VOCAL applauds Father Illo in bringing back common sense to our Church. It isn't easy to tell our daughters that there are things in serving the Church in which they aren't included. Parents need to not abdicate to the culture, but adhere to Church wisdom.
Our daughters need to realize: Family, how it affects the culture, parental responsibility to children. It never changes and has Our Lady as example.
http://www.cultura.va/content/cultura/en/plenarie/2015-women.html
January 29, 2015 Jim Graves
The pastor of Star of the
Sea Church notes that “altar service is intrinsically tied to the
priesthood"; says media furor over decision is "biased"
Fr.
Joseph Illo, pictured celebrating Mass in an undated photo, has been
pastor of Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco since last year.
(Photo courtesy of Fr. Illo)
Star of the Sea Church in
San Francisco made national news recently when its priests announced
that female altar servers were being phased out and the parish was
returning to the traditional practice of having only altar boys
assisting the priest during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. A CBS
television news report (
“Peeved Parishioners Leaving SF Catholic Church Over Ban on Girls as Altar Servers”)
declared there was “outrage” among parishioners and featured a girl
from the parish school saying she feels “insulted” because “it makes me
feel like I’m not good enough because I’m a girl.” Other reports were
also negative. “Because they are too good at fulfilling their duties,”
the
New York Daily News stated, “girls will no longer be trained as altar servers at a Catholic church in San Francisco.”
A Religion News piece
reported that
the “move that is sparking both criticism and praise and comes amid a
wider debate over conservative concerns that the Catholic Church has
become too 'feminized',” seeking to connect the story to recent remarks
by Cardinal Raymond Burke about the lack of men attending Mass.
Fr. Joseph Illo is pastor of Star of the Sea Church and is a co-founder
of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, which operates the parish. (He was
interviewed by Catholic World Report last May about the Oratory.)
On January 26, he
issued a two-fold defense of
the policy, stating 1) that mixed altar-server programs typically
result in boys losing interest; conversely, “a boys-only program gives
altar boys the space to develop their own leadership potential,” and 2)
more importantly, “altar service is intrinsically tied to the priesthood
and serve as feeder programs for the seminary. If the Catholic Church
ordained women, altar girls would make sense, but the Catholic
priesthood is a male charism. Nothing awakens a desire for the
priesthood like service at the altar among the brotherhood of young
men.”
Fr. Illo's decision was supported by the San Francisco archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone.
Star of the Sea Church is a beautiful historic church in the City’s
Richmond District established as a mission in 1887 and parish in 1894.
It’s located in a densely populated (and often foggy) neighborhood
between the Presidio and Golden Gate Park. In recent years, it has been
home to the local traditional Latin Mass community (which drive in from
the surrounding communities). Archbishop Cordileone, in fact, visited
the parish on September 14, 2014, to celebrate an Extraordinary Form
Latin pontifical solemn high Mass.
Fr. Illo spoke with
CWR about the altar boy controversy.
CWR: Have you been surprised at all the media coverage regarding your decision?
Fr. Illo: Yes, I am, because there are many parishes
that do not allow altar girls and some dioceses as well. My guess is
that the desire was to present a negative, “the Church hates women,”
story just 12 hours before the San Francisco Walk for Life [on Saturday,
January 24]. I do think it was coordinated.
Also, an altar boy-only policy is a poke in the eye of the liberal
culture of San Francisco. I’ve received over 300 emails about altar
boys—mostly positive, except for the ones from the Bay area.
CWR: The CBS news story interviewed several people
besides yourself, all of whom were opposed to the altar boy-only policy.
It has a clip of you saying parish income is up, and then cuts to a
parishioner saying that that is a “shallow argument.” Did this story
strike you as biased?
Fr. Illo: It was biased. What’s going on is that we
have two entities: a parish church and a parish school. The 1,000-seat
church draws about 100 to 130 for each Sunday Mass. It’s a big, empty
city parish. Our contributions cover about 40% of our operation; we
survive by renting out the empty buildings we don’t use any more. It’s a
dying parish we hope to revive.
Those who attend the church are, for the most part, fine with it. Most
of the people complaining about the altar boy decision have left.
The school is thriving, but not as a Catholic school. Like Catholic
universities who want to be independent of the bishops, many parish
schools like to be independent of their pastors. Of its 150 families,
about three attend the church. The school is only 40% Catholic. Most of
the people CBS interviewed are school people from whom you heard the
objections.
