Women joined "Holy Thursday" foot-washing "ritual" in Detroit

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"For the second year in a row, Pope Francis broke with Catholic papal custom by washing the feet of women as well as men in the annual Holy Thursday ritual that memorializes Jesus washing the feet of his 12 male disciples at the Last Supper.

Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of 12 disabled people, including women and a Muslim man, during a Holy Thursday service. Last year, Francis made headlines when he included women in the ritual at a youth detention center.

At metro Detroit parishes, women have been included in the foot-washing ritual for decades. Detroit Catholic Archbishop Allen Vigneron poured water onto the feet of five women and seven men at the Holy Thursday mass at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral.

In 1987, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged that women be included in the ritual, and it’s been standard practice in many parishes, although it’s left to the discretion of individual bishops and parish pastors, said Dan McAfee, the Detroit archdiocese’s Christian worship director.

“We’re not re-enacting history here. We’re celebrating mystery,” McAfee said about the ritual.

Some Catholic pastors adhere to a traditional interpretation.

“We’ll have 12 men dressed as apostles and they have their feet washed in the ceremony,” said the Rev. Eduard Perrone, pastor of Assumption Grotto Catholic Church in northeast Detroit. “That’s the tradition in the church and we’ve not deviated from that.”

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