Organization: City University of New York/ University Computer Center
Date: Friday, 6 Nov 1992 09:19:11 EST
From: Marty Helgesen <MNHCC@CUNYVM.BITNET>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Subject: Altar Girls Documentation

About a month ago someone posted a statement that some canon lawyers
claimed that the prohibition on female altar servers no longer binds.
I am not a canon lawyer so I wrote to the Saint Joseph Foundation
for information.  The Saint Joseph Foundation was set up "to defend
Catholic truth and uphold Catholic rights".  Its activities include
filing the canon law equivalent of lawsuits in specific cases of
egregious abuses.  It also publishes the newsletter _Christefidelis_
which is sent to people who send tax-deductible contributions.
Anyone interested in further information can contact The Saint Joseph
Foundation, 4211 Gardendale, Suite A-100, San Antonio, TX 78229-3146
Phone: 512 614-3673 FAX: 512 614-3675 or to The St. Joseph Canonical
Foundation of Canada, La Fondation Canonique St. Joseph du Canada,
P.O. Box 9274, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 3T9, Canada  Phone: 613 737-3709.

I have just received a reply, with an apology for not replying sooner
due to the press of other work.  I received photocopies of two docu-
ments.  One is a two page article on the question.  It is too long to
copy the whole thing, but I will quote a brief passage:

    Some have pointed out that the 1983 Code of Canon  Law lacks the
    express prohibition of Canon 813 of the 1917 Code, which forbade
    women to serve Mass.  Since Canon 6 of the 1983 Code expressly
    abrogates the 1917 Code, the argument goes that this must mean
    that there is no longer any prohibition on altar girls.

    These folks should have read Canon 2 on their way to Canon 6.
    Canon 2 tells us that generally the Code does not treat liturgi-
    cal law matters.  Moreover, it goes on to say that liturgical
    laws in effect on 1983 continue in effect unless they are con-
    trary to what the 1983 Code lays down.  Since the 1983 Code is
    silent on the matter of altar girls, it must follow from this
    canon that any prescriptions of liturgical law on the matter
    remain in effect.

The article goes on to cite various official documents pertaining to
the issue and to show their binding force.

Someone might argue that this is just the author's interpretation.
However, the other document I received answered this question.  It is
a photocopy of a letter from the Vatican, Secretariat of State, First
Section, General Affairs, dated April 17, 1991.  It says:

    I am writing in reply to your letter to the Holy Father concern-
    ing the possibility of girls acting as altar servers.

    The Church's traditional discipline in this regard was reaffirmed
    in the instruction _Inaestimabile Donum_, issued by the Congrega-
    tion for the Sacraments and Divine Worship on April 3, 1980, and
    remains in force:

    "There are, of course, various roles that women can perform in the
    liturgical assembly:  these include reading the word of God and
    proclaiming the intentions of the prayer of the faithful.  Women
    are not however permitted to act as altar servers" (No. 18)

    With good wishes and prayers, I am
    Sincerely yours,

    Monsignor C. Sepe
    Assessor

There is an authoritative statement from the Vatican that the prohi-
bition on altar girls still remains in effect.  Obviously the opin-
ions of some canon lawyers are no more reliable than the opinions of
some theologians such as Charles Curran and Hans Kung.

Marty Helgesen
mnhcc@cunyvm    mnhcc@cunyvm.cuny.edu