This week is definitely the hardest so far, because the participants have quite similar points and there is not much diversity in the first entry of the week. Therefore, it's difficult to choose one and response. In addition, there are not many participants posting their entries for this week makes it even tougher. Well, I shall be committed and post an entry. =)
I would like to response to Cassandra's entry. It's true that no Catholic Churches in Singapore allow female altar servers, it's because our Archbishop Nicholas Chia does not allow it. I'm not sure why, bu
t I think it's because there is still no demand for female altar servers at the moment. As Cassandra mentioned, there is no shortage of male altar servers.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree that altar servers represent the apostles, who were all male. As she mentioned that there are increasing numbers of female altar servers in certain countries now, does that mean female could be his Apostles too if Jesus would come today instead of 2,000 years ago? The answer is no.
The apostles were actually chosen by Jesus to continue his ministry on Earth when He ascended to Heaven. They were the Pope and the Bishops. Saint Peter was our first Pope (who was bishop or Rome) and the other apostles were bishops too. So it is incorrect to say that they are represented by altar servers today. Btw, isn't it amazing how we still could trace back Apostolic Successcor all the way to the first Pope? Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th pope. I believe there is no other religion that have the successfor from their first leader. Another reason to be proud that I'm a Catholic.
"we cannot argue that as in the past, women were treated like slaves and were considered unimportant. They had to be submissive and the care giver of the family...Women were considered lower than men and had to learn where they stood in society. This was the culture in the past, and thus, Jesus had males as His apostles, and NOT females."
Another interesting paragraph. In Genesis 3:16 God told Eve what her 'punishment' would be "I will increase the your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband , yet you will be subject to him."
And the punishment for Adam was 3 verses long!! O.o (Okay, I just realised it now). It's in Genesis 3:17-19, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again."
So it's clear here than the Adam had to work to support the family whereas Eve had to givebirth and obey her husband. So God was the one who gave the role to man being the head of the family, who need to work and provide food for his family and Eve was told that she would give birth and obey his husband. Looking at the world today, this is no longer the case, especially in the develope
d countries where both parents need to work in order to provide financial resources to the family. However, it's difficult to point finger at anyone, especially in countries like Singapore where the living cost is very high.
That is a reason why we have Family Life Society in the Church today, which is to remind people the importance of keeping the family together as the basic unit of the Church. For the second part of the paragraph, I explained already, Jesus chose only males because of the requirement for Sacrament of Holy Order.
I would like to response to Cassandra's entry. It's true that no Catholic Churches in Singapore allow female altar servers, it's because our Archbishop Nicholas Chia does not allow it. I'm not sure why, bu
t I think it's because there is still no demand for female altar servers at the moment. As Cassandra mentioned, there is no shortage of male altar servers.I'm sorry, but I have to disagree that altar servers represent the apostles, who were all male. As she mentioned that there are increasing numbers of female altar servers in certain countries now, does that mean female could be his Apostles too if Jesus would come today instead of 2,000 years ago? The answer is no.
The apostles were actually chosen by Jesus to continue his ministry on Earth when He ascended to Heaven. They were the Pope and the Bishops. Saint Peter was our first Pope (who was bishop or Rome) and the other apostles were bishops too. So it is incorrect to say that they are represented by altar servers today. Btw, isn't it amazing how we still could trace back Apostolic Successcor all the way to the first Pope? Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th pope. I believe there is no other religion that have the successfor from their first leader. Another reason to be proud that I'm a Catholic.
"we cannot argue that as in the past, women were treated like slaves and were considered unimportant. They had to be submissive and the care giver of the family...Women were considered lower than men and had to learn where they stood in society. This was the culture in the past, and thus, Jesus had males as His apostles, and NOT females."
Another interesting paragraph. In Genesis 3:16 God told Eve what her 'punishment' would be "I will increase the your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband , yet you will be subject to him."
And the punishment for Adam was 3 verses long!! O.o (Okay, I just realised it now). It's in Genesis 3:17-19, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again."
So it's clear here than the Adam had to work to support the family whereas Eve had to givebirth and obey her husband. So God was the one who gave the role to man being the head of the family, who need to work and provide food for his family and Eve was told that she would give birth and obey his husband. Looking at the world today, this is no longer the case, especially in the develope
d countries where both parents need to work in order to provide financial resources to the family. However, it's difficult to point finger at anyone, especially in countries like Singapore where the living cost is very high.That is a reason why we have Family Life Society in the Church today, which is to remind people the importance of keeping the family together as the basic unit of the Church. For the second part of the paragraph, I explained already, Jesus chose only males because of the requirement for Sacrament of Holy Order.
(Pictures are courtesy of Punch Stock Photography, Art.com, and picture of Pope Benedict is in my hard disk and I couldn't locate the source. If you know the source, please let me know so that I can give appropriate credit).
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