Ten years ago I got into hot water for arguing that Catholic altar server programs can be restricted to boys only. I was excoriated for excluding girls from altar service, even for “hating” the female sex, and I replied with the Vatican statement itself that first permitted girls to serve the Mass. The 1994 document from the Congregation for Divine Worship allows altar girls, but then says “at the same time, however, the Holy See wishes to recall that it will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar. As is well known, this has led to a reassuring development of priestly vocations. Thus the obligation to support such groups of altar boys will always continue.” This vague statement is a lamentable example of more recent “Vaticanspeak:” communicating uncertainty, at best unclear and at worst maintaining two contradictory positions to keep everybody happy. Should we reserve altar service to boys or not? Are boys-only programs good or bad? This document clearly says, even while allowing altar girls, that the Church is also obligated to support altar boy-only programs because it is “a noble tradition” and “as is well known” fosters priestly vocations. But if a priest actually does what the Vatican recommends, he will be marginalized by most of the Church, which has been my experience and that of many other priests.
Anyway, we developed a flourishing altar boy program at Star of the Sea parish, while also providing other programs for girls. And, “as is well known,” many priestly vocations have come from the parish since then (most of them going into religious orders). Until we opened a Classical Catholic School at the parish, most of my servers were young men rather than boys, many of them tech professionals looking for a more traditional parish. With the opening of a Classical school, however, many more young boys are serving at the altar. Some of them even serve the 7am Mass, making Latin responses in cassock and surplice before most of their classmates have even made it out of bed. God bless them.
As I watch these young boys, I begin to understand why putting boys at the altar from the third grade leads many to the priesthood. There is narrow window, say between the ages of eight and ten, when boys are full of wonder. They want to know everything, captivated by every mystery life presents. This wonder is the essence of the priestly vocation: to peer into infinity through finite sacramentals, to glimpse eternity in a half hour Mass. Boys of this age want to see everything that I’m doing with the chalice, the books, the wine, the water, and the incense. If I purify a ciborium near the sacrarium, the boys will rush over and stand on tip toes to see how I do it. When I set colored ribbons in the missal before Mass, they are right beside me asking why. If I bless the incense in Latin they want to know what the words mean. If I choose one chasuble over another they inspect the other colors and ask why gold and not green. I am filled with wonder at how these boys begin to grasp the intricacies of liturgical splendor. Their fascination for the Holy Mass will lead those who are called to the priesthood. For those who are not called to the priesthood, altar service gives them an irrevocable love for the Eucharist as fathers of families.
Good fathers are in short supply these days, and service at the altar is exceptional training for fatherhood. The boys need this fraternity, this focus on higher things, to become the men God that has called them to be. It is the wonder in these boys’ faces that convinces me of the necessity to continue the “noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar.”
Anyway, we developed a flourishing altar boy program at Star of the Sea parish, while also providing other programs for girls. And, “as is well known,” many priestly vocations have come from the parish since then (most of them going into religious orders). Until we opened a Classical Catholic School at the parish, most of my servers were young men rather than boys, many of them tech professionals looking for a more traditional parish. With the opening of a Classical school, however, many more young boys are serving at the altar. Some of them even serve the 7am Mass, making Latin responses in cassock and surplice before most of their classmates have even made it out of bed. God bless them.
As I watch these young boys, I begin to understand why putting boys at the altar from the third grade leads many to the priesthood. There is narrow window, say between the ages of eight and ten, when boys are full of wonder. They want to know everything, captivated by every mystery life presents. This wonder is the essence of the priestly vocation: to peer into infinity through finite sacramentals, to glimpse eternity in a half hour Mass. Boys of this age want to see everything that I’m doing with the chalice, the books, the wine, the water, and the incense. If I purify a ciborium near the sacrarium, the boys will rush over and stand on tip toes to see how I do it. When I set colored ribbons in the missal before Mass, they are right beside me asking why. If I bless the incense in Latin they want to know what the words mean. If I choose one chasuble over another they inspect the other colors and ask why gold and not green. I am filled with wonder at how these boys begin to grasp the intricacies of liturgical splendor. Their fascination for the Holy Mass will lead those who are called to the priesthood. For those who are not called to the priesthood, altar service gives them an irrevocable love for the Eucharist as fathers of families.
Good fathers are in short supply these days, and service at the altar is exceptional training for fatherhood. The boys need this fraternity, this focus on higher things, to become the men God that has called them to be. It is the wonder in these boys’ faces that convinces me of the necessity to continue the “noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar.”
Noah Mitchell and his brother Zach kneel with sacristan Juan Carlos to receive their blessing after Mass
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