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Speaking of female acolytes:

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2009/06/archdiocese-of-manila-only-young-boys.html

Quote
Archdiocese of Manila: Only young boys can be altar servers

I have just received a copy of Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales' Without Sunday We Cannot Live: A Pastoral Letter on the Sunday Celebration of the Eucharist. The letter is signed June 14, but is being disseminated only now.

I still have to thoroughly study the pastoral letter (36 pages long), and for now I would like to refrain from commenting on it, except to note that it is totally silent on both the Forma Extraordinaria and the modest "reform of the reform" that Pope Benedict XVI is promoting by his example (no surprise there). However, the letter does have at least one bit of very good news, and it can be found in no. 28. page 17:

Altar Servers
28. From antiquity, the altars (sic) servers have exercised their ministry within the assembly and they have helped to enhance the quality of the celebration by taking part in processions and by ensuring that all the requisites for the celebration are available at the appropriate time. (GIRM, 100)

It is a proven fact that many ordained ministers developed their vocation to the priesthood because of their membership in this ministry when they were young. We therefore wish to continue the practice of reserving this ministry to young boys, in order to introduce them to the life and ministry of the Church. (Redemptionis Sacramentum)


Female altar servers are becoming more and more common in Philippine parishes, although not yet to the same extent as in the West. It remains to be seen whether this directive from Cardinal Rosales will be strictly implemented in all the parishes of Manila, but it is encouraging to see that, at least, he has decreed this.

Last edited by asianpilgrim; 06/21/09 01:03 PM.
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The CCEO also permits eastern minor clerics, who are ordained, as clerics.

And in practice, for those societies of Roman clerics that ordain subdeacons still, the practice is that their subdeacons are considered minor clerics.

aramis #325375 06/21/09 10:27 PM
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Subdeaconate where the term is still the preferred option is not any longer a clerical rank in the RC church. It is the law of the church that defines who is and who is not a cleric in the RCs. The CCEO was set up to reflect a non RC collection of Churches and a non RC tradition.

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Originally Posted by Pavel Ivanovich
The CCEO was set up to reflect a non RC collection of Churches and a non RC tradition.
I am reminded of the speech by the Melkite Patriarch at the Synod of Bishops in the fall of2001 in which he said: ". . . the CCEO has ratified uses absolutely contrary to Eastern tradition and ecclesiology!"

The quotation is taken from: Synodus Episcoporum Bulletin [vatican.va]

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A good reason NOT to have girls at the Altar...

From Altar Server to Bishop
Priesthood Is a Pilgrimage and Privilege

By Bishop Frederick Henry

CALGARY, Alberta, JUNE 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).- One of the great joys of my youth was to be an altar server. I was so taken by the Eucharist that I used to pretend to say Mass in my bedroom with my younger brothers acting as my altar servers.

It was always a challenge to teach them their Latin responses and, while I was not always the soul of patience, our mutual perseverance seemed to win the day and we didn't do too badly.

Being an altar server allowed me to see what the priest did up close. I can remember thinking what a privilege it was to be a priest and bring the Body and Blood of the Lord to people.

As I observed my pastor's activity, I noted that the people would bring their newborn children to him and say, "give them the faith, baptize them."

He always seemed to be there at the critical moments in their lives: weddings, sicknesses, funerals, and parties. I thought, "What a neat job!"

The possibility began to emerge in my consciousness that maybe God wanted me to be a priest.

Several years later, upon being appointed bishop of Calgary, I was being interviewed about my vocation on radio and I shared these early memories. It just so happened that my mother heard the interview and told me that I didn't quite get it right.

She explained that one day during Mass at the cathedral, while still a preschooler, I pointed to the priest and blurted out: "I'm going to be one of those guys."

Mysterious

I have no recollection of this event, but it taught me something of the mysterious nature of the working of God grace.

God's presence is not always obvious and God's actions are sometimes subtle and hidden. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth, I consecrated you; I have appointed you as prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:4-5).

Building on the internal drawing of God's grace, the identification with my pastor, the tapping on the shoulder by a religious sister who asked, "have you thought about becoming a priest?," the example and faith of my mother and father, and with the encouragement of my peers and people -- both those with faith and those without -- with whom I worked over the years, and the seminary formation personnel, together enabled God's call to be both clarified and confirmed.

One of my father's comments proved to be of particular importance in my formation.

We used to have many animated discussions around the kitchen table about religion and our parish activities. Sometimes, we would move into the realm of critical comments.

My father was always uncomfortable about criticism of any of our priests and he would repeatedly say: "Yes, but he is a holy man." I wasn't always convinced, but I began to understand the distinction between the office and the man.

God makes use of human instruments, imperfect men, whom he calls to continue the role and mission of the Apostles, to do what he did.

It is much like the Apostle Paul who could write: "I who am less than the least of all God's holy people, have been entrusted with this special grace, of proclaiming to the gentiles the unfathomable treasures of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8).

I was ordained a priest in 1968 and a bishop in 1986. It's been a wonderful journey, perhaps more aptly, a pilgrimage.

