What Altar Boys Can Do That Altar Girls Can’t
This past week the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released the findings from the 2014 Survey of Ordinands to the Priesthood. Prepared by Georgetown’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) for the USCCB, the survey was completed by 365 ordinands, which constitutes a 77 percent response rate. At nearly 30 pages, there is a great deal of data to digest.
While the USCCB press release focused on areas such as the ethnicity and median age of this years ordinands, something far more interesting was tucked in at the bottom of the release.
Of the 365 men surveyed this year, a whopping 80 percent had been altar boys during their formative years. In comparison, only 52 percent of ordinands had been lectors, less than a third had been youth ministers and only 15 percent had ever attended a World Youth Day or a Steubenville Youth Conference.
Don’t just read that and move on. Truly ponder the implications of this statistic: eight of ten ordinands surveyed were altar boys growing up. 80 percent. This is the stat everyone needs to know. In all honesty we must acknowledge the very real correlation between serving and discerning. The survey has revealed this to us in the past, and confirms it yet again this year.
Now consider this. In August 2010, Rome hosted the International Pilgrimage for Altar Servers, an event organized by Coetus Internationalis Ministrantium and held every five years. For the first time ever, the 2010 turnout had more girls than boys attending. Much like the statistical representation found in many parishes today, the pilgrimage of servers resulted in a 60:40 ratio of girls to boys.
Now here is another number to consider: zero. That’s the number of altar girls who will go on to become priests in the Catholic Church.
As I have written about before, the exclusive use of altar boys serving at Mass is helping to facilitate discernment and vocations within many parishes, often where both forms of the Roman Rite are reverently offered. This is in many ways one of the fruits of Summorum Pontificum, and it must continue.
As stated earlier, we must honestly acknowledge this correlation between altar boys and vocations to the priesthood. Understanding this, shame on us if we do nothing to reverse the trend in parishes where fewer and fewer boys are serving.
80 percent or zero? Think about it.
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Posted on May 17, 2014, in liturgy and tagged altar boys, altar girls, altar servers, cara, ordinands, survey of ordinands 2014, usccb. Bookmark the permalink. 324 Comments.
liturgy guy 
One of the principle reasons that boys don’t become servers is that there is nothing to do. At most, they process up the aisle at the beginning, sit down, maybe hand the water and wine to the celebrant, kneel down, and process back down the aisle.
In the olden days, altar servers were important participants in the Mass, setting up the altar, including lighting the candles (FIRE!), having memorized the responses to the prayers of the priest (in Latin!!!), moving the priest’s missal when needed, ringing bells (NOISE!). assisting with the paten at Holy Communion, handling the cope and the censer at Benediction, carrying the crucifix or a candle during processions, etc. That was important, and it was fun.
Today, as an adult, I still serve twice a week and adition to all that, I also occasionally serve as a lector.
I agree with the author. A friend of mine wrote a book about priests, who all said that it was their exposure to the altar as servers, (some from the 60s) that was the catalyst for their vocations. I just came from a beautiful, extremely reverent Novus Ordo with 2 young adult men and two 12 or 13 year old boys serving. They were such an inspiration, due to their demeanor…of prayerfulness. I can only assume, this is due to the fact that they know what is going on…that Heaven is coming to earth, in the Holy Eucharist. The feminists were behind pushing little girls to the sanctuary, in order to get the faithful used to seeing females at the altar! It was their aspiration and did not come from the girls initially. It is obvious that the pendulum is swinging back the other way. The religious orders that are growing in leaps and bounds are those that hold to the ages old traditions of The Church. Girls and women have their own unique charisms and God-given purpose…and do not need to prove anything by their presence in the sanctuary.
I attend a FSSP parish. The altar boys about 65 still do all those things. And I do stress the word boys. Deo Gracias!
Thank you for your comment. Thankfully this is not the case everywhere. The EF Mass, following the 1962 Missal, requires a great deal of participation from the servers. Additionally, an OF Mass offered at a parish which offers both forms will typically require more from its boys as well.
Our alter boys still do all of that (sans the Latin…at least most of the year). Of course, I also live in one of the few remaining dioceses that only allows male alter servers (Lincoln, NE). We happen to have one of the highest per capita seminarian rates in the country. Coincidence? I think not.
Saying that girls shouldn’t serve at the altar because they can’t become priests is like saying a kid shouldn’t play soccer because he won’t become a professional athlete (albeit the chances are greater than zero, but still essentially zero for the majority of the population). The experience still matters, and has an important role in shaping that child’s life.
As a woman and a Catholic, I am kind of offended by this article. True, I was never an altar girl, but I think any girl who wants to should be able to do so without being told that they are taking away from a boys chance to “discern”. They have as much right to serve God in that way as any boy, no matter what gender they were born into.
Oh, and as a scientist: CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION.
With that, peace out.
I agree with you, Maddy. Having this “girls shouldn’t do this” attitude is just bad news. Women need the chance to discern too. What about entering the convent? Is that not a valid religious vocation?
God’s children should not have the opportunity to serve taken away from them because they were born a certain gender.
Thank you! I was starting to lose faith in humanity.
With respect to your concern for vocations to the consecrated religious life – a concern I share very sincerely – how does serving at the altar aid discernment? It’s helpful for boys because it’s a practical part of the vocation… What benefit is there for girls?
Fr. Ryan, allow me to enlighten you. I was an altar server. So were a lot of consecrated women religious. Being an altar server, being that close to the Consecration of the Eucharist was inspiring, learning how to be reverent and assisting at Mass definitely contributed to my vocation. In addition, it prepared me for similar roles as a Sister. Believe it or not, Sisters are still called upon to help the priests. As a novice, I was expected to lay out the chausuble and stole for the priest and put it away, light the charcoal, light the Easter Vigil candle, to name just a FEW of many tasks (which included altar serving). Without my prior training as an altar server, I would have been more overwhelmed than I already was, since I had to do these things in front of 200 seasoned Sisters with all of their eyes on me. If you went to Catholic School, you know the pressure.
