. This wasn’t sarcastic, or mocking. It’s just that the phrase Altar Boy was so ingrained because it was just so right.
After some years, and it was years, a false feminism reared its ugly head with abortion and lesbianism, a natural follow up to all the ’68ing with contraception. And so the phrase, Altar Servers was coined. When girls started serving, boys stopped serving. It was all confusing. Girls couldn’t become priests, so what were they doing there? Getting empowered or some such thing? Blech. If girls are only worth anything if they act like boys, it is the end of respect for girls by boys. Not good, that. But the false feminist movement roared ahead, insisting that women were the scum of the earth unless they acted just like men. How stupid is that? How evil? How misogynistic? Liberals are really hateful of God and neighbor, even though they think they are so, you know, wonderful in their battle for “justice”.
The fellow in the video above, unfortunately, doesn’t make a distinction with some of his terminology, but we know what he means. He says that the guys like the cassock, not the alb, because the alb is a bit effeminate. What he’s talking about is not the alb that the priest wears with proper amice and cincture, but rather the white sack with hood and super large wing-like sleeves and nicey-nice inch thick rope.
The stupidest thing I’ve ever seen is girls in the Roman Cassock and collar. This is transvestism. Blech. Also, it is a great act of hatred for girls. Why? you ask. Because it gives them the impression that they can become priests. This is using them, these kids, for a political, anti-Catholic agenda. They will grow up wanting to become priests, not because they are called, but because they have been manipulated. And they will be disappointed, and will probably leave the Church to become Episcopalians or Anglicans or whatever other group changes doctrine at will as time goes on. This kind of abuse of kids is really sick in the head. If you can abuse kids that way, the door is open to other kinds of abuse, right? Really, it needs to stop, and stop now.
But may girls now serve? If the bishop permits this, there is an argument for that. However, the Holy See, wise as ever with this kind of canonization of disobedience, ruled that no matter what a bishop permits, the use of Girl Altar Boys is strictly up to the priest who is celebrating that particular Mass. It’s not up to the Pastor over against a Parochial Vicar. It’s up to the priest who is celebrating that particular Mass.
So, what happens when a priest who wants to promote vocations ever so very gently and with catechesis and all goodness and kindness insists on Boy Altar Boys? Well, a number of things:
- There is a rebellion: There is always but always a feminist mom who brings her daughter to “watch” with painful eyes, while the boys get trained in. The mother always complains, always threatens to write to the bishop, always using her little girl for her own agenda. Too bad, that. Priests shouldn’t cave in to this manipulation of priests, to this abuse of the girls.
- There is encouragement: There are always many more parishioners who back the priest, encouraging him to stay the course. God bless these noble parishioners. They are both men and women, and also girls (especially those who are home-schooling, having their heads screwed on straight).
- There is a sharp increase of Boy Altar Boys: Of course, those who appreciate clear thinking the most are the boys themselves. When they see the battle of Calvary going on right before them in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and realize the great honor and dignity there is in serving the King of kings and the Lord of lord, He who is the Prince of the Most Profound Peace at the very moment when He, Son of God and Son of the Immaculate Conception is laying down His life for us — so, so majestic in His love — it is then that these boys flock to the altar not only to become Altar Boys, but to become — Dare they aspire to this?!?! — to become seminarians and, hopefully, one day, priests of The Priest, wanting to share the very greatest love of their lives that they have come to know in this way.
- There is a sharp increase in vocations to the priesthood: Parishes which have a superbly, respectfully offered Mass, using only Altar Boys, are often the only source of vocations to the priesthood in the entire diocese or region. This is true again and again and again. This is the way to go for the future of the Church.
- There is a sharp increase in vocations to the religious life: Truly. Girls are inspired by the manly service of the altar that they see being done by their male friends, and they start thinking about joining, say, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Charlotte, or the Missionaries of Charity. Yikes! And we all benefit.
Great! So, why not do it?! Exactly! Let’s get to it!
