New Pope

[johnquinn39]

'While it is known that there exist, in some parts of the Church, those who extend the rite of the mandatum [foot washing] to women, contrary to the liturgical norms contained in the liturgical books, … such indications, nonetheless, pertain to different conversations about ecclesiological perspectives regarding the magisterial authority attached to authorized liturgical books.'

-- Fr. Paul G.

Is this true?

Is there any legislation forbidding the washing of the feet of women?

[Nick Baty]

Is there any legislation forbidding the washing of the feet of women?

I'm imagining someone out there in cyberspace stumbling upon this and reporting it to the rest of the blogosphere!

[johnquinn39]

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship ... ndatum.cfm

[BobHayes]

What is even more curious than Fr Gunter's interpretation, is the fact that we do eucharist frequently but wash feet only once a year at a poorly attended Mass in Holy Week.

I imagine attendance must vary widely from parish to parish. The Holy Thursday Mass is nearly 'full house' and getting volunteers is not a problem in my local parish.

[Anne]

I am puzzled about the argument for or against the washing of the feet of women. In the Creed we say 'For us men and for our salvation.......' I am told that 'men' in this sentence means 'Men and Women' or 'people'. Does the rule about washing the feet of 12 men mean 12 men or does it mean 12 people?

If we follow the argument that Jesus only washed the feet of 12 men and therefore it is OK to exclude women, then perhaps we should only wash the feet of 12 middle eastern Jews who happen to be in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.

[musicus]

For what it's worth, the Latin original for 'men' in the Creed is homines ('people'); in the Holy Thursday rubric (Roman Missal p 331) it is viri ('men').

There is a discussion of Fr Gunter's statement over on the PrayTell blog: http://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2 ... mens-feet/

[killary45]

When using "viri" in the second half of last century were writers of Church documents always exclusively meaning male persons?

Here are a few examples taken from Sacrosanctum Concilium

40.3 Because liturgical laws often involve special difficulties with respect to adaptation, particularly in mission lands, men (viri) who are experts in these matters must be employed to formulate them.
Did the council fathers really want to insist that this work must be preserved to men and that expert women can never be employed to help?

44. It is desirable that the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, set up a liturgical commission, to be assisted by experts (a viris) in liturgical science, sacred music, art and pastoral practice.
Does this use of the Latin "vir" specifically exclude expert women? Was that the intention of the authors of the document?

123. in honor of the Catholic faith sung by great men(viri) in times gone by.
Did the fathers believe that there were no great women singing the Catholic faith in the past? Or did they deliberately want to exclude the songs of the women? Or did the writers use "viri" for both men and women?

While "vir" might always mean "man" in classical Latin, there seems a certain amount of evidence that by 1965 it had changed its meaning to include both sexes in some contexts in Church documents.

[nazard]

Didn't St Paul have something to say on this subject. Remind me, someone.

[Southern Comfort]

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/553/17

I see that a Patrick Hadley has made more or less the same point as me in responding to Andrew Burnham. There is no prohibition of woman's feet being washed in the rubric, merely a mention of "chosen men".

Not even Paschale Solemnitatis (para 51) contains such a prohibition, and you would have thought that there, if anywhere, one would have been found. PS says:

The washing of the feet of chosen men which, according to tradition, is performed on this day, represents the service and charity of Christ, who came "not to be served, but to serve." This tradition should be maintained, and its proper significance explained.

In other words, the underlying theology is about service, not about the gender of those who are being served.

[musicus]

Robert Mickens, writing on the Tablet website today, begins: "Pope Francis has created an international commission of eight cardinals to advise him on governing the universal Church and reform its much-criticised central bureaucracy, the Roman Curia." The full article is here: http://www.thetablet.co.uk/latest-news/5202

Several other sites describe this new development (including the Vatican's own, of course), but one of the more interesting comments on it is the one that is linked to at the end of Mickens' piece: http://thetablet.co.uk/article/163927 Not actually a comment, of course, because it was written on 16 March, but remarkably relevant.

So, it would seem, begins the process of Curial reform.