With respect to your position Maddy, the Catholic Church has never believed – as many scientists and modern philosophers do – that men and women are the same or even equal. Women – and women only – have the ability to co-create new life with God. It would follow quite logically that men – and men only – have the ability to do something for which they are uniquely capable before God. If we believe that God ordained the male-only priesthood, then we have to also believe God created the fundamental differences between male and female – anatomical, biological, psychological and spiritual.
Certainly the vocations angle is insufficient as proof in and of itself, but the author doesn’t assert that. He asserts that it’s a very good reason. What’s more, while his correlation is formally post ergo propter hoc, the correlation is a very compelling one. It’s just not definitive… As a logician and a priest, I would argue that the author’s assertion is objectively reasonable and a bit more objective than your own. It is not degrading to the dignity of women to say that they should not serve the altar – I think it could be argued that it is rather more degrading to women to say that they must be in order to be considered of equal value.
So well put Father! I think those who see nothing wrong with little girls serving may want to think about the harm to them if they should happen to get the idea they should serve as a priest too.
Thank you Father!
Thank you for your comment Fr. Humphries. Indeed, my post is intentionally narrow in its focus. The data from the CARA study is compelling and worth considering. I appreciate you taking the post simply as it was intended and for clearly stating for readers the separate, unique and distinct beauty of women. Different roles, but equal in dignity.
Take care Father!
I’m sorry Father, but with all due respect I disagree that the Church has never believed that the men and women are equal. Catechism of the Catholic Church, part one, chapter one, 369: “Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman”. Can you perhaps expand on what you meant?
totally agree Father ❤
we are equal but different and have certain strengths and weaknesses. I won't encourage my daughters to serve at the altar but there are plenty of other ways to help out at the church ❤
What harm would it be if women were to be priests? Truly it would bring more good into this world. Why are men so afraid? Because they will lose power. Why does the church refuse to acknowledge the respect Jesus gave to women and the presence they had in his life. Women make great spiritual leaders and it is sad that the Catholic Church is so afraid of to admit maybe they have been wrong in the past…many many times.
“They have as much right to serve God in that way as any boy.”
No, actually, they don’t. There is no “right” of anyone to serve at the altar.
The 1994 permission to allow bishops to decide whether to allow their priests to use female alter servers is just that – a permission. It’s not preceptive – it’s an exception. John Paul II was clear that male alter servers were still considered normative. As the Pope stated in the document, “It will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar. As is well known, this has led to a reassuring development of priestly vocations. Thus the obligation to support such groups of altar boys will always continue.”
There are dioceses, parishes and priestly societies which do not employ this permission, and adhere to the norm of only using male alter servers.
Women do not solely have the ability to Co create life and nor is that what the Catholic Church teaches. It takes both an ovum and sperm to create life. This is why the church is against contraception isn’t it?
“They have as much right to serve God in that way as any boy, no matter what gender they were born into.”
That would be zero. Nobody has a right to serve at the altar.
i 100% agree with you, Maddy, I’m a youth worker and I know that having young people on the altar really engages them in the mass and particularly the consecration. I believe it does aid in a woman’s discernment to the religious life for that very reason.
Both my daughter and son are altar servers. My daughter is very reverent, the most experienced server in our parish, and trains the little boys. Many times she fills in when a scheduled server doesn’t show up, which happens quite often. She has also brought up the possibility of becoming a nun. I feel any child that is interested should be encouraged to serve. Let’s face it, the girls are not ‘taking away’ the chance for boys to serve…most kids aren’t interested, and parishes are in need of servers. If the Church allows girls as servers, who are we to say we know better? Yes, there is a shortage of priests, but I think it’s safe to say most priests were strongly influenced by, and have a close relationship with their mother. Just as serving increases the likelihood of a boy becoming a priest, it also instills a reverence in the girls that translates to religious expression either as a nun or a loving, Catholic mother, which in turn leads to more priests. All children should be welcomed.
What must also be considered is how boys often do not want to do what girls do, until of course they reach that age when they are interested in girls. Most young boys will avoid doing something they see as a girl thing to do. In some parishes I have witnessed and been told by others, where there are girls at the alter, boys, at the age best for them to get involved, refuse to serve. This is something that should be considered. Just as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion should not be invited to serve when they are not needed, so too where there are plenty of boys to serve they should be given first opportunity.
Maddy this is not your role to argue for humanity.
You talk about losing your faith in humanity? Well guess what dear, catholic faith is about faith in God, the God-Man Jesus Christ. It is not about humanity, humanism or naturalism, or democracy, or feminism, or whatever socialist agenda that you seem to be bent on defending.
IT is people like you who are harming the Church by defending ideas that have logical or theological grounding but just emotional appeal and silly rebelliousness, like teenager.
Have you noticed Maddy, we need Priests. We don’t need soccer players.
Yes, I have noticed. But it is not female servers that are at fault. My only point was that the logic in this article was faulty. He cites scientific studies but then does not interpret them correctly. And you miss the point of my argument. It was not that we need soccer players; it was that keeping a child from playing soccer because they probably were not going to end up as a professional would cause that child to miss out on the important things you learn in a team sport. Like how to be physically active, how to work on a team, fellowship, etc. Similarly, why should women be kept from serving (or discouraged from doing so) just because they can’t become priests? Are they not deserving of the positive benefit that serving at mass can have on a child? That is my point.
I think the lack of priests (and even the declining numbers of altar boys) is due to other issues. Like the declining “authority” of the church in our society (I am not getting into that right now though, waaaay too long of a discussion and I have exams to study for). But I’ll sum it up this way: keeping girls from serving will not increase the number of boys doing so. It will just decrease the number of servers overall. Because it is not girls that keep boys from being active in these areas. It is the lack of drive on the part of the boys that keeps them from wanting to serve. Maybe we should focus on changing that rather than taking girls out of the equation altogether.
Actually, you are very incorrect on saying, “keeping girls from serving will not increase the number of boys doing so. It will just decrease the number of servers overall. Because it is not girls that keep boys from being active in these areas.”
