Consecrated virgins - why only females?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Digitnomy
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Digitnomy

Guest
In reading about the Vatican’s new rules relating to consecrated virgins, I was surprised to discover that the vocation is only open to women.

Why are men excluded?
 
I’m surprised to hear that as well. I don’t have an answer other than maybe there isn’t a community support. Even though consecrated virgins don’t live in a cloister like nuns do, they do usually have mentors and spiritual advisers.
 
Simply put, the priest is supposed to be Christ. A consecrated virgin is supposed to be the Church, although she is not an Alter Ecclesiae as the priest is priest is an Alter Christus.
 
Last edited:
jfz178 said:
My guess is it is a poor attempt to sidestep the obvious inequality of women in the Church. Give the ladies something they can do that men can’t, however unimportant. Men can hardly complain. They can become priests and deacons.
Click to expand...
Hardly. It is among the most ancient vocations of the Church. It existed before there were nuns.
 
I didn’t say it was new. Male only priests are also one of the most ancient vocations of the Church
 
Last edited:
How so? Do you think the lack of women clergy is a form of discrimination?
 
Of course it is. That is is a logical fact. “Sexual discrimination” is defined as “discrimination in employment and opportunity against a person (typically a woman) on grounds of sex.” Women are denied the opportunity to become priests, a position of authority and influence in the Church for which there is no equal female opportunity. Therefore, that denial is _de fact_o discrimination. That cannot be denied.

Note that I did not say I disagree with it or that it is wrong. That is another topic. But it is factually discrimination.
 
Not all discrimination is bad. Discrimination is a natural fact of life.
 
Really? Do you think most Catholics even know about consecrated virgins? Do you think most Catholics could name three of them? Have any of them become a Cardinal or a Pope, which technically a woman could become?
 
Agreed. But when discrimination keeps people in their place, when it denies people opportunities they want, when it diminishes influences in the Church, that is the bad kind.
 
The church is the bride of Christ. Bride. When a man becomes a priest he acts in the person of Christ and marries the church. A female cannot have a bride. It isn’t discrimination.
 
I said theoretically, not practically. There is no requirement that a Pope be a priest. Pope Callixtus III was the last non-priest to become Pope in 1455.
 
I think, firstly it is because of historical reasons.

Consecrated virgins are very old in the Church History.

And secondly, perhaps for the emphasis on the marriage between the “bride” (the consecrated) and the Christ.

And then, yes, men can become priests and deacons. But the two vocations are very different, as men and women’s vocation can differ.
 
You cannot debate and oppose the doctrine of men’s only priesthood with arguments such as capacity and what is going on on others religions or denominations.

It is a theological debate about vocation, nature etc. And, sorry, the debate is closed in our Church.
 
jfz178 said:
Wrong. Quadriplegics cannot physically do the job of firefighter. Other faiths have proven that women can be very good priests.
Click to expand...
It is impossible for a woman to confect the Eucharist.

Female ministers in other denominations may be able to make people feel the warm and fuzzies, but they can’t do what a priest does.
 
The root of virgin means maiden or young woman. Just like male saints are not designated as virgin, only female saints.
 
jfz178 said:
Pope Callixtus III was the last non-priest to become Pope in 1455.
Click to expand...
I never said that a non-priest could not be Pope. Pope Callixtus III was promptly ordained to the episcopate after his election, because as I said, the Papacy and the Bishop of Rome is the same position. You cannot be the Pope without being the Bishop of Rome, and vice versa. Women cannot be ordained, so they can’t be bishops, and thus can’t be Pope.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top