I remember, with considerable embarrassment, praying at the end of first theology before applying for tonsure: "Alright, God, I will be your priest, but I hope you realize all that I am giving up for you."

At the time I didn't understand: "In truth I tell you, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land -- and persecutions too -- now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life" (Mark 10:29-31).

God has certainly not been stingy with his blessings.

Most of my experience of priesthood and the episcopacy has been lived under the motif of John 21.

I can readily identify with Peter as he was repeatedly questioned by Jesus, "Do you love me?" Peter's response is much like my own -- a measured, tested, but feeble and humble, "Yes, Lord, you know I love you."

Chosen

However, the really critical words are Jesus' rejoinder: "In all truth I tell you, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch your hands, and someone else will put a belt around you and take you where you would rather not go" (John 21:18).

I have never had one appointment that I would have chosen for myself.

As a result of my discernment in the seminary, I concluded that God wanted me to be a parish priest, not a member of a religious community and certainly not a teacher.

My first assignment as an associate pastor was to follow a very successful extroverted priest who had a special gift for working with young people. As an introvert, I did not want to follow him and thought that I had no gifts for working with young people.

I did not want to do postgraduate studies but was asked to do so by my bishop and so I consented. I would also teach for a number of years at the seminary.

I didn't want to become rector of the seminary, but rather to return to parish life and I told my bishop so. I added that I could only tell him where I was at, and that he, as bishop, would have to make the decision as to where I would serve based on the needs of the diocese. For my part, I would have to respond with faith and obedience. I thoroughly enjoyed being a seminary rector.

I didn't want to become an auxiliary bishop, but God's will be done. I didn't want to be an ordinary in either diocese where I was assigned.

However, by surrendering and letting myself be led by the Holy Spirit, each successive move became more satisfying and fulfilling than the previous one. So much so that, jokingly, I have said that I can't wait for the next move!

Nevertheless, I am really happy where I am and it goes without saying: I don't want to move.

* * *

Frederick Henry was ordained a priest for the Diocese of London, Ontario, on May 25, 1968. He was ordained an auxiliary bishop of the diocese on June 24, 1986. He has been the bishop of Calgary since 1998. Bishop Henry served as a Canadian delegate to the 1990 synod of bishops on the formation of priests, and was appointed as representative of the Holy See for the Apostolic Visitation of Canadian seminaries.

http://www.zenit.org/article-26289?l=english

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[quote=Memo Rodriguez][quote=Altar Server]Memo I think you have that a little backwards lector is the instituted office and reader is open to all.[/quote]

I beg to differ, please take a look at the English translation for Ministeria Quaedam:

http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P6MINORS.HTM

[quote]Memo: Even the (normally lax) USCCB is picky about not calling servers "Acolytes" or even "acolytes."[/quote]

Be as it may, in many Spanish-speaking regions, the acolyte is simply the head altar server. The word is tied to a function, not necessarily to the ritual institution.

Shalom,
Memo[/quote]

Acolytes and lectors in the Latin Rite are males [i]instituted[/i] for life. Most acolytes and lectors are men on their way to the permanent diaconate or the priesthood. Altar servers and readers are males or females [i]commissioned[/i] for a specific interval of time.

"Acolyte" does not mean the function of the head altar server. It's a term to describe the lucifer -- the torch (or candle) bearer.

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Two of my grandsons serve both in my Byzanine Parish and in their family Roman Parish as altar servers. They attend Liturgy with me two or three times a week and serve every time they are present. ALL the boys that attend Liturgy are always welcome to serve and there are times that the servers out-number the people in the pews.

They serve maybe one time a month at their Roman parish. Two servers are scheduled for each Mass and no more then that is ever allowed to vest even if there are ten boys willing to serve sitting in the pew. The Roman parish has a three to one girl/boy ratio. The boys have said that they don't feel like serving with the girls helps them decide on a vocation. The priest there (in this oe parish I don't know about others) always askes the girls to serve if there is something special going on. Also as my grandsons are homeschooled they would be available to serve at funerals or daily Mass but are never asked. So they are not as eager to serve there.

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I don’t want to digress, but my reaction to women serving the altar is probably closer to the Orthodox view than the Latin rite to which I belong. It is a bit difficult to discuss without contention because so many families in the Latin rite now have children that serve as altar girls. It is new to me, an old woman, because our Arlington Diocese was maybe the last to adopt it. My grandchildren were no less shocked, the first time they saw them serve. I simply said it is legal but it is not our tradition.

It seems that everything that is true has been stated without any mean spiritedness. Sometimes the obvious/ visuals/ symbols are more profound than any dissertation on the subject- so with a fair amount of sadness I observed that the lovely vestments traditionally worn by altar boys have been changed to something indiscriminate, and completely uninspiring.

But there is something really good to be said about “what was once a distraction”- my eyes and ears are glued to the altar with a concentration I didn’t know was in me. -Columba

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One of the more interesting traditionalisms of the Ruthenian Metropolia is in Ruthenian Particular Law... women are forbidden from any liturgical ministry behind the iconostas.

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