Firstly, parishes that changed from allowing to disallowing female altar servers have been shown to have a large increase – usually 200 to 300% increase in total altar servers. There is lots of information out there you can look up yourself.
Secondly, it is the girls that keep the boys from being active. Plain and simple. I was one of those boys myself. Little boys do not want to serve with little girls. Think back to 2nd grade…boys and girls were aliens to each other and they had cooties. It’s no different as an altar server. When the women start getting involved in visible leadership in the parish, we see a common theme over and over: the men stop doing things. When young boys see a bunch of women doing everything – teaching CCD, Lectoring, Cantoring, serving, etc. that makes us not want to do them. But as a young boy, seeing men doing these things, and be near the altar, and incense – it gives us desire to be a priest. Boys don’t look up to women, they want to be a man. And when they see women doing everything as Mass, they sure as heck don’t want to have anything to do with that. Do you understand this? It has nothing to do with degrading women. Do you go to daily mass and see 40 women and 2 men? Is this a problem?
Dioceses that do not have female altar servers such as Lincoln have the highest percentage of priests per capita. Usually 400-500% higher than the national average. Did you hear that? 5 priests with no altar girls vs. 1 priest with altar girls.
I believe if Holy Mother Church says girls may be altar servers, it’s o.k. for girls to be altar servers. If Holy Mother Church reverses her permission to give girls this wonderful opportunity then it will be time for girls not to serve. The way I understand it, as practicing Catholics, our job is to conform ourselves to the teachings and current disciplines of the Church and to trust her guidance, and to teach our children to do the same. All changes take time to adapt to, but we can trust when we are seeking to obey, rather than to protest, the guidance of the Catholic Church, God will be pleased with our efforts.
I agree. I think boys wouldn’t feel like serving is neat to do if too many girls are there. Sounds like something my brother would say…
What Holy Mother Church says in disciplinary matters such as this is not always prudent or wise – and I think history will judge St. John Paul II’s decision (which apparently was reluctant) to allow this abuse (which is how it started) official recognition a real mistake.
At the end of the day, male alter servers are the norm under law and tradition, and pastors have the authority in their hands to decide whether to also use girls as well. There is nothing amiss in working to support and urge a decision that stays with the tradition on this.
agreed
Maddy, having faith is in believing and supporting what is. It is not to change. That is up to God. If a girl is called to the concecrated life, then God will call her. Serving the Mass has nothing to do with it.
Reblogged this on Ciara Butler.
Last night I attended a Mass to celebrate our retired pastor’s 50th anniversary of Ordination. From the altar, he gave a shout out to 2 nuns and a married couple who also celebrated such longevity. I turned to see who, and where they were, because I was sitting close to the front. To my surprise, some people were clapping and smiling at me! Perhaps I was the only woman veiled, and it happened to be a Marian blue.
My point is that I grew up seeing nuns in church, and I knew that they took care of the altar laundry and the priestly vestments, the flowers and the candles. Now, you can’t tell them from any ordinary Jane Doe. Yes, I wanted to be an altar server like my brothers, but then I found out there were ways that a girl can serve that boys can’t.
Excellent comment Marie. In our contemporary culture many fail to understand that serving in different ways doesn’t reflect being more or less important. To acknowledge that boys and girls are different, and have different roles, is healthy. People have been conditioned to think that if anything is “off limits”, someone is being denied their “rights”. The Church has always recognized the individuals dignity precisely because it extols the beauty of differences between the sexes.
Maddy, my experience has been that when the office of Altar server is restored to Altar Boy, there is an increase in the number of boys willing to serve. In my parish, we can have as many as a dozen boys serving any given Mass because our pastor doesn’t limit the number. If a boy wants to serve, he serves. In my old parish, the girls outnumbered the boys 3-1, only three altar servers were assigned each Mass, and the boys were happy to let the girls run the show. And, if it’s a girl’s show, the boys tend to stay away. Pope St. John Paul II only allowed girls so that parishes that needed assistance and were short handed from the boys could get the help needed by the girls. Although our bishop has clearly stated this to be the way our parishes should run, we have pastors who will not say “no” to girls even though there are boys willing to server every Sunday. I know this to be true because it is exactly what happened to my son – who now serves every Sunday, sometimes more than one Mass.
I believe what the Liturgy Guy is saying is important, it’s not about equality or any other “girls are as good as boys” point of view. This is one area of our faith that allows us (girls) an opportunity for humility, an act of charity to step aside because we know that serving at the altar does influence vocations.
Very well said Mary Paul. Thank you for your comment.
Only men can be priests, therefore only boys should serve Mass.
Has any research been done on the percentage of altar girls that go on to be religious sisters, extraordinarily good Catholic mothers or civic leaders faithful to Holy Mother Church?
I think this is an insightful point. I’m not sure I understand the emotion here. Any child who wishes to serve at the altar should be permitted consideration: the more the better. We’re not talking liturgical dance here; I don’t see a problem if reverence is followed. As far as the 80% statistic cited in the piece, it seems spurious to assert that this tells the whole story. To understand the complete picture, one would have to analyze also what became of the girls who served as altar servers. If a high number, for example, pursue religious life, that would seem to nullify the argument entirely.
Yes, Karl, agreed – as we certainly need devout religious sisters and nuns, extraordinarily good Catholic mothers and women civic leaders faithful to Jesus Christ and the Magisterium of the Church as well as good, faithful priests and deacons, as well.
Hi Jan. As a father of five, four of whom are girls, I completely agree that children have many wonderful ways to serve. First and foremost, we all must seek to pray the Mass better. I think sometimes folks get hung up on the doing, and less on the being.
Here is a link to the 2014 CARA study of men and women religious who made their perpetual vows in 2013. Of the women surveyed, only 16% had ever served altar. Compare this to teaching faith formation (54%) and singing in choir (48%), and you can see that serving the altar effects boys differently. The Italian word/slang for altar boys is chierichetto, which means little clergymen. That about says it all. Vocations boom now as they did in the past where the Catholicism is authentic and where truth, beauty and goodness are demonstrated. This tends to be where the sacred is winning over the secular.
