"Ordinations" of women as "priests"
Amy Welborn has a great post about some supposed ordinations of women as Catholic priests on the rivers of Pittsburgh today (July 31st).
First, from a page by the Diocese of Pittsburgh (a great diocese, Archbishop Wuerl now in Washington. DC did a great job there):
Isn’t denial of the sacraments and excommunication extreme? The church doesn’t excommunicate those clergy who abused minors. And politicians who vote in favor of legal abortion are not denied Communion.This, of course, also explains why pro-abortion Catholic politicians should be denied Communion: they have placed themselves outside the communion of the Catholic Church by their own freely chosen actions, just as these women have chosen to by engaging in a mockery of a sacrament.
Those who present themselves for Communion are expected to be in communion with the church. People can be “not in communion” in several ways. Those who have committed mortal sin and are not in the state of grace are out of communion and should not present themselves until they are reconciled through the sacrament of reconciliation. Those who deny a core tenet of the faith either by publicly espousing something contrary to the faith, such as the denial of the divinity of Christ, or by a public action that repudiates the laws, teachings or morals of the church are also not in communion.There are certain actions that by their public nature, by their immediate threat to the unity of the church, by their explicit undermining of the sacraments and by their conscious break with the apostolic authority of the church derived from Christ result in removing oneself from the community of the faithful. In regard to this ceremony, engaging in a public — and highly publicized — abuse of the sacrament of holy orders that threatens church unity, and to take such action knowingly and willingly in defiance of the apostolic authority of the church, does place oneself outside the church.
However, even in these cases, the goal of the church is reconciliation. Announcing that there are those who have removed themselves from the community of the faithful is not a punishment but a call to conversion.
Welborn herself writes:
If you wish to be ordained and to practice Christian ministry as an ordained person, there is no lack of denominations in which to do that, with all of the titles, regalia and pomp - perhaps even more, if you're going to be High Church Anglican - that you'll find in the Roman Catholic Church.So...why stay? Why the determination to be Roman Catholic priests?
...
Perhaps they'll say that there is something marginally more "true" about Christianity, or even Catholic Christianity - that it has more direct historical ties to the apostles or something.The problem is that if that's the point on which their choice lies, they run into a problem when we try to establish conclusions.
If The Catholic Church is the Christian church "closest" to Christ...wouldn't one conclude that this closeness is embodied in it? That its closeness is not just a matter of apostolic succession (a concept I'm doubting they care that much about either), but in what the successors of the apostles, you know...do and say?
More after the break...
Go here to see recent statements about the inadmissibility of female ordinations by the Catholic Church. In Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, John Paul II wrote:
Wherefore, 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, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.In other words, all faithful Catholics are instructed to accept and hold this teaching. To not do so is to render yourself an unfaithful Catholic.
I used to have trouble with this teaching. I accepted it out of trust for the Church, but I didn't quite buy it. But then while reading the Bible a few years ago, seeing all the guidelines God laid down for how the Israelites were to worship him and how exacting they were, I noticed that it's quite clear that in the Old Covenant the priests were to be male. No ifs ands or buts. I don't claim to understand why God did that, but I believe that in His infinite Wisdom, He has His reasons and they're obviously good ones.
By the way, the reason that these ordinations take place on a river is the foolish notion that water is beyond the reaches of the Church. As though God "forgot" about waters when giving dominion over the whole Earth to His Church. Some people will accept any idiocy if it allows them to act on their own wishes.
Here's a decent primer on the illicitness of female ordination. I do agree with the point raised in the linked article that the Church needs to come out with a solid theological argument explaining why God denied the Church the authority to ordain women. At a rough guess, it has to do with the priest standing in persona Christi during the performing of the sacraments and the obvious fact that a woman cannot be a man.
Comments
Paul, as a non-denominational Christian, I'm easily confused on matters of Catholicism.
Please forgive me, not everyone is perfect.
But how is it that women can be saints, but not priests?
I'm sure it's a question that appears non-sequitur to a good Catholic, but seems like a perfectly logical question to me.
I don't have a beef or anything, I just don't know any better.
Posted by: AnonymousOpinion | July 31, 2006 9:50 PM
To deny women full participation in the Church is going against Christ's saying that there is no male or female. Besides the argument of an all male hierachy doesn't wash because the 12 were Jews and Jesus had ample opportunity to pick non Jewish males. So logic dictates that the clergy should be all of Jewish origin.
Posted by: Terry | November 18, 2006 6:52 AM
Terry, in Christ are all spiritually Semetic; we're Jews by adoption.
Remember, Paul tells us that there are many gifts and that a person lacking a certain gift in no way disparages them. So women not being able to be ordained does not insult them or put them down; it just directs their gifts to different areas.
Posted by: Paul Smith Jr | November 18, 2006 10:36 AM