From the beginning of its ‘universal’ formulation in the the Middle Ages, 1 church law forbade women to serve at the altar of the Eucharist. The reasons for this were:

women’s presumed inferiority that precluded them from leadership functions, and
women’s impurity because of menstruation.

When the Code of Canon Law was revised in 1917, 2 the prohibition against women at the altar remained firmly entrenched.

A female person may not minister. An exception is permitted only when no male person is available and if a just cause is present. The female person may not, however, approach the altar under any circumstances, and may only respond from afar. 2(Canon 813§2). [Imagine such an impure creature defiling the pure altar~]

The 1917 Code permited a nun to act as server during celebration of mass if the mass in in a convent chapel. But there were restrictions:

If a male server is readily available, the celebrating priest would commit a venial sin[by allowing a female server]. It is, however, forbidden on pain of grave sin for the female server to approach the altar. 3 [Note: the priest and nun commit a grave sin if he permits her to approach the altar.]

Many Catholic women experienced deep and personal sense of shame and rejection on account of their exclusion. One woman writes:

When we were children, girls were told they could only go on the altar [past the Communion rails to the front of the church] the day they got married. It made me angry, because my little brother was an altar boy and he could go up there any day he served Mass. 4

Unsurprisingly, the prohibition against serving during mass did not affect the expectation that lay women were responsible for cleaning the sanctuary and altar area.

Another woman relates that as a child she eagerly learned all the Latin responses by heart and would get to Mass early each Lenten morning with hope that if the altar boy did not show up, the priest would allow her to say the responses to the priest’s Mass prayers. If she was permitted to say the responses, because girls weren’t allowed in the sanctuary (altar area), she had to so so from a pew because girls were not allowed ‘up there with the priest’. Ruth Wallace writes:

I can remember being told by a priest in the early 1960s that it was a mortal sin for a woman to be present in the sanctuary of Church during Mass. 5

Changes since 1963

1963 The Second Vatican Council launches far-reaching liturgical reform through Sacrosanctum Concilium. Women are not mentioned in detail.

1970 March: The General Instruction on the Roman Missal provides for lay persons of either sex and without canonical limitation on age (although they must be old enough to do the service appropriately) to supply some of the same services as installed lectors and acolytes. These additional roles had been classified in the pre-Code documents as liturgical ministries:

All the ministries below those proper to the deacon may be performed by laymen whether they have been commissioned for any office or not. Those ministries which are performed outside the sanctuary may be entrusted to women if this be judged prudent by the priest in charge of the church. (Gen. Instr.§70)

1970 September: Liturgiae Instaurationes specifies which ‘ministries’ are permitted to women and which are not. Serving at the altar is still forbidden. The traditional liturgical norms of the Church prohibit women (young girls, married women, religious) from serving the priest at the altar, even in women’s chapels, houses, convents, schools and institutes. In accordance with rules governing this matter, women may:

a) Proclaim the scripture readings, with the exception of the gospel. Modern technical means should be used so that everyone can easily hear. Episcopal conferences may determine more concretely a suitable place from which women may read the word of God.

b) Offer the intentions for the Prayer of the faithful.

c) Lead the congregation’s singing; play the organ and other approved instruments.

d) Give the explanatory comments to help people’s understanding of the service.

e) Fulfill certain offices of service to the faithful which in some places are usually entrusted to women, such as receiving the faithful at the doors of the church and directing them to their places, guiding them in processions and collecting their offerings in church. (§ 7).

1980 In an instruction titled The Inestimable Gift, John Paul II stipulates that ‘women are not permitted the functions of an altar server’.

1983 The Code of Canon Law is revised. New canon 906 calls for ‘the participation of a believer’ whenever a priest celebrates Mass and thus seems to remove the ban on women servers. But new canon 230§1 makes it clear that the office of acolyte - which includes altar servers - is entrusted to men alone.

Canon 230§1: Lay men who possess the age and qualifications determined by decree of the conference of bishops can be installed on a stable basis in the ministries of lector and acolyte in accord with the prescribed liturgical rite; the conferral of these ministries, however, does not confer on these lay men a right to obtain support or remuneration from the Church.

The new Law recognised the need of exceptions in special circumstances. Women are included but again the situation is permissive, allowed in special circumstances, and not prescriptive:

Canon 230§3: When the necessity of the Church warrants it and when ministers are lacking, lay persons, even if they are not lectors or acolytes, can also supply for certain of their offices, namely, to exercise the ministry of the word, to preside over liturgical prayers, to confer baptism, and to distribute Holy Communion in accord with the prescriptions of law.

The Situation as of January 2020:

Many local Churches throughout the world have begun to allow girls to function as altar servers. This in spite of repeated attempts by the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments to discourage the practice. For instance:

1994 The Congregation for Divine Worship partially capitulates and relaxes the rule. In a Circular Letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences allows for the local Bishop to grant permission for women and girls to serve at the altar. The change is permissive but not prescriptive:

The Diocesan Bishop, in his role as moderator of the liturgical life in the diocese entrusted to his care, has authority, within the boundaries of the territory entrusted to his care, to permit women to serve at the altar.

2001 In its instruction ‘Regarding Female Altar Servers’, the Congregation for Divine Worship reiterates that the local Bishop may refuse to allow women to serve:

The authorization [by a local bishop] to allow women servers may not, in any way, exclude men or, in particular, boys from service at the altar, nor require that priests of the diocese must make use of female altar servers, since it will always be very appropriate to follow the noble tradition of having boys serve at the altar. 6

Summary:

Our work for women’s equality in the Church is not over.

Cultural prejudice is slowly breaking down, also in the Catholic Church. The prejudice is still kept in place by Church authorities clinging to flimsy arguments that have no credible foundation. The official Church will not be able to shore up its untenable opposition to the ordination of women for much longer.

Women's Ordination Worldwide

Women's Ordination Worldwide

Timeline Links

Women's Ordination Worldwide

Female Altar Servers

Changes since 1963

The Situation as of January 2020:

Summary:

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Women's Ordination Worldwide