God bless!
Click to access profession-class-2013-report.pdf
Well we all have our opinions and it’s good we all take our Faith and the need for vocations seriously! If Holy Mother Church is led by God to take away the privilege of serving at the altar from girls I am sure it will be accomplished. God is in control, always has been, always will be. May His holy will be done.
You dwell too much on what boys can do that girls can’t. Trust in God’s providence and you will see what is the true source of vocations.
RM, I simply observe two things: CARA reports that 80% of the soon to be ordained men were once altar boys and that girls cannot be ordained. I humbly acknowledge that the ultimate source of vocations, as all good things, comes from God. I also trust in Divine Providence. I accept that the People of God can disobediently oppose His will. One example is contraception. Marriages which should be a source of new life are often sterile because man shuts out God. That is more the gist of this post. God has used servers as a source of priestly vocations traditionally, but we have interfered with this. By the way, this is not the only reason for our vocational crisis, not even the primary reason IMHO, but it is worth noting.
God bless.
Holy Mother Church teaches against contraception – Holy Mother Church teaches contraception, is in fact, a grave evil. Holy Mother Church does not teach against girls being allowed to serve Our Lord and His Church as an altar server – Holy Mother Church allows girls to be altar servers.
I think we too often think of the roles of men in the Church as somehow more important than the roles filled by women. That is the thing to be overcome. And it won’t be overcome by men assuming the roles of women, or women assuming the roles of men.
My years in major seminary in the 1990s were an object lesson in the weirdness that surfaces when there is confusion about this. I wrote a post about it on my blog:
I’m not sure I follow the logic in this piece. Is the assumption that because girls are allowed to be altar servers, fewer boys are also serving, and thus fewer boys are becoming priests? If that is the line of reasoning, I’m sorry, but the conclusions being drawn are a joke.
“The conclusions being drawn are a joke.” Thank you for offering nothing but an attack. Interesting rebuttal.
My intention, first and foremost, was to highlight this common trait (or experience) shared by 80% of this years ordinands. For purposes of personal agendas, this tends to be ignored by most Catholics with a microphone. That 80% were altar boys is huge.
Now, if you disagree with my take on this, we can also defer to a priest who has experienced this firsthand, and has blogged on it. Please read the following by Fr. Hollowell:
http://on-this-rock.blogspot.com/2013/09/statistics-concerning-male-altar-servers.html
Ok, then how about this for reasoning: It turns out that 68% of priests also enjoyed playing sports as young boys. Wow, we should not allow girls to play sports, to leave more room for boys to play sports, in hopes of fostering more vocations to the priesthood.
Listen Liturgy Guy, maybe there ARE valid arguments for returning to boys only altar servers – I personally don’t think so, but for the sake of argument, maybe there are valid reasons. Your argument is not one of those valid reasons. Sorry.
John Scott, if sport happened to be sacrosanct and the most important thing that could possibly happen at any given moment, that nobody -boy or girl- were worthy to partake in, but that evidence was given that suggested that a vast majority of priests received their vocation to the priesthood by playing sports, and that the addition of girls, by human nature, greatly reduced the number of boys and the number of vocations, then it actually WOULD be a valid argument to say that boys only should play sports.
But is that an accurate description of sport? No, because comparing two different things produces two different conclusions. I would watch your tone when replying to people on the internet. You’ve gotten flustered and angry because of this article for whatever reason and your emotion has dictated your thinking – that is a feminine quality in a man. There was no valid reason for you to be snappy to Liturgy Guy.
Both of my kids, My son and my daughter are Altar Servers and they love it. They actively participate. They Carry in a Torch, Help with the Altar Cloths, help the priest wash his hands and many other things. I am glad that my daughter has this chance to participate because I never did as a youth….I know that my daughter will never be a priest, but it might push her along to a religious life as a nun or help her to become more active in the Church as an adult!
JoAnna, thank you for your comment. This is what my pastor explained to me following a return to altar boys only about 5 years ago at our parish:
“I think what’s interesting for our parish is that since we’ve separated the boys and girls, both are happier in their duties.
Moreover, we’ve had two girls who’ve participated in the Maria Goretti Altar Guild go into religious/consecrated life, and three young men head off to the seminary.
We’ve got another young man slated for the seminary next year. And I’m quite sure that many of my (current) altar boys are considering the seminary.”
In my experience, when priests take a personal approach to mentoring male servers more vocations to priesthood occur. God willing, more female religious orders will move into parishes and be an example too. Until then, visiting religious females, EWTN, and evangelical outreaches will hopefully expose young ladies to a possible vocation.
Excellent comment Thomas, thank you! Yes, something tells me that habited sisters teaching Catholic children for decades served as a deeply profound example to many young women. Same for Catholic nurses in Catholic hospitals I would imagine.
At our parish, the cloistered Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration have quite the fan club of young girls. The Nashville Dominicans have also frequently visited the diocese too. Amazing how such basic, traditional, witnesses to the faith still work. We spent decades as a Church breaking and then we try to reinvent instead of restoring. God bless!
No one seems to have made an overt reference to adolescent psychology. The fact is that boys from about 8 to 12 years of age prefer to be around other boys, and they shy away from being around girls. It’s no accident that parishes that have both altar boys and altar girls tend to have few of the former. This is just human nature at work.
Yes, there are parishes with equal numbers of boy and girls serving and parishes with consistently more boys than girls serving, but I’m writing about the most common situation. (In my line of work I have had reason to visit lots of parishes.)
It’s also true that parishes with male-only servers produce more priestly vocations than do comparably-sized parishes with male and female servers.
You are right!
What about girls who are altar servers becoming nuns as a vocation? Is there any research into that? It would be interesting, if there was such a correlation.
There is research. There is no correlation.
