Gender Confusion and Catholic Liturgy
Painting: Theophile Duverger - Ministranten in der Sakristei
One of the ongoing discussions in the modern Catholic Church is the proper role of women. It is a discussion unfairly weighted against men because, if we are discussing gender roles we ought to ponder the proper roles of both men and women.
The topic arose recently when I was explaining my reasons for having only male altar servers. I explained that from time immemorial, in virtually every human society, boys and girls were segregated in order that their formation as men and women could proceed in a positive and healthy manner.
With the rise of feminism, this began to be perceived not merely as segregation, but as the exclusion of women and girls. In the church, along with the demands for women’s ordination was the demand for girl altar servers and female extraordinary ministers of holy communion. While these innovations gave the appearance of increased equality for women, it eroded the time-tested segregated formation of both men and women.
What do I mean by the “time-tested segregated formation of men and women”? Simply that the male and female roles in the family and society were established by nature, and helping boys to grow into men and girls to grow healthily into women was something that naturally happened with the structures of family, church and the local community.
The rise of gender confusion causes all of us to ask why some young people are genuinely confused about their sexual identity. The causes for this confusion are manifold and complex. They include the breakdown of the traditional family, the rise of feminism and homosexualism, the availability of medical technologies that allow manipulation of conception and birth, the dissolution of religious faith and traditional morality, increased mobility, global communications and much more. Gender confusion is simply one form of confusion about our identity as human beings in an increasingly complex whirligig world.
At the heart of gender confusion is confusion about the very basic question “What is a man”? And “What is a woman”?
When I am interviewing couples in preparation for marriage I sometimes ask them that question. After an embarrassed moment of silence, one of them will usually say something they think I want to hear like, “A woman is a person who stays a home and looks after children” or “A man works hard to provide for his family.”
I will then reply, “These are some things men and women do, but that is not what they are.” I then probe a bit further: “What determines whether a person is a woman?”
Usually one of them will say, “She has a womb and breasts.”
“And what are those for?”
“Forbearing and nurturing children.”
“Correct. And what determines if a person is a man?”
“He has male genitalia”
“And what is that organ for?”
“For reproduction”
“Correct. In other words, a woman is, by definition, a mother or a potential mother and a man is, by definition, a father or a potential father.”
Painting: Holy Family with St. John the Baptist by Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato (1609–1685)
Once we ask ourselves the right questions we may begin to get the right answers, and this basic answer about the identity of men and women will help to answer the question about proper roles for men and women in the church.
Put simply, the man’s role is to be a father and the woman’s role is to be a mother. These roles can be lived out in many different ways. The father is a progenitor in the church. He initiates and carries through with evangelisation and catechesis and administration of the sacraments because that’s how children of God are created.
The mother assists in this process of evangelisation, receiving the gospel, conceiving, educating, nurturing and helping to form God’s children.
The Catholic Church has ruled definitively that priestly ordination is reserved for men.
Image: Vincenzio Carduccio (1576-1638), “Ordination and First Mass of St. Juan de Mata”
No fewer than four popes have now ruled on the question of the ordination of women. This re-affirmation of the male-only priesthood is also an affirmation of the complementary role of women in the church. The Biblical and traditional role of male leadership is complemented and supported by the Biblical and traditional role of female motherhood.
When the boundaries of gender roles are blurred as, for example, by having girl altar servers and female eucharistic ministers, it becomes one of the many contributing factors to gender confusion. This is not to say that these practices—which the church allows—are direct causes of gender confusion. Instead, it acknowledges that they are but one of many interlocking and interdependent contributing factors to the sad confusion about our human identity in our modern, fast-changing world.
The solution is to fully endorse appropriate ministries in the church for both men and women, boys and girls. In some parishes, while boys are altar servers, girls sing in the choir. While male priests celebrate and administer the sacraments, women share in the pastoral ministry in administrative, nurturing, healing and counselling roles.
In positive, creative and traditional ways the Catholic Church can then be a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem.
Fr Dwight Longenecker is the pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Greenville, South Carolina, USA. Read his blog, browse his books and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com
