Can the priest wash women's feet on Holy Thursday?
According to the sacramentary, "The men [vir] who have been chosen are led by the ministers to chairs prepared in a suitable place. Then the priest (removing his chasuble if necessary) goes to each man. With the help of the ministers, he pours water over each one's feet and dries them."
In 1988 the Congregation for Divine Worship reaffirmed that only men's feet are supposed to be washed: "The washing of the feet of chosen men [vir] which, according to tradition, is performed on this day, represents the service and charity of Christ, who came 'not to be served, but to serve' (Matt. 20:28). This tradition should be maintained, and its proper significance explained."--Paschales Solemnitatis, 51.
In both cases the Latin word vir is used which means that men is not referring to mankind but only to males. Therefore, only men may have their feet washed on Holy Thursday. The practice of having the congregation wash each other's feet is also not allowed as the instruction refers only to the priest as the washer of feet.
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Furthermore:
First, the mandatum of that Mass... which is the Mass which commemorates the institution of the PRIESTHOOD together with the Eucharist concerns service. In the context of the Passion of the Lord, which is in obedience to the Father's commands, Jesus gives His Church (certainly) but more precisely His chosen Apostles whom He makes priests to continue and extend His saving work the example of humility and obedience. Obedience. If there are terrible scandals in the Church today, they rage precisely because of LACK OF OBEDIENCE to what the Church teaches. At this moment in the Church's year, in this particular Mass, a violation of this rubric and its symbolic intent, is not a small matter. Furthermore it is simultaneous symptomatic and causative: in the life of the Church how we pray has a reciprocal relationship with what we believe. Disobedience at any time in the Church's worship life will produce disobedience at every other level of the Church's life. Disobedience at a very important moment is worse yet. The Eucharist and its celebration is the "source and summit" of Christian living, and that includes Christian morals.
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And this:
This is an optional rite within the Mass of Holy Thursday. The Mass of Holy Thursday commemorates three things: 1) the institution of the sacrament of Holy Orders (priesthood), 2) the institution of the Eucharist, 3) the beginning of the Passion. What the priest does in the Mandatum - the foot washing rite (from the Latin word for "command" - he does in imitation of Christ, the High Priest. In the upper room, historically, Christ the High priest washed the feet of men, the apostles and he ordained them the first priests. In the Mass on Holy Thursday, the priest, acting in the person of Christ the High Priest, repeats this sacred action in the way that Christ did. He washes the feet only of those who would "ontologically" (that is, in their being - in their maleness) be able to receive Holy Orders just as the Apostles. This is ties together with the theology of how the priest is the "icon" of Christ. Thus, it is proper and fitting (and the law of the Church) that the priest wash only the feet of males.
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