Change in Holy Thursday liturgy encourages do-it-yourself liturgical experimentation

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 21, 2016

On its face, the Pope’s decision to include women in the foot-washing ceremony of the Holy Thursday liturgy does not seem a matter of earth-shaking importance. The question only arises once a year. The liturgical rule that included only males has been widely ignored for years, and the skies haven’t fallen.

Still this is a sad day for two reasons.

As with the previous Vatican decision to allow altar girls, this change vindicates the pastors who have violated the official norms all along. They will be encouraged in their (mistaken) belief that they represent the liturgical vanguard, and emboldened to try other changes. The rules governing the liturgy are the only protection that we poor laymen have against a willful priest’s desire to celebrate the Mass the way he wants. That protection has now been further eroded.

Again as with the decision allowing altar girls, the inclusion of women strips away an important symbol of the all-male priesthood. The apostles, whose feet Our Lord washed at the Last Supper, were in fact all males. On Holy Thursday especially, as we recall the institution of the priesthood, it behooves us to recall that fact.

In years past, when service at the altar was restricted to males, a young Catholic boy would naturally wonder whether he belonged there. Now, with altar servers and lectors and cantors and extraordinary ministers all hustling around the sanctuary, both male and female (but in practice, mostly female), the pious young Catholic boy wonders whether there’s any room left for him.