Girls are permitted by the Church to be altar servers, but why do some Catholics say they shouldn’t be?

First, let's look at the role of an altar server. A server’s job is essentially to carry out the duties of an acolyte at Mass and the local bishop may appoint adults or children of either sex to carry out those duties. Today it is most common in the United States to have children and young adults of both sexes serve at Mass. As of 1994 the Church leaves it up to the local bishop to decide if he wants to have girls to serve at Mass. Currently all but a couple bishops in the United States allow female children to altar serve. As instituted acolytes have only been men, tradition has long held that altar servers who do basically the same thing as an acolyte should also be male. This is the first and I believe most common objection to female altar servers. 

Altar serving should never be looked at as simply volunteer work, its a special lay ministry of the Church where you assist in the liturgy and have the privilege of being close to Jesus during Mass and caring for Him. When it comes to liturgy, the role of lay ministers is to be a substitute to fill the lack of ordinary ministers. For example, the reason we have lay eucharistic ministers is because at a Mass with 400 faithful attending and only one priest, communion would take a very long time. The use of extraordinary ministers is not only for special circumstances to fill a need but has long been a routine, daily practice. 

Catholics who believe women should “stay off the altar” tend to raise the concern that girls serving is a “slippery slope” which will send the wrong message and could be a step towards female ordination. The concept of female ordination, which is absolutely contrary to doctrine and unacceptable, is not comparable to girls serving in a lay ministry. Pope Francis has affirmed that this is the case and Pope St. John Paul II, who actually opened altar serving to girls, affirmed this in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. The concern seems to be that women serving more visibly in liturgy may confuse less formed members of the Church. To those who believe this I would ask: how are people who would be confused by that any different than people who are confused by the teaching of Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist? These two misunderstandings are very serious, but the solution is education. 

Another major objection to girls serving is the fact that for years many have perceived the ministry of altar serving to be a ministry specifically designed to lead boys to the priesthood. Catholics who hold this position are concerned that opening it up to girls would deter boys from serving and reduce priestly vocations. While the sacristy is a place where you may certainly find a boy who is discerning the priesthood, recruitment is not the purpose of the ministry. This position comes solely from tradition and does not present any argument based in Catholic moral teaching against opening it up to girls. In fact the majority of boys who altar serve are not leaning toward the priesthood. 

I was an altar server at my parish for eight years. I served alongside both boys and girls and I trained new servers. It was my experience that overall the girls were more reverent and more likely to show up on time. Though I do not believe I am called to the seminary, altar serving certainly fed my faith formation as I was growing up, just as it does so many youth all over the world. By virtue of our baptism ALL of us are called to serve God’s Holy Church. How each individual is specifically called to serve varies. For a young boy who wants to go into the priesthood, altar serving is a great idea, so is lectoring and Eucharistic ministry. For a young girl, or a young boy who is not discerning the priesthood, altar serving is an opportunity to live out that baptismal calling to serve and grow in faith while doing so.

A point which needs to be very clear is that nobody, male or female, has a “right” to be an altar server. A liberal Catholic might look at the Church’s power to decide this as an issue of equality or discrimination, but that is completely flawed. 

Altar serving, albeit unique and special, is a lay ministry. The question of whether girls should serve in that lay capacity is no more of a moral or doctrinal question than girls being lectors, ushers or singing in the choir. If your kids altar serve, teach them about the special thing they get to do. However you serve your Church do so with obedience, reverence and love. 

Thank you for reading, God bless you.