Call to Action
1,000 signatures reached
To: Archbishop Cordileone
Girls Belong at the Altar! Support Altar girls in San Francisco parish
We respectfully request that you reverse your decision to allow Fr. Illo to ban girls from being altar servers at Star of the Sea School. We value the girls’ participation in our Church. We believe serving at mass is not a priestly function, and it is not a recruiting tool for the priesthood. This ban sends our girls the wrong message and is in direct conflict with the Pope's direction to increase women's roles in the church.
Please, don't allow Fr. Illo to use out-of-date liturgical norms to discriminate against our daughters and hurt all of us!
Please, don't allow Fr. Illo to use out-of-date liturgical norms to discriminate against our daughters and hurt all of us!
Why is this important?
It is discriminatory and it is unfair:
As one high-ranking Church official put it: “...excluding girls from being altar servers is 'invidious discrimination' and to do this in this day and age in our culture has no justification."
http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/san-francisco-priests-council-debates-pr-disaster-parish
The decision was based on a flawed interpretation of Church teachings:
Serving at mass is not a priestly function, and it is not a recruiting tool for the priesthood.
http://cta-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/LETTER-for-petition.pdf
The ban “discredits the value of girls’ service in the Church”:
Every other parish in the archdiocese allows altar girls, and we do not want Fr. Illo’s ban to set a precedent for other parishes. As one priest from a neighboring parish says: "For one San Francisco parish to choose to limit altar servers to males only is just not their business. It hurts us all when it argues archaic theology that discredits the value of girls' service in the Church.” http://www.siprep.org/page.cfm?p=9377
Read more about Star of the Sea Parish and the ban on altar girls at:
http://www.welovestarsf.com/faq.html
As one high-ranking Church official put it: “...excluding girls from being altar servers is 'invidious discrimination' and to do this in this day and age in our culture has no justification."
http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/san-francisco-priests-council-debates-pr-disaster-parish
The decision was based on a flawed interpretation of Church teachings:
Serving at mass is not a priestly function, and it is not a recruiting tool for the priesthood.
http://cta-usa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/LETTER-for-petition.pdf
The ban “discredits the value of girls’ service in the Church”:
Every other parish in the archdiocese allows altar girls, and we do not want Fr. Illo’s ban to set a precedent for other parishes. As one priest from a neighboring parish says: "For one San Francisco parish to choose to limit altar servers to males only is just not their business. It hurts us all when it argues archaic theology that discredits the value of girls' service in the Church.” http://www.siprep.org/page.cfm?p=9377
Read more about Star of the Sea Parish and the ban on altar girls at:
http://www.welovestarsf.com/faq.html