I was often given the extremely laborious task of hunting down volunteers for the Mandatum. It was hard work: in my experience the majority of men who attended the Maundy Thursday Mass just wanted to pray quietly, and being asked to get up in front of the entire congregation and take off a shoe was anathema. I soon discovered that married men and those accompanied by their mothers made the easiest targets; the women were often eager for their menfolk to participate, and would help to persuade their reluctant spouses and sons to do their duty.
Given this reluctance, I suspect that we shall see an interesting phenomenon. Rather as the proportion of boys serving at Mass decreased as girls were permitted, I predict that, in parishes where the new rubrics are observed, we shall see the gradual (or not so gradual) dominance of female volunteers. After all, we have (on the whole) prettier, more dainty feet than men... and generally less foot odour. I foresee reports in L'Osservatore Romano commenting on the latest fashion in shades of nail varnish... The proportion of women to men can be called the Footsie Index...
I never felt excluded because I couldn't have my feet washed on Maundy Thursday. The link with Jesus, the Apostles and the life of service and self-sacrifice to which priests are called seemed perfectly clear. Opening the Mandatum to women merely breaks that symbolism, and so impoverishes and cheapens the action, reducing it to a play-acting stunt.
Spot on!
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ReplyDeleteand here was me thinking that we were going to be treated to a satire involving the Pope's insanity regarding Holy Thursday and God's subsequent wrath being vented on the Stock markets.
ReplyDeleteEccles, if you're reading this is right up your street.
I've had my feet washed on two Maundy Thursdays along with 11 other men, and I understand precisely how St Peter felt. As usual, the feminists get it wrong: it doesn't feel remotely like an honor to have your teacher wash your feet; it's profoundly humbling, and I could see from their stony faces that the other men felt the same way. Now that the mandatum has been changed, I expect women will quickly predominate, and the ones most likely to accept will be those who will regard it as a honor long denied them. Which means I'll either be looking for a Maundy Thursday Mass in the Tridentine form our reluctantly staying home that evening.
ReplyDeleteMan tip: (it worked for me)Try another parish.
ReplyDeleteFor the past 3 years in my parish on Holy Thursday we have had the "washing of hands" for everyone in the congregation (except for refuseniks. I wonder if this will change now that the law has changed. Like all the other novelties this is another change in the law brought about by past disobedience.
ReplyDeleteFootsie Index!! Nice one!!!
ReplyDeleteExactly. My wife and I made the decision a little over a year ago to avoid, at all costs if possible, the Novus Ordo. It is a hotbed for liturgical innovation and the proving grounds for non-Catholic worship and tradition. I firmly believe it serves as the template for the path toward a united ecumenical 'christian' communion and will be the central pillar on which the greater schism will be founded upon.
ReplyDeleteA new church of the new Rome needs its new mass to propagate its new doctrine. New springtime, and all that.
I wish the new Mandatum said that if women were allowed to be included it be under the proviso that the group would be composed of all ages and conditions to make it clear that it's the present day community that is to be served so that it's clear they are NOT to be taken as representing apostles. And if the group is to represent apostles it should be GROWN men only, not young altar boys pressed into service. Frankly, it was always fun to speculate which of the 12 represented Judas. I just don't want to see 12 women.
ReplyDeleteI expect that in the very near future, we will be seeing female Eucharistic monsters doing the feet washing .
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