Two Thumbs Up to Fr. Michael Taylor of Corpus Christi Mission

The Les Femmes Autumn newsletter is going to the Post Office today, and we generally don't post it on the website for several weeks. But in view of the current debate over altar girls in Arlington, I'm making an exception and putting it on the blog. The entire Autumn newsletter will go up on the website later, but for now we join the debate and thank those priests who have restored the age-old practice of boys only at the altar. Two thumbs up to Fr. Michael Taylor and his confreres who sustain the practice of using boys as "little clerics" at the altar.

 Back to the Future: Revisiting Girl Altar Boys
When Bishop Paul Loverde approved girl altar boys in 2006, he ensured that the fight over maintaining
the Church's long-term practice of male servers would be a perpetual one, at least in Arlington. Call to Action (CTA), a notorious dissent group demanding women's ordination, anything-goes sexual ethics, and other heretical positions, led the original fight in the mid 1990s with their "Let the lasses serve at Masses" mantra. Today, the issue is simmering again. A handful of disgruntled parishioners and ex-parishioners from Corpus Christi Mission in South Riding, VA, whose administrator, Fr. Michael Taylor, is phasing out altar girls, organized a letter campaign and a November 20th vigil at the chancery demanding "equity" for the girls. Not surprisingly, the issue is closely tied to dissent, as CTA joined the fray and sent out a press release advertising the chancery protest.1
Before discussing the current controversy, however, a recap of the history puts the issue in perspective. The previous bishop of Arlington, John Keating, was one of only two in the United States (Bishop Bruskewitz of Lincoln, NE being the other) to opt for boys-only when the Vatican first permitted girls to serve in 1994. Keating called the altar boys his "farm team" for the priesthood and, under his leadership and that of Vocations Director Fr. James Gould, Arlington was the envy of most dioceses in the country. Between 1993 and 1998, the year of Keating's death, while many dioceses ordained at most one or two men a year (sometimes none), Arlington welcomed at least 35 new priests.

Cardinal Arinze on Altar Girls

When I travel, one of the things I find disturbing are the Masses with altar girls. Most of the parishes in my diocese don't use altar girls. And it's always a source of distraction to me. One of the things that makes me long for home. Bishop Keating who refused to change the policy called the altar boys his "farm team." Since girls can't be priests why initiate a false sense that they will one day be able to be?