Click to access profession-class-2013-report.pdf
Do you think it is valid to draw a definitive conclusion from one study on the correlation between girls serving at the altar and entering religious life when it has only been since 1994 that the decision to let bishops decide whether to allow girls to or not was made? I see a lot of percentages quoted in some of the posts with no references to where the percentages come from.
where the percentages come from. I wonder if we would see pro
I have heard it said that God always calls a sufficient number of men to the priesthood. Do you believe the number of men responding to God’s call is insufficient?
This is the third year that the study published specific numbers on altar serving, and the highest number published (10%, 15%, 16%).
For the latest study, it has been 19 years since the (licit) introduction of altar girls, which would mean that we should be seeing the statistical effect.
http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/vocations/consecrated-life/profession-class/
And yes, there most certainly is an insufficient number of young men answering the call.
Chris I would not think 19 years is sufficient to see a statistical difference in the outcome of vocations from serving as an altar girl, especially since churches have been slow at best to accept this practice and there is still much opposition. Additionally, I believe serving at the altar will benefit both boys and girls in many ways in addition to adding young men to the vocation of priesthood.
My parish growing up was one of the last in the region to allow altar girls, the day the permission was received. Most parishes already had them in place (another issue).
Servers usually start between ages 7 and 13, which would make the first “class” of altar girls 26-32, with young women who started serving older or prior to the official start date, let’s say 37 years old. This group would coincide (very well, I might add) with the half of the women making religious profession in the study. If that group had the same rate of serving as their male companions, the number would be ~28%, not 16%.
You’re just a hate mongerer who does not love God or His Church.
You are polluting us with your feminism.. Go read Saint Paul and understand what it means to be a woman in the Church.
Sorry, but this article is sadly misguided. Without girls doing these jobs, many Masses would have zero Altar servers–and that would simply be wrong. Altar server is an important role. It offers young Catholics an opportunity for stewardship–sharing their time and talents. It is not surprising that 80% of priests were once Altar servers. Stewardship brings one closer to God. At the same time, how many great Catholic women do we now have in key leadership positions in our churches because of early experiences with such roles as the Altar server? The thinking behind this article seems antediluvian and wholly inconsistent with the well-publicized views of our Holy Father, Pope Francis. Peace.
“How many great Catholic women do we now have in key leadership positions in our churches because of early experiences with such roles as the Altar server?” Good question, John, probably not many since girls haven’t been altar servers for more than about 20-25 years. Do you know of any?
About your other comment, “Without girls doing these jobs, many Masses would have zero Altar servers”, I have witnessed in four parishes in our diocese an increase in the number of boys who serve Mass when the girls are no longer allowed to do so. Our only problem is that sometimes we don’t have enough servers so that we can have a thurifer and the processional torches. But there are never zero servers.
This is not the case in my former parish where girls served and only three servers were ever assigned to any given Mass. There, for some Masses, we often has only one server, or someone had to be pleaded with to serve those Masses. Having girls didn’t help one bit.
Karl keating nailed it!
Honestly I believe it has way more than only boys being altar servers and girls being altar servers. Boys are not encouraged by their families anymore to be priests. Families encourage their children to become doctors, lawyers, big wigs and becoming a priest is not something that is encouraged in our culture at all. Sports take presidence over church and serving. I know here sports comes before God. If you don’t teach your children to serve God first, no altar serving position will matter to them. Boys are always calling off due to sports events and the parents never tell them, ” NO, you have to serve first.” If a boy is called to the priesthood he is going to become a priest regardless of having served with girls. Even in churches in our area that have only boys serving. Guess what? We have ZERO seminarians graduating this year.
homeschoollite – I agree that with a lot of families sports come before church. I am a Youth Director and have been for over 10 years and so many parents tell me, “my child can’t do xyz, because they have a game, or practice” or whatever is going on with their sport activities. I even had one parent say to me, if youth group conflicts with their child’s special group they were in, that they would not be in youth group because, youth group won’t get their child into college.
First off youth group will help your child get into college. There are studies that show if you have your child active <— key word there, not just going and sitting but actively involved in the church youth group they have better grades, make better choices, more involved in school and colleges like to see that your child was active in a morally anchored group, to them that means they have the possibility of being a responsible and mature person. I actually have had teens get some scholarships because of them being in youth group.
Either way make sure to have your child active as soon as possible, it gives them ownership of something within this community they go and see once a week. It builds self esteem and I believe it's important to educate the importance each gender has in the church. If any one says that women are less equal than you don't understand how the church was created. The church is the bride of Christ (female) and Christ died for his bride – for all of us. This is also the example for husbands. Women get so upset about the obey your husband they don't hear the next part where God tells the men that they must die for their bride. Ladies we are not called to die for our husband, we are called to obey them as they are head of the house and if your husband follows God than he knows he is to die of his selfish ways and let me tell you, when you have your house set properly they way God intended ladies you will be very happy. The same with I believe this study is trying to say, if we get back to the balance of what each gender's role is, we have the possibility of having more men discerning the priesthood and more ladies discerning the religious life and more discerning marriage as that is on a decline as well. No one is less equal. But it is our responsibility to have those opportunities available to them and I believe we are severely lacking in many churches.
May God's will be done now & forever. Amen
Yes, Karl Keating has it right….I have 5 sons and can testify that between 7 and 11 or 12, boys do not ‘like’ girls! It’s natural. I don’t think it’s right to force the issue. I’ve also been in parishes many a time when there were no altar servers and the priest handles it fine without. But of course, altar boys are the ideal. And again, I deplore the girls being used as pawns by the feminists as a strategy to gain acceptance for women priests, to begin with.
kudos!
