QUAERITUR: Holy Thursday Mandatum and female feet. Wherein advice is sought and Fr. Z ranteth.

From a reader:

As it is Lent, it is undoubtedly time to ask the question of women having their feet washed on Holy Thursday.  I am well aware (from reading your blog) that it is contrary to law and custom to have women have their feet washed during the Mandatum on Holy Thursday.  However, I am somewhat deficient in cite-able resources to support this claim, particularly with the recent translational corrections to the Roman Missal that I haven’t yet studied in-depth.

Apparently, our pastor is considering opening up this year’s rite to include women for, as you may have guessed, reasons of “hospitality”, “inclusivity”, and “pastoral” reasons. [Dreadful reasons.]  Several of us young (20s-30s), conservative members of the parish would like to respectfully present a case to our pastor expressing why we find this practice to be distasteful, and would like to have concrete references to cite when doing so.

Can you offer any guidance?  I wish not to speak for myself or my own opinion, but rather that of Holy Church and Her sacred traditions.

First, if you have something to say to the pastor, make an appointment and go say it!  Respectfully, with a smile, and briefly.

This whole debate has been cleared up more than once by the Holy See, especially in the 1988 document Paschales solemnitatis of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.

Moreover, the rubrics of the 2002 Missale Romanum retain the viri selecti.  Viri cannot include “females”.  Viri is an exclusive term.

I don’t believe any Conference of Bishops has ever received explicit approval from the Holy See for a variation, and only the Holy See can do that.

Conferences of bishops, individual bishops, and pastors all lack the authority to change this on their own.

To do it is wrong.

ADVICE:

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When you go to meet with the pastor, take several Say The Black Do The Red coffee mugs, with one for the pastor as a gift.

Also, you might take a big thermos of Mystic Monk Coffee!

Mystic Monk, roasted and shipped by Carmelite MEN - viri – in Wyoming, is sure to put the pastor in a good frame of mind.

Mystic Monk Coffee, administered regularly and in large quantities helps priests to see reason.

Take it from me!

I’m a priest, I drink Mystic Monk Coffee in large quantities regularly, and I am exceptionally reasonable!  No liturgical abuses from me.

Therefore, I promise that, if enough people buy enough Mystic Monk Coffee, all liturgical abuses will end!

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