P.S. By the way, decades ago there was a program called Knights of the Altar. Are there any good initiatives like that today that could be taken up by a parish which, from scratch, wants to start training some youngsters in for service at the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? That’s what I would like to know. Anyone?
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Father Byers, Amen! I remember my nephews and their joy at first Holy Communion excitedly proclaiming that in the future they could be priests, bishops or the pope! By the age of Confirmation, after attaining “service points” for cleaning up after fish fries, they are withdrawn and sullen in regards to service to the Church. Without a male only service at the Altar, Altar service has morphed into an occasion of “I am woman, hear me roar”, and the young man takes flight into the one dominion that is still, observably, his own, – sports. I don’t understand so much of what goes on. I do understand what is seen. I love the video, I pray we see this more in our parishes.
I can’t stand all that fake feminism. Fake feminism is what leads women down the road to abortions, illicit affairs, and acting like the worst and meanest men.
Father, Today there is an ache in my heart. I am 71 and was going to be an alter server. I am not a feminest by any means though I am an activist for native american rights. I am very traditional in how I view the Mass and would never touch a consacreted host. The Parish I attend is very modern and I am not that happy with the way the Mass is celebrated but I can not afford to travel to a more traditional church. In chooseing to serve I did not think of being a woman only I would be at the foot of the Cross during the consacreation. I will now withdraw my name. Thank you for the clarity. May all be blessed…
Cathy: May the Lord bless you super abundantly! Don’t take what I said to heart for yourself! Yikes! We all understand, of course, that this is the way things have been for 40 some years, and it all seems super normal, and there is a permission for this! I’m very happy you know what I was after with this. I think that you are the exception, most blessed, which proves the rule. Yikes!
Technically, women should not serve as lectors, cantors or leaders of song. In many instances, we do because we’re the only ones willing and/or available to serve. Reclaim service on the altar by the sons, and we can hope to get the fathers, grandfathers and uncles serving around the altar again.
FWIW, both my son and my daughter were altar servers, often serving together, while I was cantor or lector and their father was an usher.
Besides obvious roles such as youth choirs (NOT for everyone), where do you suggest we have young girls serve their parish? I find the children are willing, it’s the parents that have to be convinced! I will serve where ever I’m sent, as ever…
Colleen: There is a service that is most hidden and thankless if it is done in a ho-hum manner. But if it is done with enthusiasm, the work shines for all to see, and there are many thanks to be had from all and sundry. The Sacristy! Think for a moment and give this a chance: If the altar linens were done spectacularly, with all the special care for the purificators and corporals, but also the altar cloths and vestments, the amices and albs, the whole of it… needing a big budget, really, and therefore a… Ladies Altar Guild… You get the idea.
Also, the grounds of the Church, and the flowers inside the Church (appropriate to liturgical times) can be ho-hum and boring, or, if done with enthusiasm, for the Lord, a work with which one can give one’s heart and soul. And people see this, if done with enthusiasm. This changes their idea altogether of the importance of what is going on at Mass. Take a look at the video again. It’s the little things that change a culture, little things done with great care. This always but always sets people on their heels. And there is much to offer the Lord in all this.
I remember in the Seminary, I was in charge of the grounds. I was rather enthusiastic. I was doing everything just normally, but with care, diligence, enthusiasm. People would stop on the street all the time and offer compliments, so much did respect for the Lord affect them deeply. Little did they know that I was going over again and again in my head Saint Louis de Montfort’s Consecration to Jesus through Mary. The time flew in union with the Lord. I just loved it.
It not so much what you do but how you do it, Who you do it for. There are roles, however. That’s how God made us. And we really need to encourage vocations for everyone’s sake. Always look at the big picture.
Father, thean you for your kind reply. There so many things we can do for the Lord. Even cleaning the toilets can be a blessing. It is what is in our heart and spirit that is most important. Than our work becomes a prayer.
Blessings
Cathy: Oh my! The toilets I’ve cleaned! Oh my! Yikes! Yes, I agree!
