Altar Girls, etc.

I came across this brilliant elucidation on the male-female role within the Church as it applies to the roles of priest and acolyte. It was written by Fr. Fessio back in the late 80's and appeared in the Catholic journal Fidelity.

While the entire Church is feminine and maternal, the clerical ministry within the Church is by nature masculine and paternal. Because the Bishop, the priest (and by participation the deacon) not only represent Christ but act as Christ in the Eucharistic Sacrifice of Sacrament and Word, only the masculine sex can represent sacramentally in an adequate way the male Christ Who Himself as male represents God facing creation and the bridegroom facing His bride the Church.

The sanctuary, and in particular the altar, is the sacred place, the Eucharist is the sacred act, its celebration the sacred time, and the priest the sacred person in the most profound and mysterious center of the entire Christian religion. The acolyte participates in this most Holy of Holies—most holy of times, places, and persons—by being the immediate assistant at the altar of the Priest acting in persona Christi. This he does especially by helping to prepare the sacrificial gifts. In this role as a helper or assistant of the priest he becomes as it were, the hands of the priest. For this reason, while it would not lead to the invalidity of the Sacrament for a woman to act as acolyte, it would be in serous disharmony with the very nature and character of the whole order of grace and redemption, the mediation of the priest and the symbolic character of men and women. In addition it would be a confusion of the role which is specifically that of the woman as representative of creation and the Church.

Put this way, the silly arguments from the left about alleged discrimination, patriarchy and sexism in the Church seem quite small and intellectually barren.