Sri Lankan Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has mandated that girls are not permitted to serve as altar servers in parishes within the Archdiocese of Colombo. “No girls should be invited to serve at the altar, as altar servers, in the archdiocese,” Ranjith wrote in an October 22 letter to parish priests that was made public in December. According to the letter, the cardinal issued the order because serving as an altar server can be a pathway to the priesthood and should therefore be a position reserved for boys.
“It should always be young boys because this is one of the main sources of vocations to the priesthood in Sri Lanka and it will affect the number of candidates entering the seminaries, which [is a] risk we cannot take” the letter continues. “Since females are not allowed to be ordained priests, we have made that decision.”
Ranjith noted in the letter that “several parishes” within the archdiocese have been “appointing girls as altar servers” but told the priests that this order “cannot be changed at your discretion.” “Please carry this out as faithfully as possible and do not think that it is your faculty to [use your own discretion],” the letter adds. “I thank you in anticipation of your usual cooperation and wish you God’s blessings.” Ranjith said in the letter that he had first told the priests about this order during a presbyteral meeting held on Oct. 21, the day prior to the letter.