Posted on 04/12/2005 1:48:41 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
WASHINGTON, April 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- At this pivotal time in the Catholic Church, the Womens Ordination Conference (WOC), a feminist voice for women in the church, provides the theological, biblical, and historical reasons for ordaining women.
First and foremost, God calls women to be priests. Women and men are equally created in the image of God; therefore, the church should embrace the gifts of women in all levels of ministry, stated Joy Barnes, WOCs executive director. This is not simply an issue of womens rights, this is fundamentally about fulfilling Jesus gospel message.
There is no biblical or theological reason to keep women from the priesthood, continued Barnes. The Vatican states women cannot be priests because in the gospels Jesus chose only male apostles. However, in 1976 the Vaticans own Pontifical Biblical Commission concluded that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit womens ordination.
Our 2,000 year-old Catholic tradition contains numerous examples of women priests, stated Barnes. There are both biblical references and compelling archeological evidence that indicate women were leaders of churches - even bishops - in early Christianity. In addition, women were legitimately ordained in the underground Catholic Church of communist Czechoslovakia as recently as 1970.
A Second Vatican Council document, Gaudium et Spes (No. 29), calls for an end to all discrimination, and a July 2004 Vatican document promotes womens leadership in all realms of society.
There is a painful inconsistency between what the church teaches and how the church acts regarding women, said Aisha Taylor, coordinator of WOCs Young Feminist Network. Pope John Paul II spoke at length about womens dignity, yet the church - by banning womens ordination - systematically denies women participation in its governance.
WOC calls for a Pope who will usher in a renewed priestly ministry, which includes women and transforms the structures of the church to be inclusive, participatory and spiritually affirming for all God's people, Taylor concluded.
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Founded in 1975, WOC promotes the voices of Catholic women excluded from official church structures. WOC can arrange interviews with women called to priesthood, ordained Catholic women, feminist theologians, and church historians to speak about the issue of women priests. For more resources on womens ordination, the legacy of Pope John Paul II, and selecting a new pope, visit http://www.womensordination.org.
When priests become nuns and can carry living human beings inside them will nuns and women become priests.
Women share in life with their specially prepared bodies and minds which are far superiorr to men in compassion and care giving. They can form communities to relieve suffering and teach God's kingdom and many other things.
If humans were all equal in every and all ways, why, according to the bible, was Eve punished in the Garden of Eden only AFTER Adam himself ate of the forbidden fruit. Only after Adam ate did God punish Eve.
I believe Adam could have and should have protected Eve from the creature in the garden and he didn't. Remember, Adam named Eve.
I admit this isn't all deep provable stuff, just some of my own thoughts.
Women and men have different roles and bodies. Even Jesus did not "snatch" at equality with the Father. He said choose the last place, not the first.
"...in 1976 the Vaticans own Pontifical Biblical Commission concluded that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit womens ordination."
Pray tell, which theologically liberal Cardinals and Bishops constituted this "commission"?
No doubt, the liberal Roman Catholics will parrot what the apostates in the Episcopal Church said that Jesus picked all male apostles because He was "culturally conditioned".
whoa nelly, the reality is God's word isn't always exact, especially when a whole lot of people were writing it down, or who would need scholars, right?
the reality is the Catholic Church itself has changed over the centuries, the major religions of the world no longer condone slavery and yet the Bible and the Koran both condone if not encourage it, isn't there a passage in the Bible about blacks being beasts of burden and/or inferior that was used to justify the African slave trade, now assuming that is true, are you going to tell me the Vatican still holds to this or was that passage "reinterpreted?"
I propose that the Holy See leaves this issue to Jesus for when He returns so that He can decide. Then it won't resurface as a Catholic issue except for non-Catholics. Some things are just a waste of time, and I think that's what's intended by the women-for-priesthood politics.
The Holy Father declared that this judgment was "to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." He said that he was issuing this judgment "in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself." He said that he was speaking in virtue of his "ministry of confirming the brethren (Luke 22:32)."
"Rome has spoken," but the "cause" goes on and on anyway. The pope declared infallibly that there is to be no female ordinations.
Catholic Ping
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Actually, some of the protestant converts to the Roman Catholic Church, former ministers, are applying to the local bishop for permission to be admitted to seminary. There have been situations where they were accepted. The conditions that apply to the Eastern Catholic Churches apply to the former protestant ministers.
In the Eastern Catholic Churches, the decision to marry must be made before ordination. Those who choose to marry may not serve as bishops, cardinals, etc. In fact, those who choose to marry may not be assigned outside of their native country.
Eastern Catholic priests who do not marry, take a vow of celibacy.
Here's my take on and summary of the argument from tradition that is used by Ordinatio sacerdotalis. In another post, someone from the Orthodox perspective offered the various iconic arguments and thought they are superior to this one. I agree that the iconic arguments are good, but there are reasons why John Paul II did not use them in Ordinatio sacerdotalis
Women cannot be ordained priests because Christ established the priesthood when he established the episcopate in the person of his twelve apostles. He chose no women. He was not culturally captive (i.e., afraid to offend a patriarchal culture), for if that was his reason, he was certainly not God incarnate and if he wasnt God incarnate, theres no priesthood or episcopate at all.
The issue of women priests was never raised (except abstractly) until modern cultural changes changed the way some people view mens and womens roles. But Christ, being non-captive to a patriarchal culture 2000 years ago, is not going to become captive to a non-patriarchal culture today, for if he acceded to the cultural demand, he would scarcely be the Transcendent Creator God Incarnate that Christians have always claimed he was.
If the pope tomorrow would announce women were to be ordained priests, he would have just ended all Catholic claims for an indefectible, infallible Church guided by a divinely assisted historic apostolic succession reaching back to Christ and keeping the Church non-captive to culture throughout these many years. In renouncing apostolic succession he would have renounced the heart of Catholic faith and would have destroyed the very authority by which he acted, since the bishop of Rome has no authority if apostolic succession does not exist. Protestants who ordain women ministers make no claim to ordain women priests, because they rejected the whole notion of apostolic succession and sacramental priesthood at the time of the Protestant Reformation.
Within the Catholic Church a variety of women ministers have always functioned. Except for Anglo-Catholic Anglicans (who for that reason prefer not to be called Protestants), Protestants claim only to have women ministers, not women priests.
Thank you for your careful and elegant reply. Yes, the argument from Jesus' dual human and divine natures is a very strong one, and I have heard it many times and I agree with it. I raised the argument from the iconic understanding of Jesus as Bridegroom and the Church as Bride (and thus, the Groom MUST be male) because it is central to the NT and SHOULD have a claim upon those who consider the NT to be normative. But your argument is a good one and I'll keep it in mind. Lately, I've been discussing this issue quite a bit, before many audiences, and the lame MSM comment comes up all the time, "well, now, what about women priests? will the next Pope be as conservative as JPII?" Ugh.
It's an odd position that says that Charlie Manson would be a more acceptable candidate for the priesthood than Mother Theresa might have been.
I'm not sure if you're referring to a specific encyclical needing to be dedicated to the issue, but as a Catholic, I have often heard the bride/bridegroom analogy used as one of the reasons for an all-male, all-celibate clergy.
No, all I'm saying is that, while individual preachers may use the Bride-Bridegroom Metaphor, that argument has not been used in the official magisterial documents on the issue, as far as I can see.
Funny how Jesus only had men with Him during the Last Supper. Which, by hte way, was when the priesthood was instituted. Do you think He was trying to tell us something?
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