"War on Boys?"
Not according to this author. The war is over and the boys have lost....Tipping the Wheelbarrow
A lot about the unbalance at Colleges and Universities, but I'll quote this about "Altar Servers:"
Here I'll venture an analogy. Analogies are slippery, I know; but this one, I think, works. There are Catholic parishes in this country where you will not see an altar boy -- where, in the words of one of my theologian friends, it is clear that if things remain the same there will never be another altar boy there again. Even where there are altar boys, they are greatly outnumbered by the girls. In the Canadian village where we stayed this summer, the person charged with recruiting altar servers is a woman -- and, try as she may, she cannot persuade the boys to do it. Of course she can't; because she cannot recruit except as an image of mommy, and boys are not going to want to please mommy by doing something as sweet as serve at the altar, particularly in the company of girls. So they decline the honor -- and those who accept look uncomfortable and, frankly, a tad surly.
What's happened is that "altar server" has lost its valorization as masculine. Since it doesn't pay any money, the girls themselves don't flock to it, either. The result is that there are far fewer servers than before -- and most of them, about 4/5, are girls. For the boys it never rises to the level of conscious decision, I'm sure: again, it's not something they decide, but something they fail to decide. There is nothing inspiring about the role. It doesn't intrigue them. They don't see themselves as playing an important part in an important and manly ceremony. So they don't check out; they just never check in. The pattern may be observed in the mainline Protestant churches: men don't leave them, not in such huge numbers, because there are female pastors and female everything else in church. Indeed, many of them would angrily defend the right of women to be pastors and the rest -- but then, what the women are doing strangely never piques their interest; it does not inspire them. They don't rebel; they simply are never roused to follow. They play golf.
I am glad that the Orthodox to this point have resisted the need to emasculate the role of acolyte. My daughters are above such silly notions that they must ahve all options open to them, or they are not valued. And my son must have some role to play other then fidgeting an annoying everyone else in church.....
(fire away)
bonovox
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Cute photo, by the way, is that your son?
Ana wants to chant. It really doesn't cross her mind to want to be an altar server because she only sees boys up there...
{{Wow...Colin sure is getting tall!}}
Yes, thats my son Colin, who is gettign tall....and that photo is maybe a year old!
My job is trying to keep him from being know-it-all acolyte, being the "deacon's son" and all that!
{{Ana wants to chant. It really doesn't cross her mind to want to be an altar server because she only sees boys up there...}}
Thats great! Up till 50 years or so ago, girls were not even allowed to do that. BUt I think there is a distinction. ALL OF US should sing in church.......
I'm hopin to fashinon my 4 kids into a Byzantine choir....but I guess that means I need to learn all the tones myself first!