Adult female altar servers

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Adult females as altar servers

Guest Column

Father Glenn LeCompte

Some of you may have noticed that recently for some diocesan liturgies adult women have functioned as altar servers. These ladies were enthusiastic to be asked to serve and did a fine job of serving. In discussing with some people the topic of women exercising service at the altar, while some accepted the fact that girls serve at their parishes, they did not understand why women might be asked to serve. For the benefit of all, permit me to explain.

The Canon Law Society of America’s edition of the Code of Canon Law translates Canon 230.2 as follows: “Lay persons can fulfill the function of lector during liturgical actions by temporary deputation; likewise, all lay persons can fulfill the functions of commentator or cantor or other functions, in accord with the norm of law.” In 1994, the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts responded to a question as to whether or not the liturgical functions mentioned in Canon 230.2 might be performed by men and women alike, and whether serving at the altar might be included among those functions. Referring to a decision made at an earlier meeting of the Council (June 30, 1992), the Council replied, “Affirmative and according to instructions by the Apostolic See” (https://www. catholicculture.org/culture/library/ view.cfm?recnum=5212). This answer was confirmed by Pope John Paul II on July 11, 1992 (New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, Paulist Press, 2000, p. 300, footnote 61). The commentary on Canon 230.2 (in the work just cited) makes reference to the Pontifical Council’s decision mentioned above when it reiterates, “... in 1994, a general permission for the use of female altar servers was granted, subject only to the judgment of the individual bishop in light of particular circumstances in his own diocese.” In addition, the same commentary also explains, “This paragraph of the canon allows for the establishment of other liturgical functions (other than lector, commentator or cantor), depending on the needs of the local church. Such ministries are open to both men and women, and the canon does not place any age restrictions on those who might seek to fulfill these duties.” Regarding the requirements for youth to begin

LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

serving, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops maintains, “Servers should be mature enough to understand their responsibilities and to carry them out well and with appropriate reverence. They should have already received holy Communion for the first time and normally receive the Eucharist whenever they participate in the liturgy” (http://www.usccb. org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/ frequently-asked-questions/guidelinesfor-altar-servers.cfm).

The key issue in the interpretation was the understanding of the Latin term laici, which is translated “lay people” in the English edition of a

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the Code. If paragraph 2 of the Canon had meant to restrict these ministries to men it would have read viri laici (“lay men”), as it does in the first paragraph, which deals with institution into the official lay ministries of reader and acolyte.

In communicating this decision to the presidents of the national conferences of bishops, the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments offered four clarifications. First, individual bishops have the right to permit females to perform the liturgical functions mentioned in the Canon, as well as service at the altar, or not to do so. Bishop Shelton J. Fabre has seen fit to continue the policy of his predecessors of allowing females to serve at the altar. Secondly, while the Holy See will support the decision of bishops to permit females to serve in liturgical ministries it also urges them to continue to encourage the practice of having boys serve, since such service has inspired vocations to the priesthood. Thirdly, when bishops permit females to serve at the altar it is to be explained to the faithful that such service by females is allowed by the Holy See and that already many women serve as lectors and extraordinary ministers of holy Communion. Lastly, such services are to be carried out, as the Canon says, “by temporary deputation,” which is the reason that extraordinary ministers of holy Communion in our diocese are now commissioned for fiveyear periods.

In addition to the above, a document named, Redemptionis Sacramentum, which dealt with matters “to be observed or to be avoided regarding the most holy Eucharist,” states, “Girls or women may also be admitted to this service of the altar, at the discretion of the diocesan bishop and in observance of the established norms” (No. 47).

Redemptionis Sacramentum No. 47 also encourages the continuance of boy altar servers, and mentions that they do so “after the manner of acolytes.” This means that they assume the functions of acolytes, although they are not officially instituted into that lay ministry. What is an acolyte? The ministry of acolyte is a lay ministry into which men 18 years of age or older may be instituted. Their functions are to serve at the altar and to distribute holy Communion as extraordinary ministers when not enough clergy are available. In addition to lay ministers who are officially instituted, Redemptionis Sacramentum Nos. 43- 44 recognizes those who perform the lay liturgical ministries of acolyte and lector by temporary deputation. For some time, both men and women have served as extraordinary ministers of holy Communion; since 1994 it has been acknowledged that both can perform the other function of the acolyte, that of serving at the altar.

While many, if not most, of our parishes have opened up altar service to girls it has not been as common in our diocese as it is in others to see women performing this ministry. One of the ladies I asked to serve at the Blue Mass (for community protectors) remarked that, while her daughter had the experience of serving at the altar, she never had that experience growing up. The mother was overjoyed to have the chance to do so. In my travels to churches in other parts of the country it has not been uncommon sometimes to see adult female altar servers. Some parishes employ entire families, including the mother, as the altar server team for Mass. Just as some women who followed Jesus “provided for him out of their resources” (Luke 8:2-3) so today may women and girls alike heed the invitation to facilitate our communal worship of the Lord through service at the altar. BC