Washing the Feet of Men Only on Holy Thursday

SFLatin Mass ^ | march 2005 | sflatinmass

[Cato1]

The idea of not washing woman's feet is both based on the rules but also the meaning of the ritual as it relates to the priesthood, which in the Catholic and Orthodox rites are reserved for men. If and when woman become priests they can be included in the Holy Thursday washing of the feet. However, the Holy Father said that that is impossible and Paul VI said that even if he ordained a woman she would not be a priest because the matter of the sacrament would not be present. In his letter to the Angican Bishop of Canterbury he said: "[The Church] holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church."((November 30, 1975); AAS 68 (1976), 599) And John Paul II went further by saying in the apostolic letter ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS (1994): "In order that all doubt be removed . . . in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren, I declare that the Church has NO AUTHORITY WHATSOEVER [emphasis in original] to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitely held by all the Church's faithful."

[Aliska]

I understand all that. I have never agitated for women priests. I do kind of agitate for equal dignity and status in the church. I respect the rules, even if I don't like certain ones.

It just kinda hurts that it is more reinforcement of the inferiority of women from my pov.

In my diocese, I have seen womens' feet washed at the ceremony. My friend who is deceased told me she was called by the church administration and told to present herself for the ceremony. At the time, I didn't know it was against the rules, wouldn't wanted have personally to have done it, but thought it was rather egalitarian as I witnessed it.

I just wanted to point out that God did use a womn to spread (and live) the gospel (as she was being tried by fire) in the Ashley case in a very powerful way as it turns out.

I'm don't feel argumentative about it; I'm just trying to resolve it for my own peace of mind, knowing how some women were treated historically in the church. They were not allowed in the altar area, I guess because they were considered unclean.

It is now licit for women to be in the altar area and serve as Eucharistic ministers.

[Aliska]

That wasn't where I was going with it, NYer.

[Aliska]

Your #58. If this is a double post, I apologize. My brief response has not appeared.

That is not where I was going with it, NYer.

[murphE]

Hey, I just heard a story about the desecration of the chapel. It seems that the ones who broke into the tabernacle took the consecrated Hosts and dumped them in the mud outside. My priest, who had only been the pastor for a short time, got down on his and knees and consumed every last one. Then he consecrated the ground where they had been.