I have two reasons girls should serve. First….for many it is the only contact they will ever have with religious orders, most masses do not have visible woman religious to set an example or even provide a spark of curiosity. Secondly – maybe if my parish priest had an alter girl or two serve for him at some point, he wouldn’t have laughed when I told him I felt a call to the religious life. Maybe if he had more experience with girls and young women serving the Lord he would have given me a second thought…… As a 19 year old college student it was the most devastating and life changing moment of my life.
okramsey – First I want to apologize, that is a horrible thing to have happen as there you are exposing yourself to what you feel God is possibly calling you to. But to me I don’t think having female altar servers would’ve made a difference, sadly there are just no other way to put it but bad priests out there that their years in the seminary did not truly help form them into the man of God he should be. They are human and like all of us make mistakes but that is un-excusable. I pray that you continue to go to church and hopefully have found peace. I know when your heart broke, Jesus’ broke right with yours. Not sure how long ago this was but maybe it’s something you can pray on and see what God would like you to do. Maybe start a ministry group to help young ladies navigate those waters of discerning the religious life and working and getting to know of the different orders available in your area. I know God is not done working through you. Go to Adoration, spend some time with Him, see what he speaks to you in your heart. I will be praying for you.
Most loving and gracious God, may you wrap your loving arms around your precious daughter and heal the hurt & anger that she has from that incident, so that she can move forward doing your will. May you place someone in her life to help be there and support her and guide her I ask this through Christ Our Lord now & forever. Amen.
Many blessings to you. I would love to hear your journey if you ever care to share it.
Thank you ~Jen
This post is so offensive. 1. You can have many alter servers at mass if a church wants. 2. many churches (especially small churches in remote areas) have a hard time finding any servers and would have no servers at certain masses if they confined it to boys. 3. The claim that only people discerning a priestly calling should be allowed to alter serve is demeaning to the service (of alter-serving) itself. Because, it is one of the only services where YOUTH CAN PARTICIPATE, yes future priests are important. But so are future mothers, and future religious women. Alter serving allows kids to grow in awareness, participation, and understanding of the sacrament of the eucharist and the mass. This is a miracle for all people, not just those called to be priests. I bet many of those priests had some very spiritual mothers, sisters, or women in their lives.
Also, alter service is not exclusive, the whole idea of Catholicism is that is “universal”. And you can add in alter servers at mass. So try to recruit more guys, great, but that doesn’t mean you need to exclude the girls. What this stat actually suggests is Priests mostly were kids whom had families highly involved in their churches while they were still young children. youth conferences can be 1 time thing, reading and ministering is usually once you are in your teens or older. This stat actually reflects more the formative years are important to stay involved, not that girls should be excluded. And the world needs religious parents too not just priests… desperately. If for no other reason, then to be highly involved in church and raise future priests.
The church is not about just gaining and maintaing priests, it’s about the flock, the community, the people. And alter-serving is a service offered by its people. not a selective application process to discern who has a holy enough of a future to partake.
“Because, it is one of the only services where YOUTH CAN PARTICIPATE, yes future priests are important.”
They could sing in the choir.
I remember being one of the first altar girls in our parish back in the 70s. As a girl, being told I could grow up and do whatever I wanted is not true. I wanted to be a priest! I think it is important for our daughters to learn that not everything is – or should be- an option and that is ok! My daughters can serve our parish in other ways.
Hi, Brian – I’ve been posting many of your excellent articles on the Facebook page of http://www.Communion-in-the-hand.org. This particular article was posted early this morning Pacific time. I wanted you to know that, so far, more than 1,500 people opened it. You hit a nerve. Keep them coming, and thank you!
Thank you for your kind words Barry. I appreciate your work at Communion in the Hand. Your apostolate is very important and the manner of reception of Communion is vital to the restoration of the sacred. Keep it up!
I don’t think this article is offensive but maybe I can add some insight. I’m a “altar girl” and I coordinated the altar servers in my parish for a few years. Please read on before having thoughts of flogging me for being a “feminist” Firstly I have to agree with Karl Keating on his observations regarding boys not being comfortable with girls at a certain age. I observed this first hand but also the fact that most (not all) girls who want to altar serve are more mature and outgoing than the boys. They are naturally better coordinated and quicker to learn from a young age. I always had to put in more effort with the boys and often they will let the girls get on with it, preferring to sit back and watch. As an altar server myself I agree that after some years you learn the prayers and words of the Mass as spoken by the priest, an important part of seminary training. I have never agreed with the idea of having woman priests by the way, as I understand the theology behind this and the interesting thing is that this became more certain in my mind the longer I served. The only problem is that few of the gentlemen in our parish will come forward to join this ministry.
I also have to agree with Lianna, that boy altar servers mostly come from parents who are faithful Catholics and have encouraged their children to join this ministry. Most of these families would be open to the idea of their children choosing the priesthood or religious life. One of the advantages that hasn’t been mentioned is that of increasing self confidence in children as it is a public ministry. In most churches there is no other ministry available for children this age so if you go the boys only route you have to have a ministry for girls in place that would allow them to serve the church publicly not hidden behind a flower arrangement. Most other ministries are only open to post-Confirmation teenagers. This article has relied heavily on stats but the above are my own observations. I live in a country where Catholics are in the minority and I also live 40 km from a large city but I know that in certain states in the US similar factors determine the dynamics of a parish. If we decided on boys only servers, our priest would often be alone at the altar as the girls outnumber the boys by far in catechism classes. Smaller families are the norm so this definitely is another problem for many of the traditions we hold dear in our Church.
The way to solve that Anna, is to grandfather in the girls who are serving now, then start a choir for the new girls. At a certain point, you will have enough boys. If not, recruit men. In a parish that has 275 Altar Boys, I can tell you, boys will come when men are there.
We also attend a small ethnic parish. They have no children per se. The men serve the Altar.
I will try to keep this short but I worry I may ramble a bit, apologies in advance.
Firstly being an altar server was incredibly important to my life as a Catholic. It let me participate in the mass in meaningful way as well as de-mystifying the clergy. I always felt much more confident than my non-server peers about being around clergy. Priests and Bishops were friendly humans to me, whereas they were terrifying pillars of authority to many others my age. While these experiences could be very useful in assisting priestly discernment, they are equally useful in raising confident Catholic children or maintaining a healthy Catholic lay life. I am confident that my experience as a server has had a big influence on the fact that I remain a practising Catholic today.
