An underlying question is whether the Spirit reveals an unfolding revelation, that is, that God only gives us as much as we can culturally handle,
The Catholic Church teaches that public revelation closed with the death of the last Apostle. The Teaching of Jesus is contained in two strands of Divine Revelation, Scripture and Sacred Tradition.
Though your point has historical validity. From the beginning of the interaction of God with humankind, His revelation of himself (that reached it’s fullness in Christ) did only give as much as could be culturally managed at the time.
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or the deposit of revelation does not become more clear over time, all the clarity necessary can be gleaned from words written long ago, that the Spirit is actually alive and present in unchanging cultural mores.
I think you have set up a false dichotomy. The fact that the public revelation was completed does not equate to having more clarity over time. What is different about your methods, and the methods of the Catholic Church, is that the CC does not start/end in the human imagination. Nothing that we can “glean” from history can be separated in any way from what we understand now. This is because God has led the church throughout history into how His revelation is applied in every generation. Ignoring all this history of the Holy Spirit active in the Church, and replacing it with modernism pulls us off track from the Holy Spirit’s movement.
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In other words, the culture of 2000 years ago predictably pressured the Church to remain fairly stubborn about giving women higher-ranking roles. Were they closed to the Spirit or did the Spirit find such giving of women higher-ranking roles a step too difficult for followers to incorporate, that their faith was not ready for such a suggestion or discussion?
The questions are based on a false premise. Serving as a priest or a deacon is not “higher ranking role”. It is a specific ministry that embodies the sacramental work of Christ to His flock. Thinking of the priesthood or diaconate as a form of “rank” is a fundamental and very serious error.
Or, is the Spirit absolutely saying-for-all-eternity that women will never rightfully serve the same sacramental roles that men do?
The Church is the sojourn of God’s people on earth. It will not need to persist into eternity, because when He comes again, there will be no need for the Church.
Your question seems to imply that you support idea that Traditional teachings of appropriate form and matter do not apply in the “modern culture”.
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To me, the roles designated in Biblical times were a matter of survival. The social and cultural pressures were purposeful.
So you think that Jesus’ teaching on the role of the priesthood is not Divine, but bound by social and cultural norms?
Today what is appropriate? God only knows.
Catholics believe that Jesus has revealed to the Church what is appropriate for His One Body, the church. Those Christians who have rejected this have already ordained women to “high ranking” positions. It is a form of protestanism. Have you given any more thought to changing your affiliation label above your post ?
One interesting theological angle to this: Does God wait for the Church to decide that Catholic women can be deacons before He calls them to do so, or is a woman called to be a deacon also called to belong to another denomination?
You are saying that the holy spirit leads on opposite directions. This is not a Catholic frame of mind.
