San Francisco Priest Bars Altar Girls, Sparks Another Controversy

Jan 28, 2015

A Catholic priest who recently took charge of a San Francisco parish has said only boys can be altar servers, a 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.”

As media coverage of the controversy at Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church began to build in recent days, the Rev. Joseph Illo defended his decision in a statement issued Jan. 26, saying he decided to make the change in November, a few months after he became pastor. Illo cited two main reasons for the switch.

The first, he said, is that “boys usually end up losing interest (in altar service) because girls generally do a better job.”

The second and more important reason, Illo said, is that “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,” he said. “Nothing awakens a desire for the priesthood like service at the altar among the brotherhood of young men. At the risk of generalizing, I suspect young men serving with young women might just distract them from the sacrifice of the Mass, and perhaps even from a priestly vocation.”

San Francisco Priest Bars Altar Girls, Sparks Another Controversy

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