It appears that St. Thomas the Apostle in Irondequoit is about to implement a change in a long standing policy which only allowed boys to be altar servers at their parish. The new proposal is a result of what some would call the hostile takeover of the parish by Christ the King in June of 2007. Others refer to this as “clustering”.

At the time of the takeover, the people of the parish were assured that they would be able to retain their parish identity under the new organizational plan. One of the most visible signs of that identity at St. Thomas was the reservation of altar serving to boys only. Apparently this assurance didn’t include the policy on altar servers.

The parishioners at St. Thomas who support the boys only policy are not prejudiced against girls, they are not reactionaries, and they are not irrational. They are concerned about vocations to the priesthood and they understand the close identification of the altar boy with the priest that occurs during the Mass. Father Dennis Kleinmann of St. Mary’s Church in Alexandria, VA has this to say about a boys only policy that he instituted at his parish:

Any young person directly assisting a priest at Mass is implicitly but surely invited to identify with the priest and so encouraged to aspire to a necessarily masculine priesthood. I cannot in good conscience even take the chance of putting our daughters in a situation that leads to false hopes and unreasonable aspirations regarding the Ordained Priesthood. I must add that this is not a theoretical problem but an occurrence that I have encountered in my time as a priest.

The Congregation for Divine Worship had this to say in a letter dated 7/27/01:

Indeed, the obligation to support groups of altar boys will always remain, not least of all due to the well known assistance that such programs have provided since time immemorial in encouraging future priestly vocations

With respect to whether the practice of women serving at the altar would truly be of pastoral advantage in the local pastoral situation, it is perhaps helpful to recall that the non-ordained faithful do not have a right to service at the altar, rather they are capable of being admitted to such service by the Sacred Pastors

In accord with the above cited instructions of the Holy See such an authorization may not, in any way, exclude men or, in particular, boys from service at the altar, nor require that priests of the diocese would make use of female altar servers, since “it will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar”.

This Vatican document makes it very clear that no one has a “right” to be an altar server. It also recognizes the fact that the role of altar server has “from time immemorial” been a pathway to the priesthood. Perhaps most importantly, the letter states that there is an obligation to support boys in the role of altar servers.

One of the best things a pastor can do to support boys in their role as altar servers is to exclude girls from this ministry. Many parishes have found that once girls are introduced as altar servers the boys are no longer willing to participate. The boys just don’t want to be a part of the feminization of the role altar server. This driving out of the boys can in no way be construed has being supportive. These boys, who either leave or never join, could be future vocations. They need all the encouragement they can get and the allowance of girls within the sanctuary is not the way to cultivate such a calling.

Someday the Vatican is going to rescind permission for girls to be altar servers. In the meantime, we should encourage our priests and bishops to retain or restore the immemorial tradition of boys only as altar servers. Hopefully, the concerned parishioners at St. Thomas will be able to persuade their pastor to maintain this eminently sensible policy.