Sign now to support altar girls! (petition)

At Star of the Sea school in the San Francisco diocese, the families are standing up for equality. Recently, the new pastor at their parish and school banned girls from serving at the altar. According to the priest, those already serving are allowed to continue until they graduate from the parish school, but no new girls will be trained. This leaves younger girls confused and disappointed. They'd been looking forward to the experiences they saw older cousins and sisters have serving Mass.

Parents and community members have been working locally since the ban was announced in November. They have sent hundreds of letters to the priest and his superiors and the issue grabbed the attention of local media in January when the diocese falsely claimed the ban only applied to the Latin Mass. At that time, Call To Action got involved and now we've helped local organizers launch a petition. "We value the girls of our Church," reads the petition. "Serving Mass is not a priestly function, and it is not a recruiting tool for the priesthood. Don't allow Fr. Illo to use out of date theology to discriminate against our daughters and hurt all of us!"

The priest has been buoyed by letters of encouragement from conservative Catholics and Latin Mass supporters around the country.  Now organizers plan to show him just how many Catholics support the altar girls!  In addition to the petition, organizers have gathered support from the leaders of other parishes in the diocese and held a public meeting with diocesan leaders.  You can stay up to date on their work and the news coverage at their new website.