Our church (which only has boys serving) does the Knights of the Altar still, but we also have a TLM. They have all the boys from the ordinary and extraordinary in the Knights group. It took a little adjusting because the Knights of the Altar group was designed for the TLM, but they got it to work. There are so many boys serving now.
Fr. George,
Out of the 22 men in the seminary in my diocese, five are from my small parish of 430 families. We are one of the few parishes in the diocese that does not have altar girls. We have boys of all ages serving, from ten years old up to college age men. I love how the older ones look after the younger ones, and the younger ones are so serious and you can tell they are just thrilled to have the opportunity to serve. They all dress nicely and look great in their cassocks. I agree the albs look tacky. As for the girls, on Weds nights at Mass the girls serve as ushers and take up the collection and present the gifts and they love doing that. They also help our Ladies Altar Guild clean the church. The feminists went off the rails when they defined “equal” as “same.” Men and women are not the same and no amount of feminist rhetoric can change that fact. Equal does not mean same. Men and women were created by God to fulfill different roles in life, to be complementary to each other, not to be the same.
Teresa, yes, exactly. I know of parishes where there have been dozens of vocations, with none elsewhere. Actually, that’s a misstatement. There are always abundant vocations. The question is, do we encourage them?
Great article Father. Thankfully most of the parishes in my diocese are pretty firmly entrenched in having only boy altar boys. I started serving when I was 8, the same year we switched to cassock and surplice, even though it had always been boys. We have dozens of altar boys and organized teams, with “Master Servers” in charge of each one, who wear a nicer surplice. Everything is taken very seriously, and they really are top notch servers.
I see it as being able to serve not only God, but also neighbor. What a wonderful gift our great God gives us by allowing us to serve all the women in our parishes. We are allowed to be true men and stand behind them to ensure they get to heaven. This is what being a gentlemen truly means. By serving as a priest, the man brings Christ to his parishioners. How do we not see the fact that this is not for the priest, but is a call to service. It is not about you, it is about God and bringing God to others.
In Montreal, there’s only one church, led by priest J.-Réal Bleau, where the Tridentine Mass is performed. God bless him, because this Mass is the sole reason I’m trying to come back to the christian fold.
On topic: It’s wonderful to see boys, and sometimes young boys, co-performing this complicated rite with stone-cold excellence.
[Ooops! Edit... Sorry kateshon. I'm sure you'll understand that the peace of the hermitage does not admit of such citations from a certain source. I do believe, however, that you will most interested in some other posts I've written about similar.... um.... prose efforts:
http://holysoulshermitage.com/2013/01/26/why-the-priest-places-his-forearms-on-the-altar-at-the-consecration/
and also here with links:
http://holysoulshermitage.com/2013/01/27/everybodys-a-marxist-homosexualist-infiltrator-but-me-she-shrieked-hysterically/
And after reading those, I'm sure you'll question whether or not anyone ought to be taking even financial advice from certain sources. ]
“Masculinity is all about sacrifice to the other, no matter the cost.”
– Michael Voris
Good video!
One of the blessings of attending a Pius X chapel is the absence of Alter Girls. The Latin Mass is growing on me, as well.
What was gibberish a year ago, is now holy.
Praise the Lord!
Alan Thomas
[Alan. Yes. But don't forget that in a growing number of parishes that are interested in promoting vocations, there are no longer Girl Altar Boys. Also, don't forget Summorum Pontificum of the great Benedict XVI. Also, don't forget that they do NOT have faculties for marriage or Confession, as Benedict explicitly said that they have no pastoral mandate. And they accept Benedict XVI. It is dangerous, spiritually, to long associate yourself with a group that continues to reject the invitations of Benedict XVI. Time is running out. Insist that the Extraordinary Form be celebrated in your parish or within a reasonable distance in your diocese. It is your right to insist. A word to the wise. Please read this comprehensive post on the subject of faculties here on HSH: http://holysoulshermitage.com/2012/08/01/eglise-saint-nicolas-du-chardonnet-a-confessional-experience-no/ ]