Catholic Complaint #1: Altar Server Footwear

My "About Me" masthead says that I'm an opinionated observer of the Catholic realm. So, OK, here's my first jab at it.

I'm going to number my complaints as I go along. Note that in numbering this complaint as #1, it doesn't mean that it's my most important complaint or the thing I care about the most. This just happens to be where I'm starting.

Catholic Complaint #1 is: Altar Servers Wearing Flip-Flops and Athletic Shoes

People buy their kids everything these days. If the Tai-Kwon-Do instructor says your kid needs special shoes, we buy them. If your daughter needs tap shoes and ballet shoes for her dance class, we buy them. If the Little League coach says your kid needs cleats, they magically appear. Ditto for soccer, football, and tennis. Along with the specified gym shoes for gym class at school.

So why can't my church (and many others) specify what kind of shoes are appropriate and inappropriate for altar servers, both male and female? This lack of adult oversight on the part of both the parish and the parents really gets my goat.

All summer (and through part of spring and also into fall), the girl altar servers are wearing flip-flops, which makes it look like coming to mass to serve at the altar was a last-minute decision as we got out of the shower or left the poolside chaise lounger. It looks especially tacky, when, by some ironic miracle, the girl is wearing a dress or skirt under the altar server robe. Because then it looks like she has nothing on, except for those flip-flops. It's as if she's up on the altar bare-footed.

And then there's the athletic shoes, worn by both girls and boys. Scuffed up, dirty, with raggedy shoelaces hanging off the shoes. Which looks even worse when worn with scruffy jeans, the usual altar server "uniform." Now add to that ugly look the fact that at my church, our priest replaced the "peace-and-love" white cord-tied robes with fitted, frilly, traditional red and white altar vestments. Talk about looking ridiculous....tennis shoes and jeans sticking out from beneath traditional Catholic garb. (I'm not saying the new robes are ridiculous, in fact, I think just the opposite.)


(Photo: This picture is NOT from my church, and my apologies to anyone upset about my using it. These cord-tied robes are what we used to have at our parish. But the athletic shoes? We still have those!)

I ask parents of altar servers this question: What's more important? God? Or the sports? If the answer is GOD, then why can't your kid dress the part, just like they are required to at all the other activities they participate in? Your kids are serving on the holy altar of the mass, where Jesus is present in the body and blood. Is it too much to ask that those who are present on the altar show the proper respect due in that situation?

I'm not perfect, I admit. I have worn flip-flops to church, especially when I was pregnant. I wear sandals to church in the summer (note that I'm not railing against sandals, only flip-flops.) But I'm not up there on the altar. If I was a reader or Eucharistic minister, you'd better believe I'd dress the part.

These kids are trained by someone to become altar servers, right? Why can't that training specify that you MUST wear dress shoes when serving? Well, I asked the man at our church who trains the altar servers. Note that this man is somewhat within the orthodox Catholic camp, with grandchildren who are homeschooled and he is a multi-visit pilgrim to Medjugorje. His response? The shoes the kids are wearing is all they have AND they wouldn't want to discourage any children from serving simply because of the shoe issue.

(Photo: Again, NOT from my church. These altar servers are dressed in garb that is similar to the new vestments now used at my parish.)

I UNDERSTAND his response, I really do. But I stand by my opinion on this one. Don't tell me that your daughter doesn't own ANY other pairs of shoes other than flip-flops, because I don't believe it. And your son? Well, given today's culture, I might actually believe that he doesn't have any other shoes than those scuffed up Nikes. But he should. You should be training your son NOW in the graces of behaving and dressing in a gentlemanly manner, rather than thinking he'll magically become Prince Charming at age 16 or 18.

I don't want to discourage kids from being altar servers. No way! But to say that SHOES will stand in the way of wanting to be one? That's really underestimating our children and placing the lowest of expectations upon them.