She asked me if the church has a specific set of criteria based on absolute biology to determine who can be a priest, and if not, then why are women denied based solely on their gender?
One of the requirements for Catholic priesthood is that the candidate be male. There are other requirements as well. Women aren’t denied. God doesn’t call women to fill that role. It’s not a value judgement against women which is how I think many women see it. “I’m considered not good enough to be a priest because I’m a woman.” There are many women who are very good with things like teaching, counseling, administration etc. However, these aren’t the main gifts the priesthood is based on although they are part of their duties. It’s being marked, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders to stand In Persona Christi (in the person of Christ) during the sacrifice of the Mass. Christ, through the priest, becomes present to us from the cross on Calvary, to give of Himself to each one of us individually so that we might have His life within us. But we don’t keep this life hidden inside, the faithful are called to go forth and be fruitful and bring new children of God to the Church.
A husband gives something of himself to his wife so that she also may carry new life within her. By her loving reception of him, in which she offers a part of herself joined to him, new life is created. She becomes the nurturer and custodian of this new life and, in her own participation in Calvary, through water and blood, she brings forth new life. Both man and woman bring forth new life but each has a complementary way of participating in that process. We also must remember that the priest that is standing there, In Persona Christi, is the fruit of the sacrifice of suffering his mother made in bearing him and nurturing his soul after he was born.
Christ, too, in working through the priest is present and yes, He is male but let’s remember that Mary, who knew not man, was the only one from whom He took the flesh that formed His body. No human male had a part in that. Both sexes are represented when Christ is made present to us. The male sex is just the more prominent one we see. We have to look beyond just what we see physically in order to perceive the supernatural realities that are there and we will with the help of grace through the Sacraments.
To have a female priest, would mean these supernatural and natural realities, would lose their meaning. The priesthood would simply be a utilitarian function of going through the motions that is merely symbolic without making present the actual supernatural realities that are really and truly there.
Our souls do not lack gender. This is a good article that explains the Catholic view on this.
“…if we take sexuality as more than biological parts, and view it as belonging deeply to the whole person, it extends to the spirit or soul and is not confined to the body.”
God Made Them Male and Female Mr. John Young thoroughly examines the differences between men and women — differences that extend far beyond physicality alone, into the substantial order. Based on the fact that a soul is individualized by matter such as hair color, eye color, shape and size, the...
www.catholicculture.org
