Well, you see, Kendy, I guess my worldview might not be considered very “modern”- I think of it as more an “eternal” worldview.
When Jesus walked the earth, at the time he walked that particular society was “modern”–THEN. In that “modern” society, certain cultures had certain percepts, mores, etc. that do not exist, as a SANCTIONED practice, today, like chattel slavery.
Likewise, when Moses led the tribes out of Egypt, the society of that THEN “modern” time had certain percepts and mores. The ancient Egyptians rulers I believe, in company with other civilized societies, thought that in royalty more perfect unions resulted from brother-sister marriage, a concept which certainly is not sanctioned today.
In ALL those times, there were always those who were somehow, some way, “privileged”, either because they were from a particular ethnic group, or belonged to a higher caste, or had more wealth, more beauty, more talent. . .you name it.
There is no such thing as a society where everybody everywhere is absolutely, completely, totally equal in every way. If there were, you wouldn’t like it, (Read Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron”). People, while they are of equal intrinsic WORTH as human being, are not inherently equal, or interchangable, in other ways. I would not be able to manage BIll Gates’ money as well as he does if I suddenly changed places with him; I might never be able to do as well. Nor could I switch places easily with Queen Elizabeth II. Neither person is therefore SUPERIOR to me as a human being, nor am I INFERIOR to them as a human being.
But this is all secular. This is all related to the idea that POWER IS GOOD, that the only way I have WORTH is because I have POWER; that if I do not have POWER I am somehow lesser, somehow worthless. If I’m not somehow in the “upper echelons” of a group, then I’m just, well, not “equal”.
You seem to think that the main concern of a priest is POWER, of able to do things which only HE can do, as if that makes him “better” than a woman.
I’ve said this before: “valid matter”. Here are, as an example, two beautiful cups. One is plain glass, one is tempered glass. Both are glass, both are useful, both are containers. If you use the first and try to pour in an extra hot liquid, it will shatter. If you use the second, it will not shatter. This is due to the design of the maker. The tempered glass is not in itself “better” than plain glass, because of this or because it is more costly; the plain glass is not in itself “better” than tempered because it is more economical or more practical in everyday use for many purposes.
Women and men. Both are the same in essence, flesh and blood. Both can do many things equally well. Both are made in the image and likeness of God. But, because of the DESIGN of their CREATOR, one, and one only, is made for performing certain functions. That is not being unfair, that is the divine plan of the creator. If one sex perceives the other is “inferior” or “superior”, that is because they choose to see only from the “temporal” or “wordly” point of view, or because they get caught up in the idea that the only way to be equal is to be interchangable.
I’m a man’s equal in human worth. I am not a male “substitute” in ANYTHING; nor is a man a female “substitute” in anything.
I really wish you would read Ordinatio Sacerdolis and also On the Dignity of Women; I found them very helpful once I took a couple of doses of humility, ditched my “modernist relativism”, and let the “great physician” point the way. . .
