LIGONIER: Ten Years Later

As for boys and young men serving as robed acolytes, that is not even a traditional Orthodox practice to begin with (we have adopted it in this country from Roman Catholic practice), so there is no historical foundation to exclude girls and women from that role. I cannot stress strongly enough how damaging this synodal statement is going to be to the spiritual and liturgical well-being of women and girls throughout the Orthodox Church. Orthodox lack of unity and ethnic insularity are not the only factors leading to the continuing exodus of cradle Orthodox from the Church. Faulty theological arguments and practices which exclude fully half of our faithful from broader liturgical participation play an important – and too often overlooked – role as well.

I was just recently made aware of this talk given by Dr. Valerie A. Karras at last October’s Annual Meeting of the Orthodox Christian Laity. Though she makes some good points in the first half of her presentation, toward the end she presents an agenda that is, in my opinion, un-Orthodox. Altar girls are just the tip of the iceberg. Read it all H E R E.