Here is a Mass kit for little boys by Wee Believers.. This is way cool.
Though what about dissident little girls who want to be priestesses? Surely someone can come up with with a women’s priest kit which would include poncho, stunningly ugly stole, chalice made out of earthenware, home made hosts made out of material surely to crumble, and a subscription to the National Catholic Reporter.
Hat tip Marc via Twitter.
28 comments
Oh my goodness, once I get some money I may just have to get this for my friends’ sons.
I think they need to jump in very quickly with a lovely kit for girls including a rosary, devotions book, candles, statue of the Blessed Mother, small history of Mother Angelica’s nuns, a book of Mass chants, a little diary to help record both one’s faults and what one does to help to overcome those faults, a little Latin banner with something like “Totus tuus, Maria”, a small flower wreath and May crown for the statue, and a mantilla.
After all, think of how many orders of nuns assist at Mass through chanting and how beautiful that is. . .encourage girls to seek religious life for its beauties, both seen and unseen.
Don’t forget that it should include a garb in case the priestess gets pregnant!
Katie: “…and a mantilla.”
Yes, a brilliant idea! Very simple, and (depending on the type of fabric used and where it’s purchased) probably quite inexpensive, but that one item alone can help many young Catholic girls regain a proper sense of reverence and respect at Mass.
My younger sister now accompanies me to the TLM with encouraging frequency (most Sundays, in fact), so I’m now on the hunt for a good mantilla as a Christmas present.
Here’s a great place to buy a mantilla from:
http://www.halo-works.com
I got one from them and like it a lot.
HAHAHAHA! This is freakin hilarious. And your post was, too. “Stunningly ugly stole!” Indeed! With cartoon characters on it and someone playing folk music loudly during Communion. Bleck.
But in defense of the poor earthenware chalice, in a modern church it works!
dellbabe68 said “But in defense of the poor earthenware chalice, in a modern church it works!”
However an earthenware chalice does not conform to the rubrics which require the Sacred Species to be held only in contact with precious metal. Anything less fails to give Our Lord’s Body & Blood the respect It deserves.
haha! thats funny! 😀
I’m a dad to 2 girls myself and I could certainly see the benefit of a kit like this for girls! My wife’s thinking it’s an awesome idea too.
Have at it…
So cute…
But in too many parishes, how many little boys would even know what half of that is or what it’s for? Ask their altar-serving sisters? -_-
C’mon, Vernon, I like a good monstrance or chalice as much as the next person, but He did walk from place to place in sandals. Can we cut a little slack to those who try to keep it simple? I disagree it doesn’t offer respect.
But dellbabe68, do you agree it violates the rules the Church sets down for Mass and therefore shouldn’t be done?
About the Mass kit, I don’t see why a girl shouldn’t play with one too if she likes. Neither she nor the boy are priests; they would both be playing at what they aren’t, but it might induce them to pay better attention to what goes on in church and that’s great. When I was a girl I pretended I was a unicorn, a raccoon, a ballerina, a fighter pilot, all sorts of stuff, and some of it I knew I’d never actually be, but it was fun to play. If I had a daughter I’d let her play priest, and just let her know that it’s silly to go on pretending after you’re a grownup. 🙂
Rachel,
While I see your point about pretending, some of us see boys doing this at play, and we see an opportunity to pray for vocations, maybe particularly his. We see a girl do the same, and we discourage her now, rather than let her dream of something that will never be if she remains a faithful Catholic (which we hope she will). We don’t want her to become disillusioned if her dreams grow bigger instead of change. We’d rather disappoint a child who will be disappointed by our boundaries over and over during the next several years (don’t play with your food, don’t jump off the garage roof, don’t climb the ivy on the side of the house, don’t play with the chalice), than see her become a disappointed adult who becomes either bitter or a dissident. Of course, if she leaves it at child’s play, your approach appears wise, because it doesn’t make it all the more interesting. But if her dreams grow, and she convinces herself the Holy Spirit is calling her, then the seed of dissent was planted in her at a young age, and rooting it out will be painful. I’m sure you mean well. So do we.
“But dellbabe68, do you agree it violates the rules the Church sets down for Mass and therefore shouldn’t be done?”
