Pre-Vatican II "Revival" Bans Girl Altar Servers

On Saturday newspapers reported that girl altar servers would be banned at Star of the Sea Parish in San Francisco. On Monday, the parish issued an official statement on the "boys only" program and the "phasing out" of girls. Today, Women's Ordination Conference issued an action alert today calling on folks to contact the Archdiocese of San Francisco and inquire about what is happening in this parish and why the ban on girl altar servers.

Call To Action responded!In talking with a representative today, we were told:

1) The parish in question is experiencing a "revival" of the pre-Vatican II Church, consistent (reportedly) with the roots of St. Phillip Neri

2) Because of this, the Tridentine (Latin) mass is being renewed and utilized by the community

3) Girl altar servers are only prohibited from serving in the Latin mass, but will be able to continue serving in non-Tridentine services (so the representative said).

I inquired about the Archbishop's decision to allow this at this parish and whether or not other parishes would be allowed to follow suit. She would not answer. I inquired as to why some parishes were being allowed to side-skirt Vatican II tenets and charisms for the sake of personal preferences. She would not answer. The representative asked to put me on hold and ended up disconnecting us and ending our conversation.There seems to be discrepancies between the official statement issued by the parish and word coming from the Archdiocese. Call To Action will continue to monitor this story and provide updates.