A lot of “statistics” are being thrown about here and many of them are troubling at least. A parish goes from co-ed to boys only altar servers and male participation sky rockets… I’m assuming this change didn’t happen in secret, I would imagine there was a push to encourage said boys to join up, including making them feel special by limiting the gender. Surely similar approaches could be attempted without excluding half of the population? By all means encourage more boys to be altar servers but is excluding girls the only way to go about this, seems to be rather limited thinking.
As others have said more eloquently already, your “correlation”* is somewhat self selecting. Men who become priests are likely to have been involved in the church from an early age and come from a family that encouraged participation. And a mother that has had a positive experience of the church from an early age is more likely to encourage her children to engage with the church in a positive way than any number of priests (important as priests are).
I have a lot more to say, but I feel others have expressed it already. Suffice it to say, I agree that serving can be important to boys who go on to become priests, but I don’t believe the solution being touted is in any way close to being proven and will be unequivocally bad for the girls that would be excluded. Also the problem of falling priest numbers is extremely unlikely to be in anyway restricted to this one issue.
* – while a correlation is implied, you haven’t actually even shown that, let alone causation. You’ve just said 80% of men who take orders where altar servers without any link to number of male servers or priests falling, we assume this to be the case but nothing is presented here. You also supply no overall numbers with your ratio which tells us nothing about the actual number of servers.
“…and will be unequivocally bad for the girls that would be excluded”
Only if they have an improper understanding of what participation in the liturgy actually is.
It bears repeating: No one, not even even males, has any “right” to serve at the altar. But the constant tradition of the Church, until the last couple of decades, has been to use only males in service at the altar.
I totally agree with the article! Women are equal but different… our wombs grow the babies with God. We are sacred so we veil. In our homes, our domestic church, men are fathers and are like Christ while women are like mother church…Christ’s bride. God made us and knows our needs and how we can be used to our full potential. It just makes sense to me.
I agree with what the majority of people have said on this subject. Having been a server for the majority of my life, and also discerning a call to the priesthood, I can quite easily say that serving has been a big part in my discernment and my reasoning. But the biggest reason for my discernment is that I feel CALLED by God to the priesthood. In my parish, the majority of servers are girls, and this has been the case since I first started serving at this parish, and as well as me, there are 2 other lads who are discerning a call, one due to be Ordained deacon next month please God. So I think for people to say that guys don’t want to serve because there are girl servers is wrong. I fully support female servers, I would also love to see more priests, but the point I’m trying to make is that if a lad does not feel called, then they won’t pursue
Will making your case be any harder now that The Altar Girl Pope has been canonized?
Was it dogma? Then no. There were many things JPII did that was less than saintly. Stating that someone is in heaven and is in the canon, doesn’t make their Earthly life free from mistake. Being a saint doesn’t mean that as a person they were mistake free. His name isn’t Jesus or Mary.
I am a former alter server and I find the vast majority of alter servets NOT engaged with the sacrifice of the mass. They proceed to the alter and sit, playing with their hands, daydreaming, and lost. They take the items to the alter, set them on the alter, then return to their seats. I am thankful to my preist that he demanded a good Catholic dicipline and focus and attension to the mass as a server.. I was honored and proud to be a server, now it seems anyone can serve because everone mist be allowed to serve, even of they do not have sufficient knowledge or maturity.
Was the purpose of the position of altar servers originally to bring boys into a pre-training mode to become priests?
I agree wholeheartedly. In our parish the girls now outnumber the boys, and fewer boys want to serve because they don’t want to serve with girls. Our pastor is thinking about placing a hold on accepting any more girl servers until there is at least a balance in the girl-boy server ratio. We need boy servers because the Bishop asks for them when he celebrates Confirmation and other ceremonies. I have to admit that while I loved and respected St. John Paull II, I wish that he had left well enough alone and not allowed female servers. It opened a Pandora’s Box that will be difficult to close.
Ridiculous article. Time to end pre-medieval tradition and let women be priests. Problem solved.
I will not let my sons be altar girls. Gender confusion is bad enough and to make boys wear the same dresses as girls will confuse them all the more. Men and Boys don’t want to do the same things and have to constantly be around Girls and Women. You can see this throughout all of society where men are choosing not to participate. On the altar you can see this every Sunday that there is only the occasional very young boy. To give in to the feminazis again means we admit that there is no problem. I invite all out there to also not allow your son or daughter on the altar in protest until altar girls are done away!
Oh Hank no one is asking any boys to be girls here for goodness sakes. There are many people, males and females, in favor of letting girls have an opportunity to serve Our Lord and His Church at the altar. Holy Mother Church has said it is permissible. I don’t see any girls (or their parents!) trying to prohibit boys from serving at the altar. And, by the way, I am not a feminist, I am a practicing Catholic woman trying my best to obedient to Christ and the Magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church.
In think there is a problem here with causation. The same type of family that would expect their child to be an altar server is the same type that would encourage and support a religious vocation — clergy or vowed religious. I would argue that both being an altar server and becoming a priest were both caused by the same family dynamic rather than one causing the other.
Excellent point – I believe you are correct on this observation.
Does serving not also allow a young girl to discern a vocation as a nun?
Statistically it does not appear to be a factor. According to CARA, of those women who made their perpetual vows in 2011, 2012 and 2013, 90%, 86% and 85% had never served altar. Remember too, those decades when American women were discerning a call and entering convents at the highest levels were prior to girls serving. From 180,000 women religious in 1965, down to 51,000 last year. Also, remember, girls who come from traditional communities wouldn’t be serving either as the Traditional Latin Mass does not permit for girls to serve (it follows the 1962 Missal and liturgical norms of that time).
Great question though Bea. Thank you!
