Ordination of women: Difference between revisions
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== Restriction of ordination to men == | |||
[[File:1976-03-27 Women's Ordination Conf.jpg|thumb]] | [[File:1976-03-27 Women's Ordination Conf.jpg|thumb]] | ||
* The masculinity of the priesthood reflects at least two dimensions of masculinity: the masculinity of God, the Father, and the masculinity of Jesus, true God and true man. | * The masculinity of the priesthood reflects at least two dimensions of masculinity: the masculinity of God, the Father, and the masculinity of Jesus, true God and true man. | ||
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:"If they can indeed 'reject' Magisterial authority, that same authority is, logically, powerless to ordain them in any real and meaningful way." | :"If they can indeed 'reject' Magisterial authority, that same authority is, logically, powerless to ordain them in any real and meaningful way." | ||
===== The argument from "injustice" | == Arguments for the Ordination of Women == | ||
=== The argument from "injustice" === | |||
When I entered the Jesuits in 1973, I was in favor of women's ordination. I paid dues to some national organization (perhaps N.O.W.?), and attended a conference that favored women's ordination circa 1975-1976. On Friday, I agreed with the speakers; by Sunday morning, I was opposed to them. | When I entered the Jesuits in 1973, I was in favor of women's ordination. I paid dues to some national organization (perhaps N.O.W.?), and attended a conference that favored women's ordination circa 1975-1976. On Friday, I agreed with the speakers; by Sunday morning, I was opposed to them. | ||
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<br style="clear: both" /> | <br style="clear: both" /> | ||
=== Mary Magdalene was an apostle === | |||
=== Men and women are equal === | |||
Galatians: no slave or free, no male or female, no Jew or Gentile. | |||
All in "image and likeness of God." | |||
:: A = B | |||
:: B = C | |||
:: A = C | |||
=== Women clerics could solve the priest shortage === | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
Revision as of 18:35, 9 April 2015
Restriction of ordination to men
- The masculinity of the priesthood reflects at least two dimensions of masculinity: the masculinity of God, the Father, and the masculinity of Jesus, true God and true man.
- The Church judges that it cannot ordain women because Jesus did not ordain women.
- October 28, 1995
- Dubium: Whether the teaching that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, which is presented in the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis to be held definitively, is to be understood as belonging to the deposit of faith.
- Responsum: In the affirmative.
- This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.[1] Thus, in the present circumstances, the Roman Pontiff, exercising his proper office of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32), has handed on this same teaching by a formal declaration, explicitly stating what is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of the faith.
- "If they can indeed 'reject' Magisterial authority, that same authority is, logically, powerless to ordain them in any real and meaningful way."
Arguments for the Ordination of Women
The argument from "injustice"
When I entered the Jesuits in 1973, I was in favor of women's ordination. I paid dues to some national organization (perhaps N.O.W.?), and attended a conference that favored women's ordination circa 1975-1976. On Friday, I agreed with the speakers; by Sunday morning, I was opposed to them.
All of their arguments were based on treating the priesthood as something that is the property of the ordained. I saw that if this was true, and if women were included in the propertied class, the basic injustice of having first- and second-class (or privileged and underprivileged) Catholics would remain.
The argument that the ministerial priesthood is an injustice to women, because the ordained hold powers and property that the unordained do not, is not an argument in favor of the ordination of women but an argument for the abolition of the priesthood. If it is unfair for some to possess a kind of property that others do not, it does not matter whether the elite are an all-male bastion or whether the club is open to both sexes.
Priesthood is not a piece of property that benefits the property holder at the expense of others. The powers that are given to priests to administer the sacraments and to rule as Vicars of Christ do not enrich them personally at the expense of the unordained. God does not love priests more than the laity nor are priests exempt from any of the standards applied to all of the disciples of Jesus.
Mary Magdalene was an apostle
Men and women are equal
Galatians: no slave or free, no male or female, no Jew or Gentile.
All in "image and likeness of God."
- A = B
- B = C
- A = C
Women clerics could solve the priest shortage
References
- ↑ Ratzinger's footnote reads: "Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium 25, 2." The first paragraph of #25 says: "This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking" (LG 25). The second paragraph says: "Although the individual bishops do not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility, they nevertheless proclaim Christ's doctrine infallibly whenever, even though dispersed through the world, but still maintaining the bond of communion among themselves and with the successor of Peter, and authentically teaching matters of faith and morals, they are in agreement on one position as definitively to be held" (emphasis added).