Maintaining the Tradition of Altar Boys

1. reviewed the pertinent decrees from the Church;

2. reviewed other related documents from the Vatican;

3. looked at the information publicly available about the life and health of the Church in the United States;

4. consulted with other priests;

5. read about what other priests and people have said about this issue; and

6. prayed.

1. Benefit to girl altar severs without verifiable evidence

   First, there is no measurable evidence from the last twenty years of girls being altar servers that this practice has been beneficial to the girls serving at the altar.

   I have found no surveys that girls who are altar servers are more likely to go to confession or to continue the practice of the Faith when they leave home and go to college.

   Nevertheless, I know this may be argued both ways based on subjective and anecdotal evidence.

2. Pastoral benefit of girls who serve at the altar: discerning a religious vocation is without foundation

   One of the most common pastoral benefits cited for having girls serve at the altar is that it may well facilitate their ability to discern a religious vocation, just as this practice has for centuries helped boys discern a call to the priesthood.

   In fact, according to the surveys done by CARA (Center for Applied Research on the Apostolate at Georgetown University), the rate at which women have been discerning and responding to the call to religious life over the last twenty years is at an all time low in our country's history.

   Not only that, but the rate at which the number of women religious is declining in the United States over the last twenty years is occurring is twice as fast as compared to the decline in the number of women religious the Catholic Church world wide.

3. The more girls serve at the altar, the less likely boys are to serve

   Across the country, over the last twenty years, one of the consequences of girls becoming altar servers has been a proportionate decline in the number of boys serving at the altar.

   I have never heard of or read about a parish that instituted the practice of girls serving at the altar, where the overall number of young people serving at the altar has doubled or even significantly increased.

   In fact this is even a concern of our bishop. He has already said to the pastors that if their number of girl servers exceeds the number of boy servers, he may have to intervene in the parish in question.

   One reason this situation is unfortunate is that it perpetuates a prejudice. Specifically, the decline in boys serving at the altar reinforces the prejudice in our culture that faith and Church are primarily a female and feminine domain and activity. Whether you realize this or not, Church life on the parish level is already dominated by women.

4. Girls as altar servers is seen by some as a small but meaningful step toward the eventual ordination of women

   Some people don't have an objection to the female domination of Church life, because they see the increasing presence of women in the Church and in positions of influence in the Church as a prelude to the eventual ordination of women.

   In fact, this position, that girls serving at the altar is a way of moving toward the ordination of women, is problematic. The Church has clearly taught that the limitation of holy orders to men is by divine decree. It is part of the irreformable and infallibly taught doctrine the Church has received from Christ.

   As a side note, much of the desire in the country for the ordination of women has come from seeing the Church and the priesthood primarily in political terms. In other words, the all-male priesthood is seen as an exercise of power and part of a systematic oppression of women in the Church and a denial of justice on their behalf. Unfortunately, the oppression of women has been part of the culture within the Church in the past. Nevertheless, an all-male priesthood is by Christ's design.

5. The decline of boys serving at the altar is part of the overall decline in men offering themselves to the priesthood

   During the same twenty year period that altar girls have become a part of the fabric of Church life, both the number of men getting ordained in the United States and also the number of priests has continued to decline.

   This is while at the same time:

   1. the population of Catholics in the United States and in the world has risen;

   2. the number of men being ordained to the priesthood worldwide has risen;

   3. the number of priests in the world has risen; and

   4. the number of priestless parishes in the United States has tripled.

   This decline in the population and ordination of priests is of great concern to our bishop, the bishops of the United States and the Pope.

more pious than the norm*

more stable than the norm*

more doctrinally sound than the norm*

more liturgically traditional than the norm*

more rooted in the Scriptures than the norm*

more active in the works of mercy at home and in the community than the norm*

more effective in teaching them the Faith than the norm*

more effective at drawing men (dads) to practice their faith than the norm*