Well, you know what they say about statistics…
My curiosity is this: how many active Catholic men were also altar boys? What’s the percentage there? Because really…. I would say 80% of the general population (men) also were altar servers. Not that the article doesn’t make a point. Altar serving of all the things listed (lector, youth minister, and attending WYD/Stubenville) is the most accessible to youth. Just sayin’
I’m a woman and I don’t like to see altar girls, though of course I see them frequently. They look dumpy in the robes, and frequently the priest does not know how to treat them. (An altar girl holding the lectionary against her chest can be an awkward and uncomfortable thing and a man does not realize that.) Further, because they are female, they attract more attention from the congregation. Females are the more beautiful sex. So essentially, it’s like the girls are up there on exhibition, although most wouldn’t realize it. Finally, theologically speaking, I believe the sanctuary during the liturgy is meant to represent the heavenly domain of God’s activity and the congregation represents man’s place in relationship to that domain. But God does not have a feminine relationship to mankind, rather a masculine one. God is the doer, the giver of grace, the protector and provider while mankind (male and female alike) are meant to be the receivers, the ones acted upon and responsive to his grace, bringing forth fruit with the cooperation of their own natures. When females are in the sanctuary during the liturgy, this symbolism is disrupted and it takes away from the meaning of the liturgy. And that alone is enough reason to be against females ministering on the altar during the liturgy.
EC God certainly has feminine aspects to His being:
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Jesus Christ) Matthew 23:39 (Revised Standard Version)
I believe men and women are meant to be both givers and receivers, as they are both created in the image and likeness of God, and God gives and He receives – He is in constant motion of giving and receiving loving communion in the unity of the Holy Trinity and we are all, through His great mercy and grace, called to participate in this incredible union of pouring out and receiving love!
EC – I love they way you explained the reason for why women cannot to be female. The Priest is in Persona Christi (spelling), that they are there representing Jesus and that relationship which He has with his bride, the church (us the congregation), as much as as women cannot represent Jesus as he is male, a male cannot be a bride as that is female. It is not the true balance that Jesus set up. And I encourage those that do not truely understand why women cannot be priest to read either of these books, The Good News about Sex & Marriage (It explains the roles of the husband and wife and not in a they have to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, but what the proper roles and responsibilities we have) same with if you read Theology of the Body for Beginners both by Christopher West.
I am curious about the twenty percent. How many of them were converts who didn’t have an opportunity to serve because they didn’t grow up in the church? What were the reasons for those who were raised Catholic for not serving?
Good point, 9% of respondents were converts and average age of conversion was 24.
There are two things we must bear in mind.
1. Boys are the ones who traditionally served mass.
Thus many people tend to prefer sticking to boys. And yes, traditionally, serving was the first step to priesthood, NOT to entering a convent.
2. The Church allows girls to serve.
Thus, there is no need to argue. We can have either sexes or both as our different parishes prefer, or are accustomed.
God Bless you all, may you find peace.
The Church allows girls to be allowed to serve. It does not require them in any diocese or even any priest.
And while no individual has a right to serve, male servers as a whole may not be forbidden in favor of female servers.
… Wtf? Obviously the problem is that altar girls don’t think they can be priests, not that there aren’t enough male servers to be priests… Jesus Christ, people!
Would like to see the results of a poll on how many girl altar servers enter convents or engage in educational projects on the parish level.Young people need spiritual direction,too learn how to pray -adoration,rosary pious devotions etc.Mass’s with themes,ballons;clowns,rap and whatever have distorted our childrens perception of the church.Vocations are created when parish priests do their job.
Boys replaced the role of the sub deacon in serving Mass in the worlds parishes.The order of the sub deacon was suppressed by the council.I enjoy praying the Mass with the two genders serving.By the way nuns in the Missions rang bells and distributed Holy Communion long before the council.Who do you think carry the Cross,lights and censer in processions in womens cloistered convents,thats right the nuns.
I don’t like this for a few reasons.
1. What percentage of Catholic boys, who are altar servers, go on to become an ordinant? I imagine it to be very low.
2. How many of the ordinants grew up during pre-vatican 2 times or shortly thereafter? I say this because many parishes were slow to allow for female servers and some still forebid it today.
3. Does the church really think that this is eroding the number of priests, and that the declining membership, molestation scandals, and corruption scandals have nothing to do with it? The new Pope is a step in the right direction but the damage has been done to the church and I don’t see the ills that it faces ending any time soon.
The last sentence is very misleading. 80% versus 0%. The 80% statistic is that 80% of those 365 priests had been altar servers. 0% of altar girls can become priests. Those are 2 different numbers. A more relevant comparative statistic would be “how many altar boys became priests?” to compare to the 0% of altar girls that became priests.
Also, the church has recognized women’s place in the church. Being an altar girl gives girls a sense of belonging in the church and can spark their own discernment and vocation process.
The girls in my sisters Parish formed a group with the blessing of their Priest. They call themselves, “Handmaidens of the Blessed Eucharist.” They assist at mass preparing the altar, they sit together, and sing as a group at special masses. They are veiled. Their choice.They have retreats, they visit Orders in the area. They visited one where the Nuns make stoles, robes, veils, habits, etc. They are quite a group. The really love to go to visit the Nuns and the Nuns really love for them to come. Our nieces are members of this group, They range in age from 6 to 14 right now. The youngest one is one of my nieces. She was a bit disappointed when her chosen name for their group was not picked. She wanted their name to be, “Unstoppable Force of Holiness.” 🙂
Too bad there is so much narrow mindedness in our church. If young girls are willing to serve, and are serving in greater numbers (and the church HAS given her blessing), AND the number of priests is down, and serving leads to priesthood—well…. there is your answer folks! Ordain women.
That the most stupid presumption I have ever heard. The number of girls serving as altar server over boys only shows that rhese days many boys have no intrrest in serving. Cutting out girl altar servers is not going to increase the number of boys serving. The question is what can we do to encourage and ingnite the hearts of these boys si that they will again willingly server the Lord.
OR JUST PERHAPS….GOD IS TELLING US GIRLS ARE EQUAL TO BOYS AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH….AND COULD LEAD TO WHAT WE ARE ” NOT TO TALK ABOUT ” YOUR KNOW THAT OTHER GENDER PRIESTHOOD….THE SPIRIT DOES SPEAK IN STRANGE WAYS SOME TIMES….MAYBE THIS NOT SUCH A STRANGE WAY……JUST A THOUGHT……