Pansy and Peony

When Mass is girl stuff

Thanks to Victor again for the heads up for this article: Where Are the Men? (in a nutshell, they're turned off by all the "girlie stuff" at Mass.)

Some years back, my grandmother (of happy memory) popped into a church on a drizzly March afternoon and came upon a youngish priest teaching two altar boys how to assist at a Mass of Christian Burial. It was kind of a Mark Twain scenario -- one of the boys was very serious and attentive, and the other boy...well, wasn't. We had a chance to chat with Father after he dismissed the boys, and we asked him what he thought of the idea of having girls serving at the altar.

"I think it's a terrible idea," he said. "Being an altar boy is one of the main ways they participate more deeply in church, and it's a big step for some of these boys in discerning vocations to the priesthood. If the girls get involved, then it will become a girl thing, and boys won't want to do it."

For myself, I like the practice that some parishes have of having older boys -- middle school and up -- serving at the altar, sometimes serving with one of the men of the parish.