The role of females in the Catholic Church
I know this is a touchy subject for many so I will try to present this delicately. Although I’m more of the “give it to you straight kinda girl” after all, southerners are normally honest to a fault.
Let’s start this one off very simply:
If you are a woman and you are a lector or if you have a daughter, granddaughter, niece etc. that is an altar server by all means DO NOT stop serving the church in the capacity that you are currently serving. This isn’t a way to remove females from these roles, it is simply a way to inform my readers of the more traditional view of the Catholic Church.
Y’all know I have something to back my reverent thought process…
Code of Canon Law of 1917:
Canon 813, § 2. “The mass server should not be a woman, unless no man can be found and there is a good reason, and then on this understanding that the woman responds from a distance and does in no way approach the altar.”
And it stayed that way, for a long time! It wasn’t until 1970 that the Catholic Church allowed female lectors, not in a permanent role. We then journey all the way to 1994, the year the Catholic Church allowed female altar servers, under one condition: The Diocesan Bishop has full authority to grant permission to the churches they oversee to permit female altar servers. Simply put, the Bishop had to make the decision to allow girls on the altar. I believe most Bishops chose this route with the exception of maybe a couple of Dioceses in the United States. But in 2001, the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship sent out a reiteration that the Bishop can indeed refuse to permit female altar servers.
All of this has been on a temporary or permissive basis. Basically, women could serve in all these capacities as acolytes but not be permanently installed. That was the way just until 2021!
In January of 2021, Pope Francis changed church law to allow women to be permanently installed as lectors or acolytes—essentially, readers, distributors of Communion and assistants at Mass and the sacraments. Although women have performed these ministries at Mass for decades, they had until now been barred from being permanently installed in these roles. This permanent installation, made official in a church ceremony, is extremely rare for lay people. Y’all this is RARE! This isn’t the norm. Can you see that it took all the way until 2021, that is just two short years ago for this to be a permanent thing?
Now I’m not saying that men are better than women or that women don’t have equal rights as men. However, there are roles in the church for both genders. But let’s look a little deeper at what the 1994 letter stated:
The 1994 letter states: “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.”
The letter also recommends to bishops to consider “among other things the sensibilities of the faithful, the reasons which would motivate such permission and the different liturgical settings and congregations which gather for the Holy Mass.” (EWTN)
Think about it this way, would you want your son to go spend time at the convent with religious sisters knowing he could never become a nun? Being an altar server is a great foundation for our youthful males to grow in their role of the church and hopefully and prayerfully continue their growth into possibly becoming a priest. I know not every altar server will become a priest, but the fact is, with our decline in priestly vocations, why would you want to serve in a role that could foster that call into the priesthood?
Women have many opportunities to serve their church, and if some of these ministries aren’t available at your church, maybe you could start them! Or for my male readers, get your wives or mothers or sisters in your life involved in these! These aren’t of course secluded to just women at my parish but just ideas to be considered: New Mother’s Ministry (bringing food and companionship to mother’s who just had a baby in your parish), Bereavement Ministry, Teaching Catechism, Ladies Altar Society (ironing altar-linens, caring for the sacristy, etc.) these are just a few ways to service your church.
In my personal perspective of the entire thing I would never approach the altar or stand in the sanctuary during Mass. It is a sacred space that I have no authority to be a part of. That is where Jesus is, that is where our Holy Priest is performing sacred rituals and the sacrifice of the Mass. What occurs at the altar is a constant reminder of my unworthiness in this world.
Hugs and Loves,
Ali
“In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. In doing so, he exercised the same freedom with which, in all his behavior, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time.”
–St. Pope John Paul II Mulieris Dignitatem
