May women have their feet washed in the Holy Thursday Mass?

-- Robert Carter (buttler12@hotmail.com), April 09, 2002

Answers

Yes~Here's more on Maundy Thursday:

http://www.churchschools.co.uk/subscribers/re/chr2/maundythursday.php

-- Jackiea (sorry@dontlikespam.com), April 09, 2002.

Of course they are ALLOWED TO. It is just, I FEEL, not quite right. God had 12 apostles and I think it is important to show that with 12 men up at the altar. That is what I think anyway.

GOD BLESS DOM

-- Dominic (domngel@hotmail.com), April 11, 2002.

No, Robert. Only men may have have their feet washed at a Catholic Mass on Holy Thursday.

Fr. Luis Rodriguez, in a February, 2002, reply for EWTN stated, "The Roman Missal [i.e., the Sacramentary on the altar] and the Ceremonial of Bishop's no. 301 clearly state that it is 12 men."

An orthodox liturgical expert, Fr. Jerome Pokorsky, in an "Adoremus Bulletin" article, explains:

"The sacred events of Holy Thursday represent the Lord's institution of the Sacraments of the Blessed Eucharist and Holy Orders. ... [In 1987,] Bishop Anthony Bevilacqua, then bishop of Pittsburgh [and now cardinal archbishop of Philadelphia, as well as a civil lawyer and canon lawyer], reminded his priests that the Sacramentary (the official book of prayers for celebration of Mass) calls for the selection of men for the Holy Thursday washing of feet. He pointed out that the Latin word for men, 'viri' [meaning males], was used in the Latin original. The liturgical instructions, or rubrics, of the Sacramentary were to be followed faithfully: 'The men who have been chosen are led by the ministers to chairs prepared in a suitable place. Then the priest... goes to each man. With the help of ministers, he pours water over each one's feet and dries them' (Sacramentary, p. 136). ...

"[In 1987, some U.S. bishops unofficially tried to impose a new custom in which the feet of both men and women could be washed. The negative response from the Vatican in 1988 was clear. A newly published instruction said:] 'The washing of the feet of chosen men [virorum] which, according to tradition, is performed on this day, represents the service and charity of Christ, who came 'not to be served, but to serve.' This tradition should be maintained, and its proper significance explained. (Congregation for Divine Worship, "Preparing and Celebrating the Paschal Feasts," January 16, 1988.)' ...

"... the ritual is intimately connected to the priesthood and the institution of the Eucharist. Its symbolism cannot be reduced to a general theme of service to the whole Church. The Lord's example is given to those who would serve the people of God in his name, calling them to humility and self-abnegation in their priestly ministry. Hence, the ceremonial recalling of this act is liturgically related to the whole mystery of Holy Thursday -- to the priesthood and the Eucharist. To include women confuses this focus and obscures the theological meaning of these solemn acts ..."

[Jackiea, the site for which you gave a URL does not mention the washing of the feet of women. Also, it is not a Catholic site, but rather a British site sponsored by Anglicanism. It states that the Queen is the head of the "church" of England. In that Protestant denomination, not only are the feet of women washed, but priestesses sometimes do the washing.]

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002.