Hi Rachel,
I’m not aware of such a rule specifically against eathenware, or that a chalice has to be gold or silver, but then again, I’m feeling like if we have to disagree on this point, I’m probably considered a heretic to some. I still think the earthenware chalice suffices, and I’m not aware of any rules being broken by using one. I’m feeling that someone might have a link to official language condemning it and will pass that along promptly.
dellbabe68,
Redemptionis Sacramentum says
“Reprobated, therefore, is any practice of using for the celebration of Mass common vessels, or others lacking in quality, or devoid of all artistic merit or which are mere containers, as also other vessels made from glass, earthenware, clay, or other materials that break easily. This norm is to be applied even as regards metals and other materials that easily rust or deteriorate.”
What is Redemptionis Sacramentum?
Why, then, do churches have earthenware chalices and are not cited in some way by a Bishop?
Not trying to be a whiny pot, but I’m really stuck right now on priests not necessarily being pro-life, so the chalice thing seems nitpicky to me. But if it’s indeed a big rule being violated, well then that’s a problem. I just see so many of them it hadn’t occured to me it’s a frowned-upon practice.
Thanks. Sorry to be cranky. I feel very confused by my Church right now.
brilliant
Hi dellbabe6,
Yeah, it’s no wonder people think earthenware vessels are acceptable when their parishes use them. It’s the priest who’s responsible for knowing and obeying the norms, and I too wonder why the disobedient ones aren’t corrected by their bishops!
I know a priest being pro-choice looks a lot worse than a priest using earthenware instead of gold. But in a way I think they spring from the same root– they both start with the priest saying, “I will follow my own will rather than Christ’s Church.” Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
Helen– I definitely believe you all mean well and you might be right. At any rate a daughter is much better off with parents who forbid some things through love than with parents who permit everything through apathy.
dellbabe6,
Redemptionis Sacramentum is an instruction by the Congregation For Divine Worship And The Discipline Of The Sacrament that was signed by Pope John Paul II. It addresses plenty of liturgical abuses. There are always going to be those who think they no better than the Church so we will always have liturgical abuses in one form or another, just ask St. Paul who addressed some himself.
Earthenware vessels are especially problematic since they absorb the Precious Blood.
Thanks, Jeff.
I think I will go read and try to digest Redemptionis Sacramentum. Though, I have a feeling I’m going to be even more aggravated with various priests, some of whom are close family friends. It’s very vexing.
It should not even be necessary for lay people to have to worry about abuses like this. As a teacher, my working practices are regularly inspected at short or no notice by a government agency. With the huge bureacracies at diocesan level – they could literally send out a monsignor with a checklist of all the things listed in Redemptionis Sacram (and more!) to every parish within the diocese every couple of years – and check this up – not wait for the laity to find out and have to write letters. Come on Bishops – what about some Total quality management?
At the end of the day, with altar girls having all but taken the place of the altar boy, anything to get our young boys interested in the priesthood at a young age is a wonderful idea
One here who attends the Latin Mass exclusive and has more reverence and for the mass and the rubrics (I dont even agree the 1962 changes should have been made, but that is for another thread), I think this is great
If God and the Holy Spirit call these youngsters as young men into seminary, then they can learn the proper rubrics
The first step is getting them there, and the “farm team” as I used to call the altar boy has all but been taken away in the name of modernism and the incremental goal of female ordination which the way I see it is only a few Popes away, we had better straighten this out fast
No one need worry about the potential harm of these play Mass kits.
At the price they’re going for ($89 + s/h) no one will be able to afford to buy one for little Suzy who *knows* she’s being called to the priestesshood.
Believe it or not we had a Mass kit when I was a child in the 50’s. It was a lot nicer than that one and even came with a cardboard altar. The challenge and Patin looked gold. There were even cool looking vestments.
Back then, my brother always played the priest and believe it or not he had me be the altar boy (even though I was a girl) because he would never have dared tell his friends that he played Mass.Therefore there were no boys he could get to play that role. He was kind of a cool kid and didn’t want anyone to know he enjoyed doing this.
We found it fun, and of course it was all in Latin back then so there was an aura of doing something exotic.
Correction to the above comment: I meant chalice.
This idea has been around for a while- read Maria Montessori’s The Child and The Church for examples of incorporating an altar into a Montessori classroom. Minature altars and equipment are a central part of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. The children (boys and girls) learn the names of the articles and set up the altar on a regular basis. Why shouldn’t girls know the names of the articles of the mass?
They want $90 for that?! That’s a bit steep…
@ Erick:
My younger sister now accompanies me to the TLM with encouraging frequency (most Sundays, in fact), so I’m now on the hunt for a good mantilla as a Christmas present.
I just got my own from Garlands of Grace – very beautiful ones, that stay put! http://garlandsofgrace.com God bless!