Where are the Men? Part 2

In the last post, I mentioned how while attending a Saturday evening Vigil Mass at a local parish, I noticed that only 4 of 31 servant-leadership roles were filled by men.  Of those 4 positions of service, 1  was a young boy altar server, 2 were Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and 1 was in the happy happy clap clap band.  The problem is not the women, the problem is the men.  Here’s why…

When men are absent from servant-leadership (in anything, not just at Mass) the ‘thing’ does not function properly.  When a father is absent from his family, when a husband is absent from his wife, when a priest is absent from his parish, when a coach is absent from his team, when a boss is absent from his employees, when a commander is absent from his troops… the family, marriage, parish, team, company and unit do not function correctly.  At Mass, specifically, we must correct the dysfunctions because they are widespread and have a large scope of influence.  The way to correct the dysfunction is to encourage and challenge men to act in the way in which God created them to be.  To grasp this picture, let’s look at the creation account in the Book of Genesis.

God created Adam.  From Adam’s side, He created Eve.  Adam was commanded by God to “shamar” the garden.  Shamar is Hebrew for cultivate, protect, care for, etc.  It was Adam’s job to cultivate the land, protect the garden, his wife and all of creation, but from the onset, Adam dropped the ball.  When the serpent convinced Eve to eat of the fruit, where was Adam?  Gone in another place in the garden?  No.  Was he over at some buddy’s house drinking a cold one, watching the big game?  No.  He was right beside her!  [After all, she turned and handed him the fruit that she had just eaten from.]  He was neglecting to protect the garden and his wife and failed to do what God created him to do.  The Fall = Adam’s fault!  When this sort of behavior (when men fail to cultivate, protect and care for) continues to prevail, the Church suffers greatly.

The choices Adam made are, in some way, the same decisions that many Catholic men today are making.  Instead of cultivating the Church, protecting the Church and caring for the Church, men sit back and allow women to ‘do’.  If you look at parishes and/or dioceses that are incredibly strong, that have great priests, that have large properly-functioning families and they have large numbers of seminarians, you’ll see that it is almost undoubtedly because men are involved as leaders!

The problem with men sitting back and allowing women (who are willing and ready to step in) to fill the gap is that the general population of men either don’t attend Mass or simply lose interest, although their backside is filling a spot in the pew.  This sort of behavior teaches children that men don’t need faith and that faith is a ‘woman’s thing’.  Many men believe that faith, religion, prayer, devotion, etc. is feminine and actually, anti-masculine.  They couldn’t be further from the truth.  As I have stated many times before, being manly means that a man is virtuous.  Faith, Hope and Love, the Theological Virtues, are the real signs of manliness.  In an upcoming post, I will continue with the thought of what happens when men and women don’t fulfill their roles and how it affects the Church as a whole, titled “The Church: By Women, For Women.”

TrueMan up!

Where Are The Men?

Tonight, we went to Mass at a local parish we had never been to.  I’ve been wanting to go to a Mass there because I know several people who are parishioners at the parish who really like it.  After tonight, I’m confused as to why.  Besides the typical architectural disaster that this building was, the misplacement of the tabernacle and the lack of Catholic art (good statues, stained glass, etc.), the sense of what was about to happen was not Mass… it wasn’t sacred… it wasn’t important… it was just a thing.  That’s what I got when I first walked in.

As Mass started, I was highly disappointed in what was taking place… a jazz concert masked by the appearance of a worship service.  Between the really obnoxious singers (all mic’d up individually, ouch!) and the electronic drum set, I couldn’t figure out what was happening… was it about the music group? or about the Mass?  In my mind, the music was winning, although it didn’t have much of a following in the congregation.  As Mass continued, I realized what the problem was.  It was shouting at me loud and clear…

There were virtually NO MEN in servant-leadership roles!  The vast majority of the servant-leaders were women, which has almost nothing to do with the women, and everything to do with the men.  When men don’t actively serve in parish life, specifically in the Mass, a parish is going to suffer.  Here’s the scenario at this parish; these numbers are typical for most parishes around the country.

• When we walked in, three women greeted us, no men were to be found. 0-3.
• There were 3 altar servers, 2 were young girls.  1-5.
• In the rockin’ jazz/pop/r&b, happy happy clap clap band there was 1 man, 7 women.  2-12.
• There were 4 ushers… all women!  2-16.  (Men weren’t even ushering, ahhh!!!)
• Out of the excessive 9 Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, 2 were men.  4-23.
• The ‘commentator’, lectors and cantor were all women.  4-27.
• Oh yeah, the priest was a man.  5-27.

So, out of 32 servant-leadership positions, (31 really, when you remove the priest from the list) only 4 were filled by men!  And one of those 4 was a 12 year-old boy altar server!  This is despicable.  Again, this has nothing to do with the women, and everything to do with the men!  I’ll explain myself in more detail, in the next post… you’ve got to come back!

TrueMan up!