rhemes1582
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Important Lessons: What altar boys can do that altar girls can't

source: Offerimus Tibi Domine
What altar boys can do that altar girls can't

I came across this American Blogger - Liturgy Guy. Great post on the link between altar boys and the priesthood. Some of his other posts are great fun too. Elsewhere he asks, "For a Church that is 2,000 years old, the practice of girls serving at the altar isn’t even as old as Justin Bieber. And yet it is defended as if there is no questioning the practice,"

Here is the post that caught my eye.
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.


read article here:offerimustibidomine.blogspot.com/…/what-altar-boys…
rhemes1582
@Leonard Wessell
I know of a TLM community that has over a dozen young men serving Holy Mass
Another TLM started in a local Parish drew several more, with the potential for more vocations.
My own parish has young men preparing for the seminary.
It is a shame that the new theology {novelty, and modernism}that so many Catholics embrace today, leaves destruction for a future generation in its wake.
I …More
@Leonard Wessell
I know of a TLM community that has over a dozen young men serving Holy Mass
Another TLM started in a local Parish drew several more, with the potential for more vocations.
My own parish has young men preparing for the seminary.

It is a shame that the new theology {novelty, and modernism}that so many Catholics embrace today, leaves destruction for a future generation in its wake.

I too feel sorry for the young women, that will grow up, and have to deal with the emotions you express.
I will feel even worse, if at that time the issue {Lack of male vocations} with a cry for a female priesthood gets the nod from Rome.

@michael newman
😲

lets not have either...
Leonard Wessell
This posting is insightful and pleasing to see and read, but possesses, alas, a double edged sword. The local German parish has NO altar boys, only a 14 year old girl and her 6 or 7 year old sister. The older girl radiates sincerity and I believe to see a deep belief in her. One day, she (and countless³ others) will grow up having become use to aiding the priest and quite possibly want to deepen …More
This posting is insightful and pleasing to see and read, but possesses, alas, a double edged sword. The local German parish has NO altar boys, only a 14 year old girl and her 6 or 7 year old sister. The older girl radiates sincerity and I believe to see a deep belief in her. One day, she (and countless³ others) will grow up having become use to aiding the priest and quite possibly want to deepen her service by continuing on zo the next step, i.e., becoming a priest. From a purely psychological point of view, I see something almost cruel in the fact that she will not be allowed to become a priest. I could not blame (from an emotionally point of view) her and many, many other girls if they were to campaign for the right to continue service as a priest, AND I mean not out of some crypto-feminist reason. The very same motivation leading so many altar boys to become priests, will motivate altar GIRLS to do the same. Double alas, I do not know what can be done since apparently NO local boy is interested in the least for the role. Come to think of it, there are not many children around 10+ to be seen. Trouble is rapidly approaching the Church, i.e., if male participation is not successfully encouraged. I see that the Black churches of America are almost entirely female populated, men interestingly getting tired of the feminization that dominates Black American culture (70% of Black families are mother run, often never married with 70% abortion rate). Perhaps, these churches could be seen as a warning sign if the priestly functions are too feminized.