I must admit, the disjunction between the parish church and school and
the vehemence of the school’s opposition has been surprising to me. In
other parishes I’ve served at, the school loves the parish priest. When
I’d go over, they’d run over and want to talk to me, or if, say, I were
walking by a basketball court they’d hand me a basketball and want me to
play. It’s not the case here. The priest is ignored. The school is
lacking in Catholic identity.
CWR: Is this the first time you’ve had such a policy in the parishes in which you’ve served?
Fr. Illo: Yes. In my last parish we did not recruit
girls, but would not deny them if they applied. Hence, we had few girls
serving at the altar.
When we arrived at Star of the Sea four months ago there were hardly any
servers, so we decided to only have a boy’s program. We’re the new
administration, we’re building from zero, so we thought we’d start by
implementing our vision.
CWR: An internet search on CBS San Francisco and
Catholic news turns up headlines such as “Vatican reviewing Catholic
stance of gay marriage, contraception; calls for being ‘less
judgmental’”, “New S.F. archbishop riles gay rights advocates”, and “San
Francisco Catholic high school apologizes for snubbing tuxedo-wearing
girl’s portrait”. Is the San Francisco secular media pretty hostile to
the Church?
Fr. Illo: [laughing] Of course. The media and liberal
Catholics are on edge because of the new archbishop. One of the emails I
received from one such person lamented, “This is the beginning of the
end.” I do hope it is the beginning of the end of cultural Catholicism
in the Bay area.
San Francisco is an amazing city in many ways. It has a rich history and
is beautiful. But it is very secular and is a battle zone for faithful
Catholics. One of our biggest problems is that it is so expensive to
live in the city, that we have few families with children here. And
where you don’t have families, you don’t have the Catholic Church!
At our Masses, you hardly see any children. I was speaking to one
parishioner and she was crying, telling me it was so hard to raise
children Catholic in a culture that is so secular. She’s afraid they’ll
be brainwashed.
CWR: What have your fellow clergy said to you about the altar boy policy?
Fr. Illo: The archbishop is supportive, but it is not a
big topic of discussion between us. I just saw him. He said the
negative press coverage was par for the course for this kind of
announcement, and we expect it to just be a flash in the pan. Some of the priests I’ve spoken to have been supportive, but others probably think I’m crazy.
CWR: Do you wish you’d taken a more low-key approach?
Fr. Illo: If you have the support of your bishop, I
think it’s better to be clear. It’s a moment of evangelization, and I
think it’s great that we’re getting all the media attention. It helps us
define the mind of the Church.
In 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship issued a response to a
bishop’s question regarding the question of female altar servers. While
the innovation of altar girls has been permitted since 1994, it stressed
that a preference for altar boys is to be greatly encouraged as it
leads to vocations to the priesthood. It also indicated that it was for
the bishop to decide, and that no priest is obliged to have female
servers. Altar girls are permitted if there is a pastoral need, but you
have to prove the need. It is not the normal way of doing things.
CWR: You came to San Francisco to establish the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. How has it gone, and do you have any big plans coming up?
Fr. Illo: It is going well. We have two priests, and we
have accepted two men as applicants. They’re living in our community
now, and will be going to seminary in the fall. They’ll be going to St.
Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park during the week, and spend the weekends
at our house.
We have three key things we’re looking at doing in the near future: 1)
We have a big empty convent on the grounds; we want to bring in a
community of sisters to fill it up. 2) We want to start a perpetual
adoration chapel; right now, there is not a single one in the City of
San Francisco. We need people to keep this going, though. 3) We’ve hired
a music director, and we want to start a music program to teach
Gregorian chant and polyphony. We’ve talked to the archbishop about
this; we want it to be a model for parishes and schools.
CWR: You mentioned the Walk for Life through downtown San Francisco. How did it go?
Fr. Illo: It was great, as usual. There weren’t too
many protestors this year, but the few who came walked alongside us.
Most were from outside the City.
CWR: Has it been tough receiving so much hostile press on the altar boy program?
Fr. Illo: It has been difficult for the moment, but it
was a necessary purging. We needed to draw a line in the sand and say
what we had to say. The parish has declined so much that there is only
one way we can move. And, part of becoming more committed to the
practice of our Catholic faith is trusting your pastor and the universal
church. The Church is a divinely-guided institution, and we must place
our trust in her.
Read more on Fr. Illo’s thoughts on the altar boy controversy and other topics by following his blog